Testing Hongkongers' Love of Japan

The HK government threatens to ban Japanese seafood

Hongkongers love all things Japanese, in particular the food.

But as Japan plans to release 1.3 million tonnes of treated but still radioactive water that was used to cool the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station since 2011, this will test even the most ardent fans of all things Japanese on whether they will dining on the cuisine or not.

Already Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong are seeing a plunge in business and expect it to fall even further once Japan actually begins releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan to release radioactive water into ocean

The Hong Kong government has plans to ban seafood imports from the country, which could result in up to 30 percent of Japanese restaurants shuttering in the city.

The government doesn't plan to compensate these businesses either if it does go ahead banning seafood imports.

"We deliberately notified the catering sector early on so restaurants would have more time to look for providers outside the prefectures facing our ban and maintain their business accordingly," said Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan.

The ban includes all live, frozen, chilled, dried and preserved seafood, sea salt, seaweed, and other derivative products.

What's amusing is that the long list includes places that are landlocked: Gunma, Tochigi, Nagano, and Saitma.

Several areas on the HK ban list are landlocked

Nevertheless, Japanese restaurants are more concerned about shipments not being reliable and looking for other alternatives that may be more costly.

The Japanese government has hit back on accusations by China that the radioactive water is dangerous by releasing its own research on nuclear power stations in China releasing radioactive water that is even more dangerous than that at Fukushima.

For example at Qinshan Phase III N-plant, about 143 trillion becquerels were released in 2020, and Yangjiang N-plant in 2021 released 112 trillion becquerels, whereas the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station plans to release treated water with 22 trillion becquerels. 

However, the Chinese raised health concerns first, making it harder for Japan to change the court of public opinion.

Will this turn off people's forever from Japanese seafood?

Everyone waiting with baited breath...