Like most restaurants in China, eight-year-old Toya from Tanioka has struggled with years of Covid-19 restrictions, which only began to ease late last year.
Now it faces a shortage of customers and seafood ahead of Japan’s plans to dump treated radioactive water from its stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
“I am very worried whether we can continue,” said the 49-year-old chef-restaurateur from Kumamoto in southern Japan. “The inability to import food ingredients is truly a life or death situation for us.”
China is the largest importer of Japanese seafood. Shortly after the 2011 tsunami and earthquake damaged the Fukushima power plant, it banned the import of food and agricultural products from five Japanese prefectures. China later expanded its ban, which now covers 10 of 47 in Japan.
It remained Japan’s largest seafood export market.
The latest import restrictions were imposed this month after the United Nations nuclear watchdog approved Japan’s plans to dump treated water. China strongly criticized the move, which also faced opposition at home, saying the spill endangers marine life and human health.
Since then, imports have all but stopped, with some Japanese officials fearing the worst is yet to come. Tighter Chinese controls have led to massive delays at customs, and strident warnings have kept customers away: Posts and hashtags saying Japanese food is radioactive and should be boycotted are commonplace on Chinese social media.
“China says it’s contaminated water, while Japan says it’s purified water,” said Kenji Kobayashi, 67, another Japanese restaurateur in Beijing, who lost up to a third of its customers this month.
“The difference between the two perspectives is vast and affects the level of understanding.”
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Seafood suppliers are also struggling.
Wait times at Chinese ports have dropped from two to seven days to around three weeks, a spokesperson for a major seafood trader said, adding that the company plans to circumvent such restrictions by diverting shipments to a third country. The spokesperson declined to name the company, fearing backlash from Chinese authorities.
“At the moment, we don’t have any shipments to China,” said Tamotsu Fukuoka, director and general manager of sales at Aomori Chuosuisan Co, a seafood wholesaler based in northern Japan.
“If the products are stopped at customs, we would have to spend a lot on yard and storage costs, and that’s something we don’t want to see.”
While Japanese officials have appealed to their Chinese counterparts, particularly in its second-largest market, Hong Kong, to avoid a ban, several Chinese diners have said they approve of tighter controls. “Any government should be responsible for the safety of its citizens,” said Duan, owner of a Japanese restaurant in Beijing. “Thanks to government policies, we feel comfortable.”
With Japan set to start draining water from Fukushima in weeks, some Japanese restaurateurs said they were adjusting their menus and sourcing ingredients elsewhere to survive.
“Our main focus is sourcing seafood from China or other overseas suppliers,” Tanioka said. “If these efforts are successful, it is possible that our business can continue in the future.”
