Chris Loew

Restaurant operators across Japan, many still working to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, are now facing new financial difficulties as the country’s zero-zero loans come due. 

Japan’s zero-zero loans were loans the government handed out during the pandemic to prevent mass closures of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The purpose of the zero-zero loans, most of which came with zero interest and

Russia has banned imports of Japanese seafood, following China’s lead in the wake of the controversial release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

“As a precautionary measure, the Rosselkhoznadzor joins China's temporary restrictive measures against imports of fish and seafood from Japan from October 16, 2023,” Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision

After a year-long assessment process, Japan’s Marine Eco-Label (MEL) certification standard, which has recently become the primary standard for many of the country’s feed producers, received recertification approval from the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) under Version 2.0 of its Global Benchmark Tool.

The MEL certification was created in 2007 to promote its recognition in the Japanese market, with the aim to gain wider

Japan’s furusato nozei – the country’s hometown tax program – is coming to the aid of scallop producers hit hard by China’s ban on Japanese seafood.

Under the program, a taxpayer who designates a portion of their taxes toward an area in which they don’t live can receive a gift valued at around 30 percent of the tax amount. The program aims to promote local products, and seafood has proven to be a popular item

Seafood-processing company Kaneyoshi is capitalizing on the quirks of Japan’s recycling and tax systems to increase sales of its plastic-packaged consumer products.

At the FOODEX in Kansai trade show, held over the summer in Osaka, Japan, Kaneyoshi displayed its line of seafood packed in plastic pouches. It's seeking to capitalize on growing consumer calls for shelf-stable, yet still high-quality food products. Kaneyoshi Quality Control

Robotic waiters that can serve food, clean tables and floors, and display menu specials are catching the attention of Japan’s big sushi chains.

Column-shaped “robowaiters” made by Shenzhen, China-based Pudu Robotics were the center of attention at the Hoteres Japan trade show, which took place mid-summer in Osaka, signaling the continuance of a nationwide push that started during the Covid-19 pandemic to introduce more

Many high-end sushi shops in Japan are starting to prepare their dishes with red vinegar in a similar fashion to how sushi chefs prepared the original nigiri sushi style, edomae, over two centuries ago.

In March of this year, the Tokyo-based restaurant chain Kaiten Sushi Misaki started to heavily emphasize red vinegar in its shari (sushi rice). The improved “new red shari” uses red vinegar made from sake lees that slowly ages for two

Kappa Create, the Yokohama, Japan-based parent company of the Kappa Sushi conveyor-belt sushi chain, issued a notice to investors this summer that its actual results for fiscal year 2023 would fall below its forecast issued on 8 February – an estimate which had already sharply lowered expectations from the company’s initial 8 November forecast.

In the same July notice, Kappa advised investors it would record an impairment loss due to

Eight U.K. seafood companies exhibited at this year’s edition of the Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo, according to Seafish, a U.K. public body that supports the country’s seafood sector.

The expo, held from 23 to 25 August, took place at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, featuring nearly 1,000 exhibitors and about 25,000 total visitors. The U.K. seafood pavilion co-located with Seafood from Scotland pavilion