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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Japanese will keep hunting whales, even though they’ve lost their appetite for them
By Gwynn Guilford
The International Court of Justice just ordered Japan to temporarily stop killing whales in the Antarctic, calling Japans bluff on the scientific research behind whale hunts that kill nearly 1,000 whales there a year. In other words, it ruled that hunting and killing whales, then selling their meat at a loss to public schoolchildren and at bargain-basement prices in grocery stores isnt science.
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Thats a big deal. But while the ICJs decision will halt the ¥795 million ($9.94 million) Antarctic research operations of Japans Institute of Cetacean Research (the non-profit that runs the hunts), Japanese whale-hunting will continue. The government still invests ¥715 million in its whaling activities in the north Pacific.
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This is but the latest blow to Japans whaling program, which has long been struggling. ICR sold only ¥2 billion in whale meat last yeardown from ¥7 billion in 2004even as the government is expected to inject ¥5 billion in total this fiscal year, reports the Associated Press. The problem? Fewer and fewer people want to eat whale meat. Once a common dish in postwar Japan, demand has since fallen sharply, as the Japanese public finds it increasingly unappetizing. The meat is now mainly consumed in specialty restaurants, schools and in a few coastal whaling towns.
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But even as stockpiles of the meat in Japanese ports continue to rise, hitting 4,600 tons (4,173 tonnes) in 2012, up from less than 2,500 tons a decade earlier, the industry refuses to give up. The ICRs latest marketing tack is to promote the meat as a nutritious food that enhances physical strength and reduces fatigue. In a desperate bid to cover the mounting debts of ICRs whaling program, the Japanese government shunted some $23 million earmarked for disaster recovery after the Fukushima earthquake/tsunami in 2011.
more (warning disturbing image at link)
http://qz.com/193778/the-japanese-will-keep-hunting-whales-even-though-theyve-lost-their-appetite-for-them/
Jgarrick
(521 posts)but when I tried whale in Iceland recently it was rather yummy!
narnian60
(3,510 posts)third time that I have seen. I guess until you get a rise out of someone.
Jgarrick
(521 posts)Why single me out for bring some much needed perspective to this subject?
Larkspur
(12,804 posts)So eating it is like eating rat poison.
Bonx
(2,053 posts)Thanks,
The rest of us.