Whether the ban on certain Japanese food products is lifted depends on Taiwanese, Japanese Representative to Taiwan Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday, while praising the taste of Taiwanese pineapples.
Izumi made the remarks on the sidelines of an exhibition commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake in Japan.
After the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, which was caused by the earthquake, Taiwan imposed a ban on imports of food products from Fukushima and four other prefectures — Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi — which remains a sticking point in bilateral relations.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
More than 77 percent of Taiwanese who voted in a 2018 referendum chose to retain the ban, but the vote is only legally binding for two years.
Asked if Taiwan and Japan have discussed removing the ban, Izumi said that the issue of whether to lift the ban should be decided by Taiwan’s government, as it is responsible for food safety.
Nonetheless, scientific evidence, including data collected by Taiwanese researchers, shows that food products produced in the five prefectures are safe, he added.
Asked he has supported Taiwanese pineapples, as many Japanese have done after China’s ban on imports of the fruit from Monday last week, Izumi said that Taiwanese pineapples are delicious.
Among the more than 20 cultivars of Taiwanese pineapples, he particularly likes the No. 16 and No. 17 cultivars, Izumi added.
Many Japanese are willing to pay a bit more to buy Taiwanese pineapples in Japan, as they want to show support for Taiwan, he said.
Twenty-two Taiwanese businesses participated in Japan’s International Food and Beverage Exhibition this week, and pineapples as well as pineapple juice, dried fruit and fried rice made with the fruit attracted the most attention among Taiwan’s products, Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
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