The waters are clearing for Japan’s seafood exports
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The tide is turning as China reopens doors to Japanese fish. Good morning, this is the Marketplace Morning Report and we're live from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne. So the waters are clearing for Japan's seafood exports. China has agreed to start lifting its ban on Japanese fish almost two years after it blocked imports over the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Here's the BBC's Katie Silver.

It stems back to this decision by Japan in 2023 to release treated wastewater. So in 2011, there was a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake which flooded three reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It's been regarded as...

one of the world's worst nuclear disasters since Chernobyl. Now, the power plant was severely damaged, started to accumulate wastewater to the tune of about more than a million tonnes of treated wastewater by 2023. That's about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. That led Japan to make the decision to release this wastewater. It was a process they said would take 30 years, and it ran in line with what is common in other nuclear power plants, for example, China and France.

Now, during this time, Japan has made regular reports to show that the seawater near Fukushima shows no detectable levels of radioactivity. But despite this, China has maintained the ban. And to give you an idea, China was a hugely important destination for Japan's seafood exports prior to this ban. Now, officials from Tokyo saying that Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

as well as China's customs unit reached an agreement during a meeting in Beijing earlier this week. It's understood they're going to recommence exporting seafood to China after what they've called, quote, necessary procedures take place. It's unclear exactly what those procedures are, but Japanese media is reporting that Japan will register fishery processing facilities with Chinese authorities and export shipments will also include certification, basically, that the inspections have occurred and that there's an absence of

of cesium-137. Katie Silver there. Now, a BBC analysis has revealed that Russia made more than $25 billion last year exporting fossil fuels to the European Union. The data suggests that $4.5 billion is more than the EU gave Kiev in aid. The BBC's Vitaly Shashenko has more. Half of Russia's LNG, liquefied natural gas imports, are still being imported by Russia.

Now, this matters because more than half of Russia's exports are hydrocarbons, fossil fuels, and a third of Russia's state revenue is hydrocarbons as well. And of course, this is the kind of money that Russia is using to fund its war against Ukraine. That was Vitaly Shevchenko reporting. Now let's do the numbers.

Argentina sold its first major bond in seven years, raising $1 billion and paying investors in pesos. It's a sign of confidence is returning, but since the yield is at nearly 30%, it shows some investors are still a bit nervous. Asian markets slipped today after a U.S. appeals court gave Donald Trump's tariffs a temporary lifeline. Just yesterday, judges had ruled the tariffs unconstitutional, but this legal back-and-forth is still in effect.

is now fuelling uncertainty. Listen, I don't have to say it. The Super Bowl halftime show is iconic, but soccer's a different picture. European leagues and FIFA are spending big on pre-match entertainment with halftime shows planned for the next World Cup. But the big question is, do fans even want it? Here's the BBC's Will Chalk. If you turn on this weekend's Champions League final, one of the biggest games of the year in global soccer, as well as seeing French team Paris Saint-Germain take on Italy's Inter Milan in Munich, you'll also get a

pre-match show from these guys guys I've become so numb I can't feel you

Grammy award-winning rock band Linkin Park. The game itself usually reaches a global audience of close to 450 million people, with the winning team earning more than $100 million in prize money. It's such a big deal in soccer that despite the fact there's no British teams taking part this year, here in the UK, pubs and bars are still expected to be packed out. Yeah, ask soccer fans in central London if they're excited for the kickoff show. I

I didn't even know there was a kick-off show. No, I didn't notice that. Have you? No. A kick-off show? What's that? Is that on TV? I don't really watch it. I just watch the actual game. This will be the ninth year this kick-off show has happened, with the people behind it saying they're proud to continue to enhance the fan experience. But in a 2024 interview, one of the organisers, Live Nation, admitted the Super Bowl halftime show remains the gold standard when it comes to mixing sports and music.

So why is this? Paul Mueller is a sports business journalist based in Florida. He thinks it's down to cultural differences between the US and Europe.

What it really comes down to is the fact that in the U.S., the fans are like we're consumers, right? They want us to buy hot dogs. They want us to buy tickets. They want us to buy jerseys. It wants to buy hats. They're constantly peddling stuff to us. We're constantly being sold in European football. If the atmosphere is created by the fans, it's by the chance and the singing and the kind of camaraderie that they're able to that they're able to bring to the table.

This is something non-American soccer fans will get a taste of first-hand next year when the US, Canada and Mexico are hosting soccer's most iconic tournament, the World Cup. What's more, despite the halftime break in soccer being only 15 minutes long, the sports bosses have announced plans for a full halftime show during the World Cup final. Back in London, I met soccer fan Archie. He's OK with pre-match entertainment and it's the one fan I met who already knew about this Linkin Park show.

I'm quite a big metal fan so I'll probably be watching that for sure. But even he thinks plans for a halftime show are an Americanisation. This is not my kind of vibe. As I say, I don't mind it beforehand because it's...

But like for me personally, if the game's on and it's halftime and you're a bit nervous at the game, suddenly someone else is coming up performing, it almost takes away from the moment for me personally. But soccer journalist Ed McCambridge, who's based in Berlin, thinks it's something fans are just going to have to get used to given the ownership of teams in England's top soccer league. Last season in the Premier League, 10 of the top teams

of the clubs were majority owned by Americans. That includes some of the biggest teams in the Premier League, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United. The days of like a local businessman owning these football clubs and adhering and respecting the traditions of these clubs is long gone.

According to broadcaster Fox, more than 130 million people watched this year's Super Bowl halftime performance by Kendrick Lamar in the US, compared to the average viewership of 128 million for the on-field face-off between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

And much like the Super Bowl, Ed says soccer bosses could see music as a way of reaching people who might not be tuning in for the sport. Expect, you know, in the next 10 years, the next 20 years, every Champions League final, every World Cup final, every European Championship final will have a proper halftime show with a big performer from America or elsewhere. That would probably get more views and more clicks than the highlights of the actual game.

A prediction some soccer fans might find bleak, but if clicks and views equal money, it's hard to see the sport turning them down. I'm the BBC's Will Chalk for Marketplace. Hey, if it's good, I'll watch it. I'm Leanna Byrne with the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Hi, I'm Katie Drummond. I'm Wired's Global Editorial Director and I'm excited to be joining the hosts of our flagship podcast, Uncanny Valley.

It's a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley. It's hosted by some amazing Wired writers and editors, where each week they discuss the influence of technology and culture from the Valley on our everyday lives. But we're also adding another episode to that feed, hosted by me. Each week, I'll have an urgent conversation with one of our extremely busy Wired reporters or editors about this week in news. ♪

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