Chris Loew

Contributing Editor reporting from Osaka, Japan

Chris Loew reports from Osaka, Japan as a contributing editor for SeafoodSource.com. In addition to writing for SeafoodSource.com, he covers Japan for stock-investing newsletter Global Investing. He co-authored a college language text, “Healthcare English: Read, Write and Speak It.” When not writing, he proofreads Japanese-to-English translations. Chris is a 1990 graduate of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. After graduation, he worked for two years in the purchasing department of a Japanese meat importer, and for five years as export director for two Seattle food companies, selling to customers in the Far East, and arranging shipping and export documentation for mixed containers of frozen foods.

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Maruha Nichiro and IntegriCulture to pursue joint research on lab-cultured fish-cell protein

Published on

August 30, 2021

Maruha Nichiro will jointly research cell-cultured fish meat with IntegriCulture Co., the creator of the trademarked CulNet System.

Maruha Nichiro, one of the largest fishery, aquaculture, and food processing companies in the world, will jointly research cell-cultured fish meat with IntegriCulture Co., the creator of the trademarked CulNet System, a cell-culture platform that simulates interactions between organs in animals ...

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Japanese government plans fund to buy Fukushima fish after cooling water release

Published on

August 25, 2021

Japan’s government is creating a fund to assist fishermen in Fukushima, whose products are at risk of reputational damage following a release of stored cooling water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japan’s government is creating a fund to assist fishermen in Fukushima and other prefectures whose products are at risk of reputational damage following a planned release of stored cooling water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant ...

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Ishimitsu commits to BAP sourcing in “first step” for sustainability

Published on

August 24, 2021

Japanese food and beverage conglomerate S. Ishimitsu & Co., Ltd. has committed to sourcing seafood from Best Aquaculture Practices-certified farms and processing plants

Japanese food and beverage conglomerate S. Ishimitsu & Co., Ltd. has committed to sourcing seafood from Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified farms and processing plants

Yokorei reorganizes Hofseth subsidiaries in Norway

Published on

August 24, 2021

Japanese cold-storage, logistics, and frozen-food company Yokohama Reito (Yokorei) is reorganizing its Norwegian subsidiaries so that they are not majority foreign-owned, as Norway enacts stricter rules about granting aquaculture sites to foreign companies. The Yokohama-based company established itself in Norway through a business alliance that included capital participation with Ålesund, Norway-based salmon processor Hofseth International AS… Read More

Japan’s export push paid off in first half of 2021

Published on

August 12, 2021

Japanese seafood exports were up in the first half of 2021.

Japan’s seafood export strategy is paying off as the world begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, with its seafood exports up 27 percent in the first half of 2021.

Japan Minister of Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Kotaro Nogami reported in an online press conference on 3 August that Japan’s exports of agriculture, forestry, and fishery products and foods increased by 31.6 percent in the first half of 2021 from

Catch quota for Pacific bluefin may be raised

Published on

August 10, 2021

Japan has asked for an increase in its total allowable catch of Pacific bluefin tuna.

The Sixth Joint Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission Northern Committee Working Group Meeting on Pacific Bluefin Tuna Management has partially approved a Japanese proposal to increase the total allowable catch for the species ...

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EDF building bridges between US, Japanese fisheries managers

Published on

August 4, 2021

A U.S.-Japan scientific exchange hosted by the Environmental Defense Fund.

A virtual climate and fisheries workshop hosted in July by the Environmental Defense Fund had the goal of building bridges between fisheries managers in Japan and the United States.

The seminar organized by the New York City, U.S.A.-based NGO brought together scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service and Japan’s Fisheries Research and Education Agency to discuss current and future climate-related changes in fisheries, data gaps

Japanese supermarket chain promoting science-based North Atlantic pelagic quotas with NGO

Published on

July 29, 2021

The Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union has joined the North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group.

The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) on 19 July announced its first member company from Asia: the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU).

NAPA was launched in 2019, in response to the loss of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for several key pelagic stocks. The group was also established to address the trend of countries in the Northeast Atlantic region unilaterally setting quotas higher than is

Surimi at highest prices in a decade in Japan

Published on

July 28, 2021

Chikuwa, a surimi product popular in Japan.

Japanese fish-paste makers are getting squeezed, with their raw material costs rising but facing reticence from consumers and company executives alike about raising prices for their products ...

Photo courtesy of Chris