Heads of Fukushima Associations in Europe Hold Meeting in Germany

July 16, 2018

Duesseldorf, Germany- Four European-based associations of people from the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima held a meeting of their leaders in Duesseldorf, western Germany, on Sunday.

The participants from the associations in Germany, Britain, France and the Netherlands discussed how to strengthen their call for the European Union to lift its remaining import restrictions on foods from Fukushima and ways to promote sales of Fukushima products in Europe.

The meeting was the second of its kind. The first leaders' meeting of the four associations was held in the Netherlands in June last year.

The EU introduced its import restrictions on foods from Fukushima and other Japanese prefectures following the March 2011 triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

In December 2017, the restrictions were lifted for part of the foods, including rice from Fukushima. But the EU still requires the submission of certification documents on radiation checks for imports of some items, such as soybeans and part of fishery products from the prefecture.

At Sunday's meeting, the leaders of the Fukushima-related associations reconfirmed a plan to launch a similar association of people from the prefecture in Belgium to beef up lobbying activities for the EU headquarters in the Belgian capital of Brussels for the full removal of the import restrictions.

Takeshi Ishikawa, head of the association in the Netherlands, stressed his hope to set up the envisioned new association by the end of this year while citing difficulties selecting a person who will play a leading role in the establishment of the new group.

The participants also discussed the idea of utilizing various events in Europe to help expand the marketing channels for products from Fukushima.

"We hope to publicize Fukushima and support its reconstruction," said Yoshio Mitsuyama, head of the association in Britain. Fukushima is one of the areas hit hardest by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami, which led to the severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. Jiji Press