With the continued flow of radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, consumers at home and abroad are concerned about the safety of seafood around Japan.

To ease such concerns and demonstrate how fisheries products are being monitored, the Fisheries Agency held a media tour last week to a research facility in Onjuku, Chiba Prefecture, that attracted 36 participants, most of them foreign journalists and embassy officials.

The tour demonstrated the monitoring process, which participants said was well-organized and helped them better understand the efforts, although they said the agency's explanations fell short in helping them grasp the whole picture.