Hong Kong maintains ban on seafood from 10 areas in Japan

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China has lifted part of a ban on seafood products from Japan. The ban was first put in place when Japan began releasing waste water from the out-of-use Fukushima nuclear power plant.

But Hong Kong will not change its own ban, which does not allow sea products from Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama.

In August 2023, Japan began discharging treated waste water. The water was collected in a 2011 tsunami that severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A Hong Kong government spokesperson said that the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant was unusual in both size and time frame.

The waste water was filtered through a process which removes most radioactive elements. But the decision to discharge the water prompted China to ban all Japanese sea products.

At the same time, the Hong Kong government restricted imports from 10 Japanese regions. China said it would resume importing seafood products from Japan, except for the same 10 areas.