CHIBA, Japan - Around 100,000 Nishikigoi ornamental carp ready for sale were swept away after heavy rain caused by a typhoon breached some levees at a lake in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, it has been revealed as authorities assess the widespread damage to local farming and fisheries.
Typhoon Dujuan, which approached the region about a week ago, inundated rice paddy fields and other farmland while flooding facilities where carp and eels were being cultivated near Lake Imbanuma in northern Chiba.
Kenji Tani, who runs an aquafarm in Narita, realized the severity of the damage after returning home last Tuesday from an overseas trip to attend a Nishikigoi exhibition.
Ahead of the initially scheduled start of sales on Sunday, his farm had about 100,000 carp ready. All but 200 to 300 of them were swept away after the aquafarm facilities were flooded.
"I want the levees to be restored even if it is a quick emergency fix. We cannot do anything if another typhoon approaches," said Tani, 58.
Japanese Nishikigoi are popular overseas, including in China and Southeast Asian nations. Exports of the carp more than doubled in the five years to 2025 to around 10 billion yen ($63 million), according to government data.
In Chiba, damage to the farming, forestry and fisheries sectors is expected to swell from around 87 million yen as of Thursday, in another blow to local residents who experienced similar disasters in the weeks prior to Dujuan.
Torrential rain in August caused damage worth 8.22 billion yen in 33 municipalities and another downpour in early September left a bill of around 230 million yen in 17 municipalities.
At a different location in Chiba, a strawberry farm was damaged by the overflowing of a nearby river. About 10 to 20 percent of the strawberry seedlings at a farm in Kimitsu run by Nobuyuki Watanabe were affected.
Watanabe, 48, said he had urged the local government to take measures against the river given its propensity to flood. "If they still don't take action, I will be the last generation in my family to run the business."
