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In Japan, changing dietary patterns and lifestyles, as well as demographic trends have resulted in a 50% decrease of rice consumption between the 1960s and today. Since 90% of all Japanese farms grow rice, rice farmers and agricultural cooperatives strive to expand their marketing strategies. Regional differentiation of rice brands on the prefectural level is one of these strategies. This study evaluates the preferences of Japanese consumers in rice. With the strategy of regional differentiation in mind, the focus was set on origin. To measure the effect of origin, brand, quality seals and price on the purchase decision, a discrete choice experiment with 166 Japanese consumers, mainly living in urban areas, was conducted. The results have shown, that origin has the highest influence on the rice purchase decision. Therefore, the emphasis of the Prefecture of origin might be a successful future marketing strategy of rice farmers and food marketers.

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Magdalena Kubinger, born in Upper Austria in 1990, completed her Agricultural and Food Economy studies at BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences of Vienna in 2017. This work is based on her master thesis, originally titled "Influence of Origin on the Rice Purchasing Decision of Japanese Consumers: A Discrete Choice Experiment".

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