Japan to Gradually Restart Seafood Exports to China

Chinese consumers can start eating Japanese seafood soon

Since August 2023, the Hong Kong government has been testing and reporting the quality of seafood from Japan following the country's decision to release contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant that had a meltdown in 2011.

Water was used to cool the reactors and it could not be contained much longer, so Japan got the approval from the UN atomic agency to release the water into the Pacific Ocean, claiming it was safe. 

China banned all Japanese seafood in Aug 2023

However, China begged to differ and banned all Japanese seafood imports; Hong Kong decided to ban seafood imports from specific areas of Japan -- some were even landlocked areas.

Everyday the Hong Kong government would release a report on the tested seafood products for harmful radiation, including fish, seaweed and sea salt, and they were "all satisfactory".

But now over a year later, China has decided to "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan.

"China will begin to adjust the relevant measures based on scientific evidence and gradually resume imports of Japanese aquatic products that meet the regulation requirements and standards," a foreign ministry statement said.

Apparently Chinese and Japanese officials have been having "multiple rounds of consultations" on the discharge of wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. 

Hong Kong banned some seafood

China said Japan had committed to "fulfilling its obligations under international law, doing its utmost to avoid leaving [a] negative impact on human health and the environment, and conducting continuous evaluations of the impact on the marine environment and marine ecosystems".

However, despite the gradual resumption of Japanese seafood imports, China still "resolutely opposes" Japan's discharge of the waste water from the nuclear plant.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop mainlanders and Hongkongers from going to Japan to eat lots of sushi and sashimi... 

In any event, the Japanese government may be relieved to restart exporting its seafood to China -- in 2022 over US$500 million worth of seafood was exported there.