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HK seafood ban, Fukushima wastewater
Photograph: Tatum Ancheta

Hong Kong will ban seafood imports from Japan starting August 24

The release of Fukushima wastewater means an indefinite ban on Japanese seafood imports in the city

Catharina Cheung
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Catharina Cheung
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The Hong Kong government has just announced the decision to ban imports of seafood products from 10 prefectures in Japan starting Thursday, August 24. This comes in response to Tokyo’s announcement that it would start to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which could potentially set loose harmful amounts of radioactivity into Japanese waters.

The 10 prefectures from which products will be banned are Fukushima, Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, and Saitama. The ban will encompass all seafood products – whether live, chilled, frozen, or dried – as well as sea salt and seaweed.

Japan claims that their gradual release of diluted wastewater, more than a decade after the tsunami damage, is a safe course of action. The UN atomic agency has concurred with this opinion, but Beijing has strongly opposed the plan.

There is currently no end date planned for lifting this ban, which means the Japanese seafood ban is indefinite for now. It remains to be seen what this might mean for Hong Kong’s scores of Japanese restaurants – which make up approximately 10 percent of all eateries in the city.

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