From the illegal rice import incident into Japan, Vietnamese agricultural products will be inspected more rigorously.

According to Japanese regulations, the import of rice from foreign countries must be accompanied by a phytosanitary inspection certificate issued by the exporting country, and must be strictly inspected by Japanese inspection authorities. According to information from the Vietnam Trade Office in Japan, on October 6, 2025, the Osaka Prefecture Police (Japan) reported the arrest of Trần Thị Thu Huyền (36 years old, Vietnamese nationality) – Director of a food business company in Higashi-Osaka city, and her husband Takeshige Tomoyuki (47 years old), on charges of violating Japan's Customs Law and Plant Protection Law due to the illegal import of approximately 45 tons of rice from Vietnam. According to initial investigations, the two suspects falsely declared the goods as "green beans" when importing from Vietnam into Japan to avoid phytosanitary inspection and reduce import taxes, as the tax rate for green beans is much lower than for rice. The Osaka Customs discovered the incident ...