JAPAN: Japanese and Koreans in Tokyo fear sanctions on North Korean imports will push up prices on clams, crabs and mushrooms

Life goes on in streets in downtown Tokyo where many ethnic Koreans live despite sanctions placed on imports from North Korea and all shipping from Japan's reclusive neighbour. Much has to do with the fact that many ethnic Koreans living in Japan -- even those affliliated to Pyongyang -- are second, third or even fourth generation Koreans that have lived most of their lives in Japan after their grandparents arrived as forced labourers during World War Two. The others are more recent immigrants -- all from South Korea. However Japan imports much of its shortnecked clams, queen crabs and Matsutake (pine) mushrooms from North Korea - delicacies here that are highly prized among both the Japanese and Koreans. The greatest concern among ethnic Koreans and Japanese alike is the possibility of a rise in prices in these goods -- especially as many cheaper products labelled as domestic often originate from North Korea. "When a lot of products come out from North Korea and are brought into Japan, people without a conscience will say the products were made in Japan and sell them at a higher price, while those who have morals will be at a huge disadvantage for selling farm crops from their farmland," said Moon Sun-Young, 49 year-old ethnic Korean food vendor in Shinokubo, downtown Tokyo. Restaurant owners were especially worried of the long term effects -- though many said most of the produce were now out of season and fresh imports were not expected for a while anyway. "There has been no special impact on our restaurant so far. But if these sanctions continue and wholesale prices of clams and crabs keep rising, we have to work out countermeasures,"Kwon Oh-Young, third generation ethnic KOrean restaurant worker. In the main street markets of Tokyo, North Korean produce had already disappeared. Shop owners said they hadn't sold any since the missile launch tests last year. Now, they said, much of the North Korean products tend to be used in processed foods, rather than be sold to an increasingly discriminating public. "Mushrooms made in North Korea are inferior to those grown in Japan because they don't have a good taste or smell," said one customer at a green grocers after she bought two packs of seven matsutake (pine) mushrooms at 75 US dollars each. A single 10-cm (4-inch) matsutake grown in Japan can cost 3,000 yen (25 USD), while mushrooms from a particular mountainous region in western Japan can cost more than 10,000 yen each. Matsutake mushrooms are Japan's second-biggest import from North Korea after coal, accounting for about 1.7 billion yen, or 12 percent of total imports, official figures show. In contrast, imported mushrooms, mainly from China and North Korea, can be bought for around 1,500 yen. Fishmongers also expressed worries that prices will rise once the cheaper North Korean products are shut out of the market. "The price of clams made in Japan could go up in the face of the economic sanction. But I don't think it will affect us so much," said one fishmonger at Tokyo's Ameyoko market.

ITN Source | October 12, 2006

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