The uneasy Sino-Japanese relationship recently has played out around the Fukushima waste water issue and China's ban on Japanese seafood, like shark fin, Hokkaido dried sea cucumbers and Hokkaido scallops. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Konosuke Urata, Hajime Tsukada, Yusuke Hinata and Kyodo)

Analysis: China lifts Japanese seafood ban amid political maneuvering

Personnel reshuffle suggests change of fortunes for 'environment faction'

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA

July 10, 2025 04:00 JST

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

China has partially lifted its unscientific ban on all Japanese seafood imports, which has been a source of tension between the Asian neighbors for the past two years or so.