Japan's Foreign Ministry is fighting back against what it sees as excessive import restrictions on Japanese products, following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Japan's Foreign Ministry is fighting back against what it sees as excessive import restrictions on Japanese products, following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, at least 15 countries and regions had banned or restricted imports of Japanese food as of Thursday.
In some cases, restrictions are applied to products from Nagano and Kanagawa prefectures, far from the government-designated agricultural and dairy restriction zone of Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma and Ibaraki prefectures.
The 15 countries include India, South Korea, China, Singapore, the United States and Russia.
The degree of restriction ranges from India's radiation inspection of all food from Japan to South Korea's suspension of imports from the Japanese-government restricted prefectures.
The ministry has objected to, for instance, Singapore's ban on agricultural produce from Ehime Prefecture, 800 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima plant.
Some countries are also conducting radiation inspections on industrial products such as electric appliances and ships entering their ports.
The ministry has stepped up efforts to collect information on import bans and restrictions on Japanese products. If there are cases violating World Trade Organization agreements, it plans to request member countries to comply.
The ministry and other government agencies are now discussing issuing certification of food safety.
In a meeting of the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee on Tuesday, Yoichi Otabe, ambassador to Japan's permanent mission to international organizations in Geneva, asked other nations not to overreact.
"Japan is working hard to recover from the disaster. I would request you not impose unreasonable import bans," he said.
Otabe asked WTO members to act in line with WTO agreements that stipulate import restrictions should be scientifically grounded.