Whaling as seen from the Japanese

Not to belabor the whaling issue but I believe this article does a decent job of seeing things from a Japanese whaler's (and the general population) perspective. There are greater issues than conservation and cruelty to animals, such as cultural point of view and nationalism. I suppose it would be the same if the developed world campaigned the US to stop selling gas guzzling vehicles or the like.

Anyhow, I think even the most stalwart of anti-whalers, if they are interested in stopping whaling in Japan, should try to understand the implications of forcing a doctrine vs allowing a people to choose to stop.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7281989.stm

I agree this is an interesting article, and I can possibly be convinced that the Japanese in their own territorial waters have a right to continue to hunt for food whale species that can be shown to be huntable in a sustainable manner. The real conservation issue is sustainability, having fished out several traditional species in some areas we are now turning to species whose reproductive rates and population turnovers we have little idea , a practice certain to result in near extinction of some further species.

On the cruelty of hunting, I am unsure who has the right of it the person who eats Kentucky fried chichen from hens kept in battery conditions all their lives, or the person who eats whale meat hunted from free living whales. It seems impossible to do no harm or cruelty without resorting to complete Veganism. I am not vegetarian but I sometimes think I should be!

Your analogy of Gas Guzellers in the US is interesting and apropriate, the issue being the right of a single country/social grouping to annex a disproportionate amount of a given world wide resorce, be it fish or oil and yes I know the UK is at it too.

Tim Digger

Tim

If there is one thing human beings are good at, it is exploiting a resource whatever it is.

Anyhow this is a further article from a journalist on the Green Peace boat Esperanza and his observations as an independent journalist (ok the Beeb have a lot to answer for with the recent credibility issues but still )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7171409.stm

I agree this is an interesting article, and I can possibly be convinced that the Japanese in their own territorial waters have a right to continue to hunt for food whale species that can be shown to be huntable in a sustainable manner.

But what if American whalers in the 19th century exterminated all the whales in Japan's territorial waters? Should Japan have the right to hunt whales in international waters to make up for the whales "stolen" 150 years ago?

I lived in Japan for a couple years in the late 1990s, and had a few conversations with locals about whale hunting. The general impression I got was similar to the article: people were aware of the controversy, thought that harvesting 30 whales a year (or however many it is for the Japanese Antarctic whaling fleet)for "research" was a transparent lie, but viewed whaling as a sovereignty issue and didn't like being told not to do it.

However, one issue the article didn't mention: I never spoke to anybody in Japan who actually liked the taste of whale meat. In fact, the only people I met who had actually eaten whale meat were women of the WWII generation, who got protein from whale meat because the meat was cheap and they had very little money during the war. For these people, whale meat had a connotation connecting it with poverty, maybe along the lines of cheap bologna in the US.

Dave

You are right that whale meat isn't a "delicacy" by any means in Japan. The continuation of whale meat in the Japanese diet came in the 40-60s when the US aided admin determined whale meat was cheap protein. The Japanese are very well aware of the world events (ok their versions of WWII history is a little different compared to the ROTW). Even in a cetacean meat driven town like Taiji, the meat's mercury content is being questioned by locals.

This issue is about sovereignty and being bossed around by foreigners. It is foremost cultural and thus should be dealt that way. In your face approaches don't work well, especially when the Japanese don't share the same affliction to the cuddly things as some other parts of the world (I do however bemoan the rise of Sanrio and Hello Kitty, and think it should be a war crime )

For these people, whale meat had a connotation connecting it with poverty, maybe along the lines of cheap bologna in the US.

Suely this is a way activist organisations should be tackling this through advertising, "The POOR japanese still needing to hunt whales". Rather than playing hide amd seek in the Southern Ocean

Tim Digger

I wonder if we could use Tim Digger's idea regarding shark fins: "The POOR peasant Chinese who still need to consume shark fin soup to feel adequate". OR even better, making the connotation that shark fins hinder sexual performance and shrivel male genitalia. There is a psychiatric diagnosis called KORO where an individual fears that their penis is shriveling up and disappearing. This diagnosis is rarely made in Western countries and is most frequently seen in China and the South East Asian countries. Perhaps " placing the myth" that shark fins hinder sexual adequacy could put a damper on the world shark poaching epidemic!!!