June 15, 2026
TOKYO – Calbee potato chips in stark black-and-white packaging have begun hitting store shelves across Japan in what is arguably the most glaring visual reminder that a conflict in the Middle East is never truly far away.
The snack giant, which said the move was in response to supply instability, is far from alone in resorting to such stopgap measures.
Discount behemoth Don Quijote and convenience store chain FamilyMart are following suit by switching to monochrome printing, while other household names such as tomato ketchup maker Kagome, confectionery giant Fujiya and processed meat producer Itoham Foods are rationing their use of colour ink for their packaging.
Yet, these corporate manoeuvres to slash reliance on naphtha, a petroleum by-product vital for plastics and adhesives, as well as the resins and solvents in industrial-scale colour printing, seem increasingly out of sync with government proclamations that Japan has secured enough supply of crude oil and related products to last the year.
On June 11, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said crude oil procurement for July is projected to be “about 100 per cent” of levels seen during the same month in 2025. Her administration had previously brushed off Calbee’s May 12 decision to shift to greyscale as a “preventive” measure at best, and a “cheap publicity stunt” at worst.
But behind the official optimism lies a stark operational reality.
“There is undeniably a glaring disconnect,” a Tokyo-based business consultant told The Straits Times on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“The government is looking at upstream availability, but they are not doing much to ease the bottlenecks that have prevented these materials from reaching companies, which are increasingly anxious,” the consultant said.
This cognitive dissonance between the rosy official narrative and day-to-day operational challenges is clear in how some takeout bento shops have begun urging their patrons to bring their own containers. Some home goods stores are restricting purchases of garbage bags.
Elsewhere, farmers are struggling to secure agricultural vinyl sheets, while some hospitals fear looming shortages of critical single-use items such as syringes, catheters and medical gloves.
“The government hasn’t been able to project a clear message beyond the repetitive ‘there is enough supply’ to quell the societal anxiety caused by volatile naphtha supplies,” Toru Yoshida, a political scientist at Doshisha University, told ST. “As a result, it remains largely powerless in the face of this mild panic.”
Such anxieties have begun to erode Takaichi’s political armour, chipping away at her sky-high Cabinet approval ratings, even if they still remain at levels that are historically robust for Japanese politics.
A poll conducted by public broadcaster NHK from June 5 to 7 placed support down one percentage point to 60 per cent, with a staggering 81 per cent of respondents confessing anxieties over the stability of energy and petrochemical supplies.
Similarly, a Yomiuri newspaper poll from May 22 to 24 found approval down two points to 64 per cent, with also 64 per cent stating they were “unable to accept” Takaichi’s reassurances on naphtha supplies.
In between these surveys was another by the Nikkei newspaper that found a three-point dip in support to 66 per cent, with 63 per cent believing the government should actively urge the public to conserve energy.
Takaichi, however, has repeatedly downplayed this need, including on June 3, when she said in the Diet that there was no need for drastic measures that would disrupt economic activity or people’s lives.
For now, public support remains high, insulated by the historic nature of her leadership and her conservative ideologies that led to an unprecedented landslide victory in the February general election.
“The robust approval ratings are driven by the Takaichi administration’s conservative core shift, alongside enduring expectations surrounding her as Japan’s first female prime minister,” said Sota Kato, a former trade bureaucrat and now a resident fellow at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research think-tank.
Yoshida added that “expectations still outweigh disappointment”, while Takaichi has also rolled out policies to ease the public’s economic pain. Critics have, however, described these measures as nakedly populist.
Chief among these is a major cap on fuel prices. While crude oil prices have spiked globally, the shock has bypassed Japanese consumer wallets entirely as regular petrol prices have been aggressively capped at 170 yen (S$1.36) per litre since March 2026. This is cheaper than in regions such as Singapore (S$3.45), the European Union (€1.80, or S$2.68) and China (nine yuan, or S$1.70).
To continue bankrolling this, Parliament on June 5 greenlit a 3.11 trillion yen supplementary budget that earmarked 2.5 trillion yen for petrol subsidies.
Yet this could create a dangerous behavioural trap, Kato said.
“Cheap petrol makes it difficult to curb consumption,” he warned. “While things are manageable for now, if the Middle East conflict drags on, there is a strong possibility that the government will have to change its tune and encourage more restrained consumption.”
Another gambit will come later in June, when a much-watched Bill will be tabled in Parliament to slash the consumption tax on food and beverages – excluding dining out – from 8 per cent to 1 per cent for a two-year period from April 2027.
While the finance ministry calculates a 4.3 trillion yen revenue shortfall that can be temporarily absorbed by recent inflation-driven tax windfalls, observers warn of a looming fiscal cliff.
“The problem is whether the government can realistically restore the tax to its original level after two years,” Kato said, noting that doing so would be “politically very difficult”.
The Yomiuri newspaper echoed this concern in a June 10 editorial, warning against a short-term fix that could “sow the seeds of instability for the social security system”, since gaining support would be difficult for an eventual snapback that will only look like a “massive tax hike”.
Yet another test of Takaichi’s leadership is an unfolding political scandal. One of her aides is alleged to have commissioned a targeted smear campaign of videos that slandered her rivals during the October 2025 party election and opposition parties in the February national elections.
A drip-feed of leaked e-mail and audio recordings, as well as confessional media interviews given by the head of the IT firm involved in the videos, has been reported by tabloids and mainstream Japanese media, keeping Takaichi firmly on the defensive.
“She has consistently denied the allegations, but has yet to satisfy the public, the media or Parliament,” Yoshida said, noting her “nothing-to-see-here” tactic of shutting down questions.
“Public opinion remains far more pre-occupied with the cost of living, and since this is not a financial scandal (like the kind that toppled her predecessors), the impact on her support will likely be limited,” he said.