(30 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan – 31 October 2023
1. Pan of fish on display at a shop in Tokyo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tokyo, Japan – 30 May 2025
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press: ++STARTS ON SHOT 1 AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 3 TO 5++
“Japan said that China will resume Japanese seafood imports banned two years ago due to worries about Japan’s discharges of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japan says the two sides met in Beijing this week and that the imports will resume once necessary paperwork is done. Japan’s discharges of the treated radioactive water from Fukushima Daiichi that began in August 2023 and China’s ban on Japanese seafood have become a significant political and diplomatic point of tension. The agreement is based on a deal reached by Japan and China last September that Beijing would work toward easing the import ban while joining the International Atomic Energy Agency’s expanded monitoring of the discharges. Japanese officials say that the water is treated and largely diluted with massive amounts of seawater before releasing into the sea to the levels much safer than international standard and there’s negligible impact in humans and in the environment.”
AGENCY POOL
ARCHIVE: Iwaki, Japan – 19 October 2023
3. Various of International Atomic Energy Agency scientists observing preparations for fish caught in Fukushima to be sampled
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan – 31 October 2023
4. Various of fishmonger arranging fish on display at a shop in Tokyo
AGENCY POOL
ARCHIVE: Iwaki, Japan – 19 October 2023
5. Various of International Atomic Energy Agency scientists observing preparations for fish caught in Fukushima to be sampled
STORYLINE:
China will resume Japanese seafood imports it banned in 2023 over worries about Japan’s discharge of treated but slightly radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, a Japanese minister said Friday.
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the agreement was reached after officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once paperwork is complete.
China said talks this week made “substantial progress,” but did not confirm an agreement with Japan on the issue that has been a significant political and diplomatic point of tension.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also welcomed.
But officials said China’s ban on farm and fisheries products from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, is still in place and that they will keep pushing toward their lifting.
China’s General Administration of Customs said in a statement Friday that the two sides had on Wednesday held "a new round of technical exchanges on the safety issues of Japanese aquatic products … and achieved substantial progress,” but did not mention an agreement.
China blocked imports of Japanese seafood because it said the release of the treated and diluted but still slightly radioactive wastewater would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China.
Japanese officials have said the wastewater will be safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligible.
They say the wastewater must be released to make room for the nuclear plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks.
Mainland China used to be the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood, accounting for more than one-fifth of its seafood exports, followed by Hong Kong.
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