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

TOKYO (AP) — What’s koi got to do with it? Souring relations between Asian rivals Japan and China now seem to be snagged on calm-inducing beauty in spas, museums and gardens. 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. And it has prompted more questions than answers.

Here's what you need to know about the fish and their role in the dispute:

Koi are beautifully hued and expensive carp formally called nishikigoi in Japan. The fish, appreciated as “swimming jewels,” represent good luck in life and business. They're often fixtures of garden ponds for wealthy and influential families in Japan. In recent years, koi have become hugely popular in Asia, with Japan's koi exports doubling over the past decade to 6.3 billion yen ($43 million) — one-fifth of them shipped to China, the top Japanese koi importer, followed by the United States and Indonesia.

Since an outbreak of koi herpes virus in Japan in the 2000s, the country conducts a compulsory quarantine of 7-10 days for all exports, including to China, to make sure the koi are disease-free.

Initially, China had export deals with a total of 15 growers that also provided quarantine, allowing them to skip a separate quarantine process at another facility. But Beijing let many of the contracts expire over the years. Now, China also has not renewed the last remaining pre-export quarantine deal that expired Oct. 30, Japanese officials said.

Not renewing the contract effectively ends China's import of koi fish from Japan. Fisheries Agency official Satoru Abe, in charge of koi quarantine, said China has not provided any explanation...