After years of going up, onigiri prices are starting to come down.

Onigiri (rice balls) used to be a Japanese convenience store item with no real downside. Tasty, filling, and healthier than just about any other snack on the shelves, they were also very reasonably priced, with most varieties costing about 120-140 yen (roughly US$0.75 to US$0.90), so really the only reason not to buy one was if you were already completely full.

This paradise, though, was not to last. As rice prices started rising, convenience stores continually increased the price of their onigiri, and they now often cost roughly double compared to what they did just a few years ago.

But now, finally, onigiri prices are starting to come down, as Japan’s three largest convenience store chains, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson, have all recently announced rice ball price reductions. There aren’t limited-time sales, either, but revisions to the onigiri’s base prices to make them more affordable.

From September 29, Lawson will be knocking 10 yen off the after-tax price of all of its Temaki Onigiri. That means the Sea Chicken Mayonnaise goes from 181 yen back down to 171, the ume (plum), kombu, and okaka (bonito flake) onigiri each from 194 to 184, the grilled salmon onigiri from 221 to 211, and the mentaiko (spicy cod roe) from 235 to 225. Special region-specific Temaki Onigiri will also become 10 yen cheaper, with the reduced prices applying to a total of 20 different rice ball varieties.

7-Eleven Japan’s onigiri repricing isn’t as extensive, but it will be lowering the prices of its salmon and mentaiko onigiri, which currently have after-tax prices of 214 yen, by 19 yen. Family Mart, meanwhile, has already lowered the price of its Kombu and Tuna Mayonnaise Big Musubi rice ball from 320 yen to 298, as of August 24.

The price of rice itself finally coming down is no doubt a big factor in the lowered onigiri prices. According to a study by the Japanese government’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the average price for a five-kilogram (11-pound) bag of rice actually sold at supermarkets dropped 27.7 percent between the start of this year and mid-August. Obviously 7-Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart are getting the rice for their onigiri from wholesalers, not their local grocery store, but the ministry’s statistics still point to rice prices in general having come down significantly over the past few months.

It would probably be giving convenience stores too much credit to say that they’ve lowered their onigiri prices out of the goodness of their hearts, as they are, after-all, profit-motivated business entities. With many shoppers balking at the severely increased prices for what was once an impulse-buy with no thought or guilt required, lowering onigiri prices has the potential to actually increase the stores’ revenue if it helps entice people into buying them once again, even if there’s still a long way to go before rice balls are close to what their pre-kooky prices were.

One thing to keep in mind regarding Lawson’s sweeping price reduction is that it only applies to their Temaki Onigiri series of rice balls in which the rice ball doesn’t come with its seaweed covering directly wrapped around the rice, which can make the packaging a little tricky to open for those not used to it, but we can help you get up to speed.

Source: Asahi Shimbun via Golden Times, Jiji, Gourmet Watch via Yahoo! Japan News
Top image: 7-Eleven
Insert images: Lawson, Family Mart
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