Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

THE Japanese cuisine restaurants in Shenzhen, including some high-end ones, fear their business will be affected by the Japanese government’s irresponsible move of dumping the treated contaminated water into the sea. They believe the move definitely has cast a dark shadow over the safety of seafood.

On Meituan, China’s leading food delivery app, there are a dozen of Japanese cuisine restaurants within 2 kilometers of the Jingtian area in Futian District including high-end restaurants like Rocksalt, Kyoku and Itaru, which each costs 500-700 yuan (US$69-96) per person.

A receptionist from the Itaru Japanese cuisine restaurant said in a phone interview that its business was normal, but feared the number of diners patronizing the restaurant may be dwindling as the safety concerns grow.

“We don’t have seafood materials imported from Japan at the restaurant. The aquatic products we used here were sourced from China and other countries like Norway, not including Japan,” said the receptionist.

The Black Pearl one-star Japanese restaurant Sushi Yotsuba, which has outlets in Nanshan and Futian districts, recently issued an announcement, claiming that it had already stopped importing aquatic products from Japan, and all the food materials can be traced and meet the national standards on food safety.

“The seafood in our stores, including tuna and salmon, is imported from Spain, Russia, France, New Zealand and Australia,” Sushi Yotsuba said in the announcement.

A diner Gu who was dining at a Mifu Sushi outlet in Jingtian, Futian District, said in an interview that she would eat less seafood because she was uncertain over the consequence on water and seafood following the irresponsible act of Japan.

A resident surnamed Xiao, a fan of Japanese food, said she would consider stopping having food from Japan out of safety concern.

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.

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.