By: tracy

tracy — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:56:41 +0000

Patrick thank you for a very detailed statement! I fully agree that what should matter is the state of the whale now not back then first off. Secondly I am angered by the constant guise they use of research, it doesn't take 50 whales yearly of two species that are endangered and 900 something of another for research. Call it what it is greed over a delicacy. If it is a tradition etc. then harpoon using old traditions not these new ships that are chasing them at 16 knots until they are worn out and then using modern harpoons that no whale would stand a chance against. Who are we as humans to bring an animal almost to extinction for greed, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, however we don't kill anything endangered, for the thrill, trophy or in abundance, for anything but meat on the table nor do we ever waste a bit.

By: Adan Beauvais

Adan Beauvais — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:04:04 +0000

Thank you so much for the blog as they are profoundly thoughtful. We love the way you are able to breathe more fire into whatever you write about and it all is right from your hear t. I have bookmarked your site long ago and keep on coming back to it time and time again.

By: falon

falon — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:50:06 +0000

I think this is vetry intesting thanks for helping me.

By: amy

amy — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:05:16 +0000

Whales also provide an incredible balance to our Earth ecosystem. Humans seem to forget that we all live within same. It is still disheartening that we would actually destroy the world we live in for personal, individual gain of a few. The Japanese are lying about whaling. They know it and they don't care.

By: Patrick Lovell

Patrick Lovell — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:43:05 +0000

Very interesting article and although your headline and first paragraph mentions the big lie concerning “scientific whaling”, you all too quickly stray from this and point the finger at the West.
Beyond the environmental argument against whaling is the out-and-down-right lie of the Japanese Government, along with the whaling industry’s claim, for the continuation of an 18th century occupation in the 21 century under the guise of scientific research. The Japanese Government never fail to stand in front of the news camera and claim that whaling is for scientific research and further that it is a traditional right of the Japanese to eat whale when everyone here from the age of 8 on up knows that that is not true.
Your comment that “They’ve been doing this for centuries, and it was white men from Europe and North America who brought whales to the edge of extinction in the 1800s — not Japanese.”, is only partially true, for then, but is mostly nonsense when one considers that the Japanese, along with white men are responsible for the over hunting of the right whale then. The current state of affairs is what should count regardless of who was right or wrong 150 years ago.
The industry here in Japan delights when Westerns say that whale meat is a traditional food even though they know that also is not so.
Early Japanese along the Pacific coast harvested the occasional whale that washed up on the beach or got cornered in one of the many inlets along the East coast of Japan, but it was not until 1606 in what is modern Wakayama-ken that whaling took on anything close to an organised industry. Even then the impact of whaling was local and never really caught on in other Pacific coastal areas until the period from 1810 to 1850 when whaling was at its peak. Because of the Tokugawa rulers sakoku — seclusion policy — Japanese hunted whales in their coastal waters and as Western whalers appeared from around 1820 on together they nearly ran extinct the right whale and the Japanese learned to live without whales for the next 40 to 50 years and the industry suffered greatly. This remained the case up until the 20th century. In the 1890s the industry began to adopt western hunting methods but they did not enjoy much success. In 1897 the Japanese adopted Norwegian whale hunting methods, and after the turn of the century they adopted Russian state-of-the-art methods and by 1906 had extended their hunting range from the south Kurils to Taiwan. By 1930, they were using catcher boats for whaling and by 1934 they were using factory-ships in the Antarctic. After the Pacific war, whaling resumed with great vigour due mainly to the wide spread food shortages in the war-torn country.
This cursory overview of whaling in Japan points out the lie that whale meat is a traditional Japanese food for centuries. The American Indians along the North American Pacific coast have a better claim to that then the Japanese do. This claim was not only false in the Tokugawa era, but is false today.
If the Japanese Government would stop hiding behind the sham that whaling is a traditional food and that today’s whaling is for research they may in fact garner more sympathy for the fisheries industry which is in fact what they are most concerned about protecting.
You do not have to go to a speciality whale restaurant to find whale meat, at least not here in Tokyo where I have lived for 40 years. You can go to any neighbourhood nomiya — drinking spot — and at least find whale bacon on the menu. Baring that, you can go to any public school and see whale meat on student’s lunch trays because the Government school lunch programmes dictate this. Or, you can tune into Shop Japan on any cable channel in Japan and watch as companies slog research whale meat by the ton. This is not scientific research, it is a business.
The pathetic ruse that the Japanese Government, along with some Japanese who interpret the pressure by Green Peace and, lately, by Australia and New Zealand, to stop Japanese whaling, as Japan bashing is also insane. Why aren’t these facts mentioned in any story about whaling in Japan and why does Japan get and expect to get a free pass on this subject?
Scientific data shows that whale populations are at risk today and even if whale meat was the only food that Japanese ever ate — and it is not — they, along with all nations, should act responsibly to protect populations and co-operate with the world community, something the Japanese Government, and the Norwegians, cannot seem to understand and go to great ends to not co-operate. Finally, many Japanese get this and would not walk across the street to eat whale, as they can get the needed protein for their families in any village, town or city anywhere in the country without contributing to the eradication of whales.

Comments on: Whales: What Happens To Japan's Scientific Harvest?

By: tracy

By: Adan Beauvais

By: falon

By: amy

By: Patrick Lovell