NYC's Japanese businesses brace for shortages

“We expect some minor difficulties and supply problems in the future,” said Tad Inomata, one of the owners of Yama Seafood, which imports fish from Japan. “I cannot predict when we'll start seeing a shortage, but we do anticipate it eventually.”

Prices of fish have remained stable so far, despite a decrease in supply, thanks mostly to a drop in domestic Japanese demand for fish. The earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast region of Japan on March 11, killing thousands and leveling homes and businesses in the region. Now the country is dealing with problems related to leaking nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, 135 miles away from Tokyo. Because transportation is disrupted in the northeast, goods can't reach that area and some are going to waste, Mr. Inomata said.

New York City restaurants are also bracing for some impact to their bottom line.

“Prices of seaweed and fish might go up,” said Yuske Nakamura, assistant manager at Sakagura, a Japanese restaurant on East 43rd Street, noting that he's also concerned about sake supplies as some breweries' facilities in the north have been damaged by the earthquake.

At Katagiri on East 59th Street, which claims to be the oldest Japanese grocery store in the U.S., Manager Kei Wada expects delays in deliveries of seaweed may begin soon. “Most of the seaweed comes from the northeast of Japan, and the tsunami damaged most of the marine life,” he said. “It's going to take a while for these products to arrive.”

There was an embargo on cargo shipments in and out of Tokyo's Narita International Airport following the earthquake, except for mail, official urgent aid and humanitarian medical aid, but it was lifted Thursday. American Airlines Cargo, which debuted services between New York John F. Kennedy International and Tokyo Haneda airports at the end of February and also serves Narita, continues to operate its flights to Haneda. Goods shipped recently to Tokyo have included mainly aid, food, fruits and vegetables, as well as hard freight such as machine parts.

There's also mounting fear that fish could be contaminated by radiation from the crippled nuclear plant.

Four Yama Seafood customers have expressed concerns about contamination of fish and have either decreased their purchases or stopped buying fish completely. But it hasn't impacted business too much, yet, as Yama Seafood has nearly 500 customers.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is assessing the potential for radiological contamination both from air and maritime cargo traffic from Japan and reported Wednesday that so far no aircraft entering the U.S. have tested positive for harmful levels of radiation.