Japanese Agriculture Minister Taku Eto made his first visit to Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan since taking office this month, holding talks with local business owners. "What I found shocking during the talks is that there still seems to be reputational damage to the prefecture's products," the minister told reporters. "I felt the support was essential."

Eto indicated that the government will work on measures to address reputational damage from the release into the sea of treated water containing tritium from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

At a fish market in Iwaki city in the morning, Eto confronted Tetsu Nozaki , head of the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Cooperative Fishermen's Associations, and others. "I have received a strong request to continue supporting," Eto said, referring to a subsidy project for fisheries workers that expires at the end of the next fiscal year. "We will work to fulfill it."