"Isn't It Because of Radiation?" Mass Fish Death in Japan Surprises China Even More

Ranked 2nd in Popular News on Chinese Portal

Recently, a school of sardines that died en masse along the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, was swept ashore by waves, drawing attention, and this news has also attracted interest from Chinese netizens.

On the 8th (local time), Chinese portals such as 'Baidu' posted news from Japan's Nihon TV. The news reported that a school of sardines that died en masse was washed ashore on the coast of Hakodate City in southern Hokkaido the previous morning.

Chinese netizens showing great interest in the 'mass sardine die-off' incident on the Japanese coast [Image source=Captured from Baidu]

In the released video, the school of sardines washed ashore is piled up on the white sandy beach. According to the media, local residents also reacted that this was the first time they had seen such a scene.

The reason Chinese netizens are focusing on this news seems to be because the cause of the mass death is unclear. According to Nihon TV, the cause of the sardines' death is currently under investigation, and measures for handling the carcasses are also being discussed.

On Baidu, the article ranked as the second most popular news, and major media outlets such as China News Service, Guangming Online, and Xinjingbao also focused on the story. Some media speculated, "Could it be due to the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (officially called 'treated water' in Japan) into the ocean?"

Netizens also left comments agreeing with this, saying things like, "This happened because of the discharge of nuclear wastewater (contaminated water)," "I think the sardines died because of pollution," and "There is not much time left until humanity perishes because of Japan."

China is one of the countries that has reacted most sensitively since the Japanese government began discharging nuclear wastewater. After the discharge, Chinese authorities also imposed a ban on Japanese seafood imports.

According to data from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, seafood exports to China in October fell sharply by 83.8% compared to the same month last year, recording 1.4 billion yen (approximately 12.7 billion KRW).