Koi emerges as new source of souring relations between Japan and China

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — In recent years, koi have become hugely popular in Asia, with exports doubling over the past decade. One-fifth of the koi exported from Japan are shipped to China. But Beijing has let expire a contract for the required quarantine of the fish, effectively halting the country’s import of koi from Japan and further souring the two rivals’ relations. So what’s koi got to do with it? A Fisheries Agency official says China has not provided any explanation. The slippery dispute between Asia’s two biggest economies adds to their spat over Japan’s release into the sea of treated but radioactive water from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant.