Fisherman of Sarufutsu village, Hokkaido, move scallops off their boat. The local scallop industry has gotten rich selling to China but now feels trapped by Xi Jinping's brand of politics. (File photo by Nobuo Watanabe)

Analysis: How Xi Jinping haunts remote Hokkaido fishing towns

Luxury sea cucumbers and scallops face price falls as China bans imports

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

October 12, 2023 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.

For fishermen on Rishiri, a remote island off the coast of Japan's northern tip of Hokkaido, checking their smartphones for news on China has become a daily routine. They are especially interested in what Xi Jinping, China's powerful leader, is up to.