Taking vegetables as an example, there are standards for vegetables to be sold on the market. Vegetables would be categorized as imperfect due to the following reasons: they are too big or small; there are scratches; their colors are pale; their shapes are a bit twisted, etc. These standards are not important for taste or, of course, safety.
For example, if cucumber is twisted maybe half an inch, it would be graded as "imperfect," can't be marketed, and would be just threw away.
Farmers say that these standards are necessary since Japanese consumers are very demanding. However, there are many consumers, who welcome cheaper vegetables due to their imperfection, and sales of imperfect vegetables are very popular among consumers.
It is not clear to me which comes first; consumer's demand for perfection or farmer's intention to sell good things at higher price (with higher margins)?
But it is clear that Japanese are generally paying or are forced to pay higher price for high quality of goods or services, which seems not so important.
I personally would like to buy cheaper stuff by taking a small fault.
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