Japan has a long, distinguished history of fishing, and one way or another it will be mainained.
Here’s a fish story for you. Japan has always been a fish-centric nation. This staple food category – even in the fast food age – still plays a decisive role in the diet of the Japanese.
The price of fish, however, has skyrocketed due to three factors: international catch quotas, a decline of the fisheries industry due to the aging of the workforce (with no apprentices to step in), and the lack of funding and urgency by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Fishing, like agriculture, is not an industry which requires a high degree of Japanese language skill. Find a sponsor who can collaborate with you to start an Asian people’s fishing village within Japan. Visas could be easy to come by if you have proven skill and know-how obtained in your home country which could qualify you as a specialist.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has a working holiday visa (usually for six months with possible extension) which allows citizens of Korea, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Canada and the UK to come here to work and live.
For those of you living in those countries, that would give you time to explore this possibility. Others would admittedly face more bureaucratic challenges.
Better yet, sell your catch to Japan. Blue-fin tuna commands a king’s ransom. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that Japanese people eat 30 percent of the world’s fresh fish. That adds up to 80 kg for each man woman and child.
However you can tap into this market as a supplier, fisherman or broker. Japan is still hungry for sea creatures.
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Tags: fisheries, fishing, Japan, MAFF, working holiday visa