Japan PM pledges to help fishing industry hit by China seafood ban

Kishida inspecting a wholesaler dealing with seafood from Fukushima region as he visits at Toyosu fish market in Tokyo on Aug 31, 2023. - Reuters

TOKYO (AP): Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sampled seafood and talked to workers at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market on Thursday (Aug 31) to assess the impact of China’s ban on Japanese seafood in reaction to the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi plant to the sea.

The release of the treated wastewater began last week and is expected to continue for decades. Japanese fishing groups and neighboring countries opposed it, and China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood in response.