Ambassadors of four Commonwealth nations tucked into rice balls and other tasty morsels from Fukushima at an event in Tokyo to show support for food from the disaster-stricken prefecture.
Ambassadors of four Commonwealth nations tucked into rice balls and other tasty morsels from Fukushima at an event in Tokyo to show support for food from the disaster-stricken prefecture.
The Jan. 27 event was organized by the farm ministry to raise attention to efforts to resuscitate the local economy and promote exports of Fukushima goods, which have remained stagnant since the nuclear accident triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan.
The food tasting was hosted by Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori in a store specializing in foods from Fukushima Prefecture.
He was joined by Mark Sinclair, Bruce Miller, Mackenzie Clugston and Tim Hitchens, respectively the ambassadors of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Britain, at Nihonbashi Fukushima-kan Midette in Chuo Ward.
Also on hand were Koya Nishikawa, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and Wataru Takeshita, the reconstruction minister.
The envoys were served "onigiri" rice balls made from grain harvested in the prefecture and beef, washed down with locally-produced "ginjo" premium sake.
Nihonbashi Fukushima-kan Midette opened last April with the aim of countering fears about the safety of food products from Fukushima Prefecture in the aftermath of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"It's a shame that the locals are still suffering four years after the nuclear disaster," Sinclair said. "I want to keep supporting them."
New Zealand, Australia and Canada had lifted import restrictions on products from Fukushima Prefecture by January 2014, based on measurements of radioactive material. Britain allows imports as long as a government-issued radioactive material inspection certificate is submitted.
However, agricultural products produced in Fukushima Prefecture are still widely shunned in overseas markets.
Agricultural exports from the prefecture amounted to 153 tons in fiscal 2010. But in fiscal 2011, which started in April that year or just a few weeks after the disaster, the total dipped to 17 tons.
Fears about radioactivity continued to affect the prefecture's exports, with the total for fiscal 2012 plunging to 2 tons. Although the situation showed some improvement during the past fiscal year, the total amount of agricultural exports remains at around 5 tons.
Twelve nations and regions, including Fukushima Prefecture's former key export destinations of Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, still fully or partially ban imports of foods from the prefecture.
"The amount we can export is limited, even to countries that allow imports, and business negotiations for each export case takes a lot of time," said a prefectural government official.
Prefectural authorities, meantime, are trying to expand exports to Southeast Asia as part of a new strategy.
In fiscal 2012, peaches and apples were exported to Thailand for the first time after the nuclear disaster. Fruit from Fukushima was also exported to Malaysia in fiscal 2013.
In August, 300 kilograms of the coveted "Koshihikari" brand rice grown in the prefecture sold out at a luxury food store in Singapore.