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.

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...