Ornamental carp, or “nishikigoi,” admired as swimming jewels for their colorful brocade patterns, are much sought-after among wealthy people overseas.

Since November, however, nishikigoi breeders in Japan have not been able to export their luxury carp to China because Chinese authorities have not reviewed any licenses after the last expired at the end of October.

This sudden snub from China has left breeders baffled.

UNKNOWN REASONS

Omosako Koi Farm, one such breeder based in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, has exported 10,000 or so nishikigoi, ranging in age from fry to adult fish, every year. China has been the destination for about 30 percent of those, company officials said.

“My sense of doom and gloom has been proven right,” said Takayoshi Omosako, the 46-year-old president of the farm.

Omosako Koi Farm is one of 15 carp farms in Japan that the Chinese government had granted a license for direct export to China. The farm obtained the approval in 2019.

The license, however, had a time limit of three years, so farm officials applied for a renewal via the Japanese farm ministry ahead of the expiration date of March 2022. But there was no reaction from the Chinese side and the license automatically expired.

The farm switched to exporting its nishikigoi via a quarantine facility in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, the only one in Japan, but the Chinese license for the Nagaoka facility also expired at the end of October this year, making the farm lose all means of exporting to China.

It remains to be seen what prompted the Chinese government to stop accepting nishikigoi exported from Japan.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. began releasing treated radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean on Aug. 24. China, angered by that action, banned the import of all Japanese marine products from late August.

Farm ministry figures show the monthly export of aquatic products to mainland China was worth only 800 million yen ($5.4 million) in September, down 90.8 percent year on year.

But nishikigoi were still on the list of items that could be exported to China in September. Export licenses also stopped being renewed for Japanese breeders even before the treated radioactive water was discharged.

It is, therefore, anybody’s guess as to why China stopped accepting the nishikigoi.

“We have heard no explanations from the Chinese side on the latest development,” one Japanese government official said. “It appears more likely than not, however, that China is harassing us over the release of treated water.”

POPULAR EXPORT

Japan’s export of nishikigoi continued to grow even during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The annual export value was 6.3 billion yen last year, more than double the corresponding figure 10 years earlier. Export to China accounted for 19 percent of the sum.

Officials of the All Japan Nishikigoi Promotion Association (JNPA)--an Ojiya, Niigata Prefecture-based group of breeders and distributors--said that nishikigoi are often bought by affluent people overseas via buyers who live in Japan.

One nishikigoi that was the champion in a show fetched a price of 200 million yen, the officials said.

Nishikigoi costing several tens of millions of yen per head would often be exported to China, the JNPA officials added.

Japan is bolstering the export of nishikigoi under a national project.

For example, a World Nishikigoi Summit was held in Niigata, the capital of Niigata Prefecture, in November last year. And nishikigoi were added to the government's list of priority export items last December.

“Many breeders wish to continue exporting their nishikigoi to China,” said Tsutomu Senuma, secretary-general of the JNPA. “The only thing we can do now, however, is to expand the list of countries where we can export them.”

As it appears unlikely that exports to China will resume anytime soon, Omosako Koi Farm has downsized its business for Chinese customers and developed new sales channels in Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, along with European nations that include Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

That still falls short of making up for the great loss of not being able to export to China, however, a farm official said.

“China, with its many nishikigoi amateurs, used to be a big sales channel for us,” the official said. “Local brokers have told us that demand from purchasers there has not fallen. We are feeling so incredibly frustrated, given that people in the country have developed a liking for this form of Japanese culture.”

Farm ministry officials said they are continuing to call on their Chinese counterparts to resume nishikigoi imports.

Nishikigoi are also known simply as “koi” in English, though the Japanese word is a generic term for all carp. It is said that nishikigoi originated in today’s Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, during the Edo Period (1603-1867).

(This article was written by Akihiro Nishiyama, Ryo Oyama and Natsuki Edogawa.)