Preface
On August 24, 2023, Japan's seafood exports fell sharply as Japan insisted on discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, despite the protests of its own people and people around the world.
As a result, Japan is feeling a "headache", but it intends to sell seafood at risk of nuclear contamination to the United States in a roundabout way.
I have to say that the boomerang that the United States once threw still smashed on itself after all.
So, what is Japan's roundabout approach?
Boomerang smashed to the United States
Since last year, Japan's seafood exports have plummeted since Japan discharged nuclear sewage into the sea.
Many fishermen have lost their jobs as a result, and not only that, but even Japan's own people dare not eat their own seafood, for fear that one of them will accidentally eat it for themselves.
There was no export trade in seafood, and Japan's GDP fell as well.
In desperation, Japan thought of its "good big brother" the United States, after all, good things still have to be shared with the people around them.
Japan has set its sights on Mexico, not far from the United States, where they plan to build factories and send large quantities of domestic unsalable seafood scallops to Mexico.
It is then processed and packaged at a factory in Mexico and sent to the United States for sale.
It has to be said that Japan's business acumen is still good, and Mexico is certainly willing to accept this business cooperation.
After all, Japan can build factories there and sell them to the United States, and they can drive their own economic development, and Japan's seafood economy can also be saved a little.
This is a win-win partnership for Japan and Mexico.
As for the United States, I don't think they have much to say, after all, they are also supporting Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage with concrete actions.
After Japan's nuclear sewage was discharged, the news of unsalable seafood gave the Japanese prime minister a headache, so he asked the United States for help, and the United States also generously expressed its willingness to help.
As a result, the United States immediately purchased seafood scallops from Japan, but the atmospheric behavior of the United States appeared to be stingy in terms of purchase volume.
The first batch of scallops purchased by the United States from Japan was less than 1 tonne, which is incomparable to the more than 100,000 tonnes of scallops that China imported from Japan the year before.
The U.S. buys these scallops mainly for the U.S. military stationed in Japan, and although they say they will increase their purchases in the future, there is no big action at the moment.
Recall that when Japan insisted on discharging nuclear wastewater, only the United States stood behind Japan and strongly agreed with the discharge plan.
Now, the shot fired by the United States last year can now be regarded as hitting its own eyebrows.
Japan, on the other hand, insisted that the seawater mixed with nuclear sewage was completely drinkable, and they even sent "representatives" to drink the treated nuclear sewage in public.
This reminds me of India's devotion to the mother river, the Ganges.
It is well known that the "ingredient list" in the Ganges is quite abundant, and the people of India do not care and even feel that bathing and drinking there is a kind of happiness.
Now, Japan and India are somewhat inexplicable.
However, Japan is much more than India, after all, the Ganges River is just a bubble for the Indian people, and Japan intends to "share" the nuclear sewage with the people of the world.
It's just that Japan is bent on going its own way, and it is itself that bears the brunt of the damage.
Japan discharges nuclear wastewater
On the day Japan announced the release of nuclear-contaminated water, the Japanese people held various protest banners to oppose it, but even this could not change the determination of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The ocean is the most important part of nature, and the seafood in it is the food that nature has given us.
Over the years, Japan has become one of the "big players" in the seafood industry by relying on the convenience of coastal countries, and has made "sashimi" a high-end delicacy in the world.
But now, if Japan insists on discharging nuclear wastewater, is it not asking for a dead end? They are not eating the good "dividends" and are going to pollute the oceans and cause their GDP to decline.
When Japan launched its plan to discharge the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the sea, the General Administration of Customs of China announced a complete suspension of the import of seafood originating in Japan on the same day.
You know, China has always been the largest importer of Japanese food, of which seafood accounts for a very high proportion, and after China banned the import of Japanese seafood, Japan's seafood industry economy plummeted.
In addition to China, many other countries, including Russia, Switzerland, Panama, Senegal, and Kuwait, have stopped buying Japanese seafood.
Now, the jobs of Japanese fishermen have been "kicked over" by their own prime minister, but what can be done?
Japan has a completely different way to deal with nuclear wastewater, and the Japanese government has proposed five solutions to the nuclear wastewater, and discharging it into the sea is the cheapest and quickest solution.
Japan did not hesitate to choose the option of discharging into the sea, and in the end, it also caused the phenomenon of self-retribution, and their food export economy has been greatly reduced, and even the people themselves are resisting.
I have to say that the Japanese government has time to call on the people to eat more scallop meat, but it is better to eat more themselves.
Now, the main reason why the public is so resistant to seafood is because of Japan's selfishness and nuclear sewage, so where does Japan's nuclear sewage come from?
Fukushima nuclear power plant
On March 12, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant leaked due to the impact of the earthquake, and in April of the same year, the Fukushima nuclear power plant exploded due to the tsunami.
According to the assessment, the Fukushima nuclear accident was rated as a level 7.
In fact, this is not the first time that a nuclear leak has occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has hardly stopped since 1979.
In 1978, there was a critical accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but the accident was concealed by the Japanese government until 2007.
In 2005, 2006 and 3008, the Fukushima nuclear power plant had a number of nuclear leakage accidents, but the Japanese government brushed them aside.
It was not until the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that Japan and the international community began to pay attention to the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Since this incident, Japan has been deliberately discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea under the pretext of "leakage".
It seems that Japan has not seriously dealt with the aftermath of the explosion at the nuclear power plant, but has been constantly tampering with the published data and secretly discharging the nuclear-contaminated water.
There have been many incidents of Japan's discharge and leakage of nuclear sewage that we know about, not to mention how many of the real circumstances behind Japan's deliberate concealment we don't know.
At the beginning, in order to cool the nuclear reactor as soon as possible, Japan directly chose to pump a large amount of seawater to cool the reactor, and at that time, the polluted seawater had exceeded tens of thousands of tons, and finally was discharged into the seawater.
The ocean does not belong to Japan alone, it belongs to the common ocean of mankind around the world.
In other words, it doesn't even belong to humans, and since we own this sea, we should need to maintain the ecological balance and environment of the ocean.
Instead of constantly discharging nuclear-contaminated water into it, as Japan has done.
In the beginning, Japan only secretly discharged nuclear sewage under the pretext of "leakage", but after receiving the support of the United States, they simply did not cover it up and implemented the discharge plan openly.
As of April 19 this year, Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company launched the fifth round of nuclear wastewater discharge, which is expected to last until May 7, with a total discharge of about 7,800 tons.
Japan's actions have not stopped with condemnation, and the nuclear-contaminated water has already caused damage to the ecological balance of the oceans.
So, what are the effects of Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage on human beings?
The world's oceans are polluted
Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water not only leads to the loss of food safety of seafood, but also seriously endangers human health.
First of all, it is almost impossible for people to lack seafood in their daily food, because eating seafood is indeed good for the human body, and it can properly supplement excellent elements such as DHA and calcium.
Although the nuclear-contaminated water discharged by Japan has not yet spread to China's waters, it is judged by the Japanese government's amount and timing of discharge.
Ten years from now, Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water will spread to the world's seas, and there will be no guarantee of the safety of China's own seafood.
Not only that, but these nuclear contaminations will be harmful for decades or even centuries, and these hazards will stay with people for a long time.
According to expert research, there are many radionuclides in nuclear-contaminated water that are not yet available, and effective treatment technologies, such as tritium, carbon-14, iodine-129, etc.
On the other hand, Japan's argument that the nuclear-contaminated water is diluted with seawater is not harmful to the human body is quite absurd.
Nuclear radiation will become food for fish and shrimp after the continuous release of nuclear elements, and eventually exist in the body of fish and shrimp, and our long-term consumption will affect our health.
I believe that Japan still has a lot of say in the experience of suffering from nuclear radiation, not to mention how serious the consequences of the atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in the past.
In Fukushima Prefecture, 103 of the 385,000 adolescents today have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, mainly due to radiation.
At present, Japan's actions have caused a threat to the safety of human life, but even so, Japan has no intention of stopping.
As for the United States, they have been supportive of Japan's emissions plan and have even started sourcing Japanese seafood in order to resist China's ban on imports.
However, since you want to support your younger brother, it is better to be generous, and it may make Japan more grateful if you directly wrap it up.
This kind of "brotherly affection" drama is indeed touching, and when we think back to the nuclear damage caused by the United States to Japan, and then to Japan's current return of courtesy, the two countries you come and go with can be called "models of etiquette".
epilogue
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has a good saying:
"Japan should not cry out as a victim, but should reflect on itself as a perpetrator. ”
Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unethical and will be strongly condemned, and in the future, maritime safety will affect everyone.
Japan, as the initiator, will certainly become the first country to swallow the consequences.
Resources:
Global Network: British media: The U.S. military began to purchase Japanese seafood, but the first batch was less than 1 ton of scallops
Xinhua Press: Japan's TEPCO Company: 54,600 cubic meters of nuclear sewage will be discharged in fiscal year 2024
The People's Government of Kaifu District, Changsha City: What is the impact of Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea?
Guangming.com: Japan launched the fifth round of discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea