Japanese restaurants feeling fallout of Fukushima

Zhu Hongmei's Japanese restaurant in downtown Shanghai had been experiencing brisk trade since early August, but she's had more frowns than smiles in recent days.

"Business has been extremely good, but that's because people want to have a 'last bite'," she said. "People are afraid they might not be able to enjoy safe Japanese cuisine anymore.

"With the huge public concern over the safety of Japanese seafood, I'm worried about the future of my business," Zhu said, ahead of Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater.

China suspended the imports of all aquatic products, including edible aquatic animals, originating from Japan, one hour after Japan officially started discharging nuclear-contaminated water from its damaged Fukushima power plant into the ocean on Thursday.

According to a simulation conducted by Tsinghua University in 2021, the contaminated wastewater will reach the coastal waters of China 240 days after discharge. It will reach the coast of North America in 1,200 days and cover almost the entire North Pacific Ocean.

The discharge has heightened people's concerns about eating aquatic products from Japan, including the Japanese. According to reports from various Japanese media outlets such as the Mainichi Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun, many fisheries and fish processing industries in Japan have also revealed that local consumers have stopped buying seafood produced in the country.

Most restaurants serving Japanese food in China expect to feel the effects brought about by Japan's move, which may cast a shadow on the consumption of seafood and Japanese cuisine.

In Shanghai, where an estimated 1,500 restaurants serve Japanese cuisine, merchants have hurried to delete certain words from their promotional materials to avoid risks. Most now say they source their ingredients from places other than Japan.

"Avoiding imported ingredients from Japan isn't difficult for us. Most of our ingredients have always come from Canada, New Zealand and Australia," said Shen Zhansheng, who runs a Japanese restaurant in Shanghai. "However, the word 'Japan' feels like it is about to become on par with 'Fukushima'. Even though the impact on our business is not very significant now, it's expected to get worse in the future. Gradually, customers will stay away from Japanese cuisine and seafood products."

Wang Shenshen, a tour guide based in Shanghai who loves Japanese cuisine, said she would try to avoid eating Japanese food in the future. Qi Qi, a financial manager in her 30s who is also from Shanghai, said she would continue to eat Japanese food as long as the safety of the seafood was guaranteed.

Insiders have said that although seafood sales have not been significantly affected so far, with the spread of the contaminated water, it is expected that consumers will have higher requirements for seafood safety in the future.

Hengsha International Fishing Port on Changxing Island is the only national first-class fishing port in Shanghai, from where a large amount of imported and local seafood enters supermarkets across Shanghai every day.

Yao Zhijun, assistant to the president of Shanghai Changxing Island Fishing Port, told Jiemian, a local digital news media outlet, that a mature traceability system has been established for imported seafood.

In order to enhance consumer confidence in imported seafood products, Yao added that the fishing port is planning to add nuclear radiation to its list of contaminants that it tests for during its inspections of goods. The list includes bacteria and heavy metals, among others.