The material in this article comes from the Internet, if it is inconsistent with the actual situation or there is infringement, please contact to delete.
It seems that even the Japanese government is panicking.
The Japanese government has set up an 80 billion yen fund in the past six months to support the water industry affected by the discharge of nuclear wastewater into the sea, Kyodo News reported.
So which industries will be affected? How big is the impact?
Catches continue to decline
When nuclear wastewater is discharged into the sea, fisheries must bear the brunt.
Will it have a big impact on the Japanese economy?
From a macro perspective, this may be negligible.
According to the latest data from the Japanese cabinet, the value of Japan's fishery production in 2021 was 637 billion yen, accounting for 0.12% of the total GDP. There is a big gap with pillar industries such as manufacturing, real estate, wholesale and retail.
The contribution of fisheries to GDP growth is extremely low, at just 0.04% in 2022. In the past decade, the largest year-on-year increase in fisheries has reached 14.88% (2015). Due to the small total volume, the contribution rate is still less than 1%, only 0.55%.
But for the industry and fishermen, it's a huge impact.
In fact, Japan's fishing industry has long since sunk and continues to decline. The discharge of nuclear wastewater into the sea this year will make the situation worse.
The earliest data from Japan's National Bureau of Statistics dates back to 1994. At that time, Japan's seafood production value was 1,430.5 billion yen, the peak of production.
Since then, this number has decreased year by year. In the 21st century, the output value did not exceed 1 trillion yen. Compared to 27 years ago, the output value in 2021 is less than half.
Production declined and the consumer market shrank.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, fish and seafood consumption in Japan has fallen from a high of 72.19 kilograms per capita per year to a low of 45.57 kilograms since 1990, a decrease of 40%.
In the short term, therefore, fishermen must be the worst offenders.
According to reports, about 100 citizens of Fukushima Prefecture and surrounding wards will file a lawsuit in the Fukushima court on September 8 to stop the continued discharge of nuclear wastewater into the sea.
Exports should be halved
The domestic market shrank and exports halved.
Although seafood products are not Japan's main export commodity, they account for about 0.25% of the year. But the total number of exports is not a small number.
In 2022, Japan's total seafood exports to the world will reach US$1.97 billion. In addition, it has maintained an upward trend of volatility for nearly a decade. In 2021, the year-on-year increase once reached 35.5%.
But as things stand, that growth will come to an abrupt end.
China and South Korea are important exporters of Japanese seafood products, accounting for about 45% in 2022. The two countries' bans on Japanese seafood will affect its $870 million worth of seafood exports.
Among them, the price of scallops fell.
In 2022, Japan's scallop exports to China will reach 46.7 billion yen. Exports stagnated due to China's ban. At present, the number of scallops circulating in Japan has increased, leading to a decline in the market. Scallop prices fell by about 30% year-on-year.
As a result, the Japanese government has recently been actively exploring the U.S. and Southeast Asian markets to replace China's position in water management products.
In addition to fishing, tourism is also affected in the short term.
Tourism is one of the pillars of Japan's economy.
In 2003, Japan implemented the strategy of building a nation through tourism, which helped Japan's tourism industry to embark on the "fast track" and steadily develop into one of the main tourist destinations for tourists in the world.
Before the pandemic in 2019, tourism contributed about 7.3% to Japan's gross domestic product (GDP). Among them, the tourism revenue contributed by foreign tourists' consumption reached 4.8 trillion yuan.
Regardless of the number of tourists or consumption, the protagonists are China and South Korea.
Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists accounted for half of the Japanese tourism market. According to data from the tourism white paper of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, Chinese tourists accounted for 52.6%, reaching 16.77 million.
South Korea also accounted for 17.5% of the total, with 5.58 million visitors.
Chinese tourists are also the largest consumer group.
In 2019, Chinese mainland tourists contributed 1,770.4 billion yen to Japan's tourism economy, accounting for 36.8%. Together with Taiwan and Hong Kong, it accounted for more than half, reaching 55.6%.
After Japan began dumping nuclear wastewater into the sea, Chinese and South Koreans expressed dissatisfaction and resentment, which was soon reflected in the decline in the willingness to travel to Japan.
According to statistics, 87% of Weibo users said that they would not consider going to Japan again in the near future. At the same time, some social platform users said that trust in Japanese products has declined, and they will consider suspending their use or purchasing.
Cross-border travel in Japan was expected to break new highs this year and peak around National Day. However, due to the impact of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge into the sea, the performance of Japan's tourism industry in the second half of this year is still unknown.
Judging from the above data, Japan's insistence on discharging nuclear wastewater despite the opposition of neighboring countries is bound to affect its economic development and cause certain losses.
But on the other hand, the impact of nuclear wastewater cannot be measured in the billions of dollars mentioned above. Radiation pollution threatens marine ecology and human health worldwide. This is no longer just an economic problem for a country, but a life-and-death dilemma.
Disclaimer: The above content and materials are derived from the Internet, and the author of this article does not intend to target or allude to any real country, political system, organization, race, or individual. The above does not mean that the author of this article endorses the laws, rules, opinions, behaviors in the article and is responsible for the authenticity of the relevant information. The author of this article is not responsible for any problems arising above or related to the above and does not assume any direct or indirect legal liability.
If the content of the article involves the content of the work, copyright images, infringement, rumors or other problems, please contact to delete. Finally, if you have any different ideas about this event, welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss!