China Bans Japanese Seafood, Impact on Restaurants

China will enforce a ban on all seafood imports from Japan starting August 24. It follows Japan’s decision to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the 2011 tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, an action strongly opposed at home and abroad. 

From now through March 2024, a total of 31,200 tons are slated for discharge according to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). 

The ban has already begun to affect restaurants in Shanghai, namely Japanese restaurants, and it is uncertain what long-term effects will result from this decision. 

I spoke to a few Shanghai restaurant owners and chefs to see how businesses are coping with the news and what long-term effects it will have on the industry.

Interviews

Impact of the Japanese Seafood Ban

on Restaurants in Shanghai

Sun-San 孙建国

 Chef-founder of Ochiyo, Ochiyo 1710 

It will definitely be a disaster for Japanese restaurants that are already struggling due to the economic downturn after the pandemic. Moreover, the duration of this ban is expected to be longer, which means that new restaurants that were planning to open might have to postpone their plans, and the ones that were already struggling might have to shut down. Only a few restaurants might be able to survive and wait for new opportunities.

Since the news first broke about Japan's plan to discharge nuclear wastewater, there have been many new supply channels within China that can replace Japanese seafood. 

There will definitely be some adjustments to the menu. The variety of seafood will be reduced, and there will be an increase in organic vegetables or meat options. There are other ways to make delicious sashimi and sushi using seafood from other countries. 

Under the impact of this incident, along with the long-term effects of the previous pandemic and economic recession, Japanese restaurants will definitely face widespread closure. I think within the next six months, many Japanese restaurants will choose to close. Because the number of customers will decrease significantly and there will be various problems including food safety inspections, which will cause a lot of operational difficulties. Even we may be forced to close—there's no way around it. 

After a certain period of time and if there are no major issues with the testing of marine life, people will gradually recover. However, it is difficult to say how long this will take.

I think the ban will last for over a year. For most restaurants, including ourselves, if the impact is significant, the duration that anyone can tolerate will be about one to three months.

In terms of the dining experience, I think those who truly love to eat or understand the core of this issue will still choose to eat (seafood). It will just become a topic of conversation during dining and will influence the choices of many discerning individuals.

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 Carlos Sotomayor 

 Chef, High Yaki & High Yaki The Sea 

I think many Japanese restaurants will suffer by just being a Japanese restaurant. Restaurants in general are not busy currently, and with this, it will be even more challenging. FDA will be tighter on checking labels and products.

Even we try to localize our seafood supply, we risk being ostracized for just being a Japanese restaurant. For High Yaki, even though our focus is on meat we’re still categorized as a Japanese restaurant. I do think the most affected venue could be High Yaki The Sea, but only if we don't inform the guests properly and that we keep our sourcing records clear and up to date. The biggest impact for us will be the tuna. 

For guests, we will keep them well informed and communicate accordingly when they raise concerns of our seafood origins. We already had guests asking even before the news release. Some ingredients that are traditionally found in Japan can be now sourced from China, like sea urchin, which is now being farmed in Dalian. At the moment we also use spot prawns and amaebi from Russia, tuna from Spain, and mackerel and crab from China.

We have been trying to use more local seafood for a while to be sustainable. Spanish tuna wasn’t widely advertised on the market before, and it is a high-quality product. Indeed it was better to source it from Japan since it is only one short flight away and it had outstanding freshness and quality. If there was a local tuna supplier with high quality product it would be amazing, but that is unlikely. 

There will most certainly be a price increase on seafood. We have certainly been informed that some products will increase in price, and prices will possibly fluctuate according to demand. Unfortunately menu pricing will have to change to reflect the cost of the products.

This (ban) has happened with poultry and pork products before. But this is a different scenario…didn’t have nuclear waterwaste being disposed in the ocean.

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 Naoki-San 

 Chef at Machiya 

I'm most concerned that people don't want to eat Japanese seafood anymore and that they get a bad impression of Japan. 

If we can't get good Japanese ingredients, there will be fewer and fewer customers. This year I've been looking for domestic sources of seafood, but Japanese omakase and sushi is part of Japanese culture, and some ingredients are not easily replaced. 

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Liu-San 

 Chef-Founder at Hulu Sushi 

The most worrying thing is the customer's worry and that they won't want to come to eat. 

Our booking rate has dropped from 100% to 50%. Except maybe for today, where we had many last-minute bookings, perhaps in fear of not being able to eat sushi for a while.  

But in fact, since three months ago, thanks to the efforts of our colleagues in the industry and of suppliers, we have managed to find many good substitutes for Japanese seafood. Domestic seafood products including sea urchin, which were not easily found before, are now widely available thanks to these hard-working suppliers. 

We still hope to stick to our concept and present a seasonal omakase menu using ingredients from China and all around the world.

And yes, there will be people fighting to get the last frozen stock of seafood.

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 Mark Klingspon
 Managing Partner, The Cannery  

For Japanese seafood specifically, I largely trust Japan's stewardship of nature and food and ingredients. Perhaps I’m naive about it….but I think they have always managed such a high quality. This situation would not stop me from eating Japanese food. 

But FOR SURE Japanese restaurants in China will be heavily impacted. For us at The Cannery, fortunately, we won’t be impacted as none of our ingredients are coming from around the east coast of Japan and the Pacific Rim waters. 

The year has already been so tough for the industry. This is like the LAST THING that our brothers in the Japanese genre need!

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