Bob Barker has always been a man of his word and convictions. This time he really spoke up and will help lead the battle against the evil whaling practices of evil Japan. “Barker donated that amount to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which named its new 1,200-ton anti-whaling ship The Bob Barker.”
Article:
Bob Barker helps stop whaling with namesake ship
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100106/ap_en_tv/us_people_bob_barker
LOS ANGELES –
Five million dollars for an anti-whaling ship? Bob Barker says the price is right.Barker donated that amount to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which named its new 1,200-ton anti-whaling ship The Bob Barker.The ship had its first confrontation with whalers on Tuesday when it joined two other Sea Shepherd vessels aiming to stop a Japanese whaling mission near Antarctica.
"Whaling was shut down today," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said via satellite phone from aboard a nearby ship. "There's no whaling now and hopefully no whaling after this."The Bob Barker is a high-speed former whaling ship that can cut through ice, Watson said, adding that the vessel "makes it a lot easier for us to shut down these whaling operations."Sea Shepherd, which Watson describes as an "anti-poaching organization," aims to enforce the United Nations World Charter for Nature by physically intervening in illegal whaling missions.
"They're targeting endangered and protected whales," he said.Barker, a longtime animal activist, stepped up his efforts even more after retiring from his 35-year gig hosting "The Price Is Right." He met Watson through a fellow animal activist and was instantly impressed."He said he thought he could put the Japanese whaling fleet out of business if he had $5 million," Barker recalled. "I said, 'I think you do have the skills to do that, and I have $5 million, so let's get it on,' so that's what we did."Barker, 86, said he was "genuinely proud" to be associated with Sea Shepherd. And while the TV studio where "The Price Is Right" is filmed is officially called the Bob Barker Studio, the veteran broadcaster said he's never had a ship named after him."It was our idea to name it the Bob Barker. He's a little too humble for that," Watson said. "I thought it was the least we could do."
Showing posts with label japan whaling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan whaling. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
"At the Edge of the World": Powerful Documentary Concerning Sea Shepherd's Antarctic Campaign Against Illegal Whaling: In Portland, OR Oct 16th to 27
At The Edge of the World
Clinton Street Theater Beginning Fri, Oct 16
2522 Se Clinton Street. Portland, OR. (503) 238-8899
There will be Q&A with two of the key crew members after selected screenings.
Shows at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm. No 9pm show on 10/16, 10/22 and 10/23.
No 7pm screenings on 10/24-26 and starts at 9:30 instead of 9pm.
General Admission - $6
Tuesday Admission - $4
Winner of the Audience Award for Top Environmental Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
I’d like to thank the director Dan Stone for putting the time into such a worthy project. Many of you are aware of the Sea Shepherd's Antarctic campaign against illegal whaling by the Japanese brought to life via the show Whale Wars. If you are in Portland, Oregon during Oct 16th to Oct 27th, please support the film. If you are not, please spread the word and also visit www.AtTheEdgeOfTheWorld.com to view the tailor and access other information.
Awards and Reviews:
“Over the weekend, At the Edge of the World won the Conservation Award at the Bend Film Festival. (Since our premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, At the Edge has been honored to receive the Elizabeth Taylor Environmental Award, the Haskell Wexler Cinematography Award, a Jury Award for Cinematography, a Jury Award for Best Documentary and an Audience Award for Best Documentary.)”
"An intrepid record of modern-day piracy. Directed by Dan Stone to highlight moral as well as legal conflicts, this strikingly humane film may function as a prequel to Animal Planet's 'Whale Wars' but is light years ahead in visual clarity and narrative ambition."
Jeannette Catsoulis
(The New York Times)
NYT Critic's Pick
"A bizarre and breathtaking high-seas adventure set in the remote, spectacular Ross Sea off Antarctica, 'At the Edge of the World' is the summer season's most surprising and thought-provoking documentary."
Andrew O'Hehir
(Salon.com)
"It's a true David-and-Goliath story. For anyone interested in real environmental activism, this passionate film is a must-see. The best scenes run on sheer adrenaline. For a real thrill, be sure to keep an eye out for this one."
Michael Lee
(Film Forward)
"This real-life drama and its vast setting demand to be experienced on the big, instead of the little screen-men go overboard, skiffs go missing, and the long arm of the law threatens in this lean, sharply directed film."
Elena Oumano
(Village Voice)
"Highly recommended" Selection
"At The Edge of the World is a superb advocacy documentary and travelog that presents a compelling cause, fascinating cast of characters, eventful and dramatic story and artful cinematography. It takes you to a place you might not otherwise know and presents it in the genuine fullness of event and experience."
Jennifer Merin
(About.com)
"'At the Edge of the World' is one of those rare documentaries that could easily function as a compelling fiction thriller. Superbly shot from a wealth of angles and perspectives and edited to emphasize the tension in their quest, it's a grand entertainment that only offers time for reflection once the lights go up."
Robert Levin
(Critic's Notebook)
New York Times review (NYT Critic’s Pick): http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/movies/28edge.html?8mu&emc=mua1?em
Salon.com review: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/08/28/edge_of_world/index.html
Village Voice review: http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-08-25/film/at-the-edge-of-the-world/
Film Forward review: http://www.film-forward.com/attheedge.html
About.com review: http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/AtTheEdgeOfTheWorld.htm?p=1
Critic’s Notebook review: http://www.criticsnotebook.com/2009/08/at-the-edge-of-the-world.html
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Animal Planet’s Whale Wars: Fridays - 9PM: Follows Capt. Paul Watson - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to Prevent Japanese from Killing Whales
I’m sure many of you know of this show. I received this email today and wanted to share it for those who have yet to watch the show. I encourage all to do so, as we need to have Animal Planet know that shows exposing animal cruelty (whaling) will be supported.
Unfortunately, the Japanese continue to carry out their cruel ways by thumbing their noses at international law and kill whales.
As stated below, “…the crew has managed to save more than 300 whales.” I’ll let the email below say the rest.
See too the Whale Wars ekit at http://press.discovery.com/ekits/whale-wars for more information on the show, including past episodes.
Here is the main web page for Animal Planet’s Whale Wars is http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/
For more on the truth behind whaling in general and Japan and it’s insistence on whaling illegally, see http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Email I received about Whale Wars:
I just wanted to follow up with you to see if you had the opportunity to watch the first 3 episodes of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars this month? After only 3 episodes, Whale Wars has been rated as Animal Planet’s best performing Friday primetime telecast in five years.
Animal Planet’s Whale Wars (Fridays at 9PM) follows Captain Paul Watson (co-founder of Greenpeace) of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and his crew as they confront and try to prevent Japanese ships from killing whales off the coast of Antarctica (the crew has managed to save more than 300 whales). This show is packed with excitement – so far, Captain Paul Watson and his crew of 34 have battled sea sickness, a helicopter accident, a dangerous encounter with a Japanese whaling boat, a hostage situation, and more.
If you missed the show, I’ve included the link to the e-kit below, where you can watch full episodes. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see if you are interested in blogging about the show! If you are interested in posting a blog entry, let me know and I can send you a few clips you can embed in your post.
Please let me know if you have additional questions!
Regards,
Andrea
Whale Wars ekit: http://press.discovery.com/ekits/whale-wars (The ekit has lots of additional information about the show, including crew bios, episode descriptions, full episodes, and more)
Unfortunately, the Japanese continue to carry out their cruel ways by thumbing their noses at international law and kill whales.
As stated below, “…the crew has managed to save more than 300 whales.” I’ll let the email below say the rest.
See too the Whale Wars ekit at http://press.discovery.com/ekits/whale-wars for more information on the show, including past episodes.
Here is the main web page for Animal Planet’s Whale Wars is http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/
For more on the truth behind whaling in general and Japan and it’s insistence on whaling illegally, see http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Email I received about Whale Wars:
I just wanted to follow up with you to see if you had the opportunity to watch the first 3 episodes of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars this month? After only 3 episodes, Whale Wars has been rated as Animal Planet’s best performing Friday primetime telecast in five years.
Animal Planet’s Whale Wars (Fridays at 9PM) follows Captain Paul Watson (co-founder of Greenpeace) of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and his crew as they confront and try to prevent Japanese ships from killing whales off the coast of Antarctica (the crew has managed to save more than 300 whales). This show is packed with excitement – so far, Captain Paul Watson and his crew of 34 have battled sea sickness, a helicopter accident, a dangerous encounter with a Japanese whaling boat, a hostage situation, and more.
If you missed the show, I’ve included the link to the e-kit below, where you can watch full episodes. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see if you are interested in blogging about the show! If you are interested in posting a blog entry, let me know and I can send you a few clips you can embed in your post.
Please let me know if you have additional questions!
Regards,
Andrea
Whale Wars ekit: http://press.discovery.com/ekits/whale-wars (The ekit has lots of additional information about the show, including crew bios, episode descriptions, full episodes, and more)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Mercury in Dolphins may be only Issue that Stops Cruel Annual Japanese Dolphin Slaughter
Unfortunately, the Japanese were not going to see the obvious cruelty in the horrible dolphin slaughter. Perhaps the presence of mercury in their meat will be the only thing that does.
To see video proof of the horror of the annual Japanese dolphin slaughter see our posting on it at http://geari.blogspot.com/search?q=dolphin+japan
Article:
Mercury risk poses threat to Japanese dolphin hunt
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/
asia/dolphin.php
By Martin Fackler
Published: February 20, 2008
TAIJI, Japan: For years, Western activists have traveled to this remote port to protest the annual dolphin "drive." And for years, local fishermen have ignored them, herding the animals into a small cove and slashing them until the tide flows red. But now a new menace may succeed where activists have failed: mercury.
This town of 3,500 residents on a majestic, rocky stretch of coast is fiercely proud of its centuries-old tradition of hunting dolphins and whaling. Residents are used to the international scorn that accompanies the dolphin drive, almost as much an annual ritual as the drive itself, and have closed ranks in the face of rising outrage - until now.
Dolphin meat is a prized local delicacy, served raw as sashimi or boiled with soy sauce. But in June, laboratory tests showed high levels of mercury in dolphin and pilot whale, a small whale that resembles a dolphin, caught and sold here. At the urging of two town council members, schools promised to stop serving pilot whale for lunch, and some local supermarkets removed it and dolphin from their shelves.
Rather than embrace the changes, this tight-knit community has been divided, with most local officials and the fishermen's union insisting that the mercury threat is being overblown, while a minority here has begun to question a tradition.
"We are not against whaling," including the dolphin hunts, said Junichiro Yamashita, one of the council members, who paid for the mercury tests himself after the town refused to pay. "This is a small town,
The problems are not limited to Taiji. Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whales and dolphins, yet the Health and Agriculture ministries, as well as the media, have said little about the growing mercury levels in whale and dolphin meat.
Indeed, the whaling industry seems to enjoy a protected status here, mainly as a symbol of tradition, defended against foreign interference.
"There is a real danger in whale and dolphin meat, but word is not getting out," said Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and an expert on mercury in sea animals.
Japan kills 1,000 minke and other great whales every year in controversial research whaling off the coast of Antarctica and in the northern Pacific. Japan calls the hunt "research" in order to avoid an international ban on commercial whaling, but then sells the meat to supermarkets. One hundred more whales and 21,000 dolphins are killed annually in coastal waters, according to Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Still, the meat is hardly a vital food source: only a minority of Japanese eat whale, and dolphin is even less common, consumed in a handful of rural areas and regional cities like Osaka.
Taiji is the best known source of dolphin meat, partly because it kills the most animals, about 2,000 annually, in a season that runs from September to April. In Taiji, fishermen use a method called oikomi, or "the drive," in which they bang on metal poles to create a wall of sound that pushes panicked dolphin and pilot whales into a cove for killing.
Gruesome photos of the blood-filled cove, and protests by mostly Western environmental groups, seem to have only strengthened the town's resolve to hold fast to its customs. According to the town's whaling museum, the people of Taiji have hunted coastal whales for 400 years. With few other sources of livelihood, whaling is a mainstay of the local economy.
"We are a whaling community, and we don't want to lose that," said Katsutoshi Mihara, chairman of Taiji's town council. "Here, all boys grew up dreaming of hunting whales." (The Japanese word for whaling, hogei, also encompasses hunting dolphins.)
The mayor and most town leaders point to a Health Ministry report that said the meats are safe in moderation.
Strong proponents of whaling like Mihara say they fear that the mercury scare may damage the popularity of dolphin meat, which accounts for about a third of the town's $3 million fishing industry, according to the fishermen's association. Dolphin also fetches higher prices than other locally caught seafood: in a Taiji supermarket, a pound, or about half a kilogram, of frozen dolphin meat recently sold for about ¥1,500, or $14, roughly the price of sashimi-grade tuna.
Taiji's mercury debate comes amid rising worldwide concern over mercury in other, more globally accepted types of seafood, particularly tuna. Like tuna, dolphins and small whales are predators that appear to be accumulating mercury as they feed on fish in the world's increasingly contaminated oceans.
In fact, dolphins can build up far more mercury than tuna because dolphins live to about 40 years, versus a decade for large tuna species, said Endo, of the University of Hokkaido.
When consumed by humans over an extended period, mercury can cause birth defects, brain damage and death. In fact, the world's worst case of mercury poisoning occurred in Japan in the 1950s, when thousands were killed, made ill or crippled in the city of Minamata from mercury dumped into the sea as industrial waste.
Endo participated in the studies that first brought mercury risks in dolphin to light. Since 2000, he has tested hundreds of samples of dolphin and whale meat around the country. In dolphin and pilot whale, he has typically found mercury levels ranging from 10 to 100 parts per million, far above the Japanese government's advisory level of 0.4 parts per million.
The most contaminated sample he ever found was from the internal organs of a pilot whale sold in a Taiji supermarket - 2,000 parts per million.
Despite the extreme sensitivity to mercury poisoning in Japan because of the Minamata case, the Health and Agriculture ministries have done little to inform the public about mercury in whale and dolphin meat, say Endo and other biologists. While the Health Ministry has done its own surveys of dolphin and pilot whale that show mercury levels of 10 to 50 times the advisory level, the only warning it has issued is for pregnant women.
Ministry officials say broader warnings are not needed because the higher levels are not a health risk for most people if they eat the meat infrequently, giving the body time to discharge the mercury. But critics accuse the government and media of ignoring the mercury issue, including the dispute in Taiji.
The same wall of silence exists in Taiji, many residents said. Yamashita and the other council member who raised the mercury issue, Hisato Ryono, said local newspapers had not written about their warnings, and city hall has said little in public about mercury.
To get word out, the two paid to have 1,900 fliers printed and sent to locals.
Several residents said they were shocked and alarmed when they read the fliers last summer. They also said they were angry at the town government's failure to address the concerns over mercury, adding that they no longer ate dolphin meat.
The residents refused to give their names for fear of being ostracized by their neighbors. "The flier is all I know about the mercury issue," said one 42-year-old woman, who said she was worried because her third-grade child had eaten pilot whale meat at school.
Older residents dismissed the mercury fears, saying they had eaten dolphin all their lives without ill effect.
Such generational differences may be what finally ends the dolphin hunt. Most of those under 40 no longer eat the meat, according to many residents.
"We're not saying that consumption of dolphin should disappear, but I think it's inevitable that it will," said Ryono, the council member. "As the older generation disappears, so will demand for dolphin meat."
To see video proof of the horror of the annual Japanese dolphin slaughter see our posting on it at http://geari.blogspot.com/search?q=dolphin+japan
Article:
Mercury risk poses threat to Japanese dolphin hunt
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/
asia/dolphin.php
By Martin Fackler
Published: February 20, 2008
TAIJI, Japan: For years, Western activists have traveled to this remote port to protest the annual dolphin "drive." And for years, local fishermen have ignored them, herding the animals into a small cove and slashing them until the tide flows red. But now a new menace may succeed where activists have failed: mercury.
This town of 3,500 residents on a majestic, rocky stretch of coast is fiercely proud of its centuries-old tradition of hunting dolphins and whaling. Residents are used to the international scorn that accompanies the dolphin drive, almost as much an annual ritual as the drive itself, and have closed ranks in the face of rising outrage - until now.
Dolphin meat is a prized local delicacy, served raw as sashimi or boiled with soy sauce. But in June, laboratory tests showed high levels of mercury in dolphin and pilot whale, a small whale that resembles a dolphin, caught and sold here. At the urging of two town council members, schools promised to stop serving pilot whale for lunch, and some local supermarkets removed it and dolphin from their shelves.
Rather than embrace the changes, this tight-knit community has been divided, with most local officials and the fishermen's union insisting that the mercury threat is being overblown, while a minority here has begun to question a tradition.
"We are not against whaling," including the dolphin hunts, said Junichiro Yamashita, one of the council members, who paid for the mercury tests himself after the town refused to pay. "This is a small town,
The problems are not limited to Taiji. Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whales and dolphins, yet the Health and Agriculture ministries, as well as the media, have said little about the growing mercury levels in whale and dolphin meat.
Indeed, the whaling industry seems to enjoy a protected status here, mainly as a symbol of tradition, defended against foreign interference.
"There is a real danger in whale and dolphin meat, but word is not getting out," said Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and an expert on mercury in sea animals.
Japan kills 1,000 minke and other great whales every year in controversial research whaling off the coast of Antarctica and in the northern Pacific. Japan calls the hunt "research" in order to avoid an international ban on commercial whaling, but then sells the meat to supermarkets. One hundred more whales and 21,000 dolphins are killed annually in coastal waters, according to Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Still, the meat is hardly a vital food source: only a minority of Japanese eat whale, and dolphin is even less common, consumed in a handful of rural areas and regional cities like Osaka.
Taiji is the best known source of dolphin meat, partly because it kills the most animals, about 2,000 annually, in a season that runs from September to April. In Taiji, fishermen use a method called oikomi, or "the drive," in which they bang on metal poles to create a wall of sound that pushes panicked dolphin and pilot whales into a cove for killing.
Gruesome photos of the blood-filled cove, and protests by mostly Western environmental groups, seem to have only strengthened the town's resolve to hold fast to its customs. According to the town's whaling museum, the people of Taiji have hunted coastal whales for 400 years. With few other sources of livelihood, whaling is a mainstay of the local economy.
"We are a whaling community, and we don't want to lose that," said Katsutoshi Mihara, chairman of Taiji's town council. "Here, all boys grew up dreaming of hunting whales." (The Japanese word for whaling, hogei, also encompasses hunting dolphins.)
The mayor and most town leaders point to a Health Ministry report that said the meats are safe in moderation.
Strong proponents of whaling like Mihara say they fear that the mercury scare may damage the popularity of dolphin meat, which accounts for about a third of the town's $3 million fishing industry, according to the fishermen's association. Dolphin also fetches higher prices than other locally caught seafood: in a Taiji supermarket, a pound, or about half a kilogram, of frozen dolphin meat recently sold for about ¥1,500, or $14, roughly the price of sashimi-grade tuna.
Taiji's mercury debate comes amid rising worldwide concern over mercury in other, more globally accepted types of seafood, particularly tuna. Like tuna, dolphins and small whales are predators that appear to be accumulating mercury as they feed on fish in the world's increasingly contaminated oceans.
In fact, dolphins can build up far more mercury than tuna because dolphins live to about 40 years, versus a decade for large tuna species, said Endo, of the University of Hokkaido.
When consumed by humans over an extended period, mercury can cause birth defects, brain damage and death. In fact, the world's worst case of mercury poisoning occurred in Japan in the 1950s, when thousands were killed, made ill or crippled in the city of Minamata from mercury dumped into the sea as industrial waste.
Endo participated in the studies that first brought mercury risks in dolphin to light. Since 2000, he has tested hundreds of samples of dolphin and whale meat around the country. In dolphin and pilot whale, he has typically found mercury levels ranging from 10 to 100 parts per million, far above the Japanese government's advisory level of 0.4 parts per million.
The most contaminated sample he ever found was from the internal organs of a pilot whale sold in a Taiji supermarket - 2,000 parts per million.
Despite the extreme sensitivity to mercury poisoning in Japan because of the Minamata case, the Health and Agriculture ministries have done little to inform the public about mercury in whale and dolphin meat, say Endo and other biologists. While the Health Ministry has done its own surveys of dolphin and pilot whale that show mercury levels of 10 to 50 times the advisory level, the only warning it has issued is for pregnant women.
Ministry officials say broader warnings are not needed because the higher levels are not a health risk for most people if they eat the meat infrequently, giving the body time to discharge the mercury. But critics accuse the government and media of ignoring the mercury issue, including the dispute in Taiji.
The same wall of silence exists in Taiji, many residents said. Yamashita and the other council member who raised the mercury issue, Hisato Ryono, said local newspapers had not written about their warnings, and city hall has said little in public about mercury.
To get word out, the two paid to have 1,900 fliers printed and sent to locals.
Several residents said they were shocked and alarmed when they read the fliers last summer. They also said they were angry at the town government's failure to address the concerns over mercury, adding that they no longer ate dolphin meat.
The residents refused to give their names for fear of being ostracized by their neighbors. "The flier is all I know about the mercury issue," said one 42-year-old woman, who said she was worried because her third-grade child had eaten pilot whale meat at school.
Older residents dismissed the mercury fears, saying they had eaten dolphin all their lives without ill effect.
Such generational differences may be what finally ends the dolphin hunt. Most of those under 40 no longer eat the meat, according to many residents.
"We're not saying that consumption of dolphin should disappear, but I think it's inevitable that it will," said Ryono, the council member. "As the older generation disappears, so will demand for dolphin meat."
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Anti-Whaling Activists from Sea Shepherd Conservation Group Board Japanese Whaling Ship to Bring Awareness to it’s Illegal Whaling
Very brave act and it seems to have worked. Awareness has been raised as to the continual illegal whaling by Japan.
As stated below,
“Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.”
For more about the Sea Shepherd conservation group see http://www.seashepherd.org/
Article:
Anti-whalers seek release of activists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/
ap_on_re_as/antarctica_whaling_5
By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 16, 5:48 AM ET
TOKYO - Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic halted its operations Wednesday and scrambled to arrange the turnover of two activists who boarded one of its harpoon ships after a tense, high-seas chase, accusing the Sea Shepherd conservation group of piracy.
The captain of the activists' ship, meanwhile, told The Associated Press the two were "hostages" and vowed to continue to harass the fleet.
"We will only accept an unconditional release," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told the AP by satellite phone from the anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin. He said he wanted action immediately.
"We're going to chase them until they stop their hunt," Watson said. "As long as we're chasing them, they're not killing any whales."
The Japanese Fisheries Agency said it told the anti-whaling group to pick up the two activists, who boarded a harpoon ship on Tuesday to deliver a protest letter. The agency said its only demand was that the Sea Shepherd promise not to mount any attacks during the rendezvous.
Watson, however, said Japan was also demanding the group end its harassment of the whaling fleet as a condition of securing the pair's freedom.
Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, which organizes the hunt, accused Sea Shepherd of stalling to get publicity.
"It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel ... on the high seas," he said. "So this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy by the Sea Shepherd group."
Australia criticized both sides for behaving in a potentially dangerous way in a region that is thousands of miles from the nearest help in case of an emergency.
Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35, boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 after chasing it in a rubber boat, and were tied up on deck while other Sea Shepherd activists threw bottles of acid onto the deck, Japanese officials said.
Watson said the activists wanted to deliver a letter demanding an end to the whale hunt and then leave, but were roughed up and held against their will.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian officials had twice contacted their Japanese counterparts to press for the release of the two activists, and were assured this would happen.
He urged both sides to work together to urgently bring about the "safe and speedy" return of the men to the Steve Irwin.
"From the very first day, I urged all parties in this matter to exercise restraint," Smith told ABC radio, referring to previously known plans for the environmentalists to chase the whalers. "It's quite clearly the case that restraint hasn't occurred here."
He warned later at a news conference: "We're dealing with the great distance of the Southern Ocean. The capacity for adverse incidents is high, and the capacity for rescue or assistance is low."
In Tokyo, Japanese Fisheries Agency official Takahide Naruko told reporters the whalers decided to release the activists because they had done no damage to the ship, but Sea Shepherd had not responded to efforts to arrange the handover.
Whaling has been halted until the two are handed over, Naruko said.
Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section, said it sent safety instructions for the hand-over, but attached no further conditions in terms of Sea Shepherd's activities.
But Watson said Japan was demanding Sea Shepherd stop harassing, filming or photographing the whalers, and that the transfer of the pair be conducted by small boat, 10 nautical miles from the Yushin Maru.
"I find it very strange that people who are holding hostages are calling us the pirates," Watson said.
The event was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in the ocean at the bottom of the world and the environmental groups that try to stop them.
Smith said Australian Federal Police were evaluating whether any laws had been broken.
Naruko said whalers briefly tied up the two activists near the bridge of the Yushin Maru, and later moved them to a cabin.
Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.
Under intense international pressure, Japan abandoned its plans to include 50 humpback whales in this season's hunt, which is due to run until April.
__
As stated below,
“Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.”
For more about the Sea Shepherd conservation group see http://www.seashepherd.org/
Article:
Anti-whalers seek release of activists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/
ap_on_re_as/antarctica_whaling_5
By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 16, 5:48 AM ET
TOKYO - Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic halted its operations Wednesday and scrambled to arrange the turnover of two activists who boarded one of its harpoon ships after a tense, high-seas chase, accusing the Sea Shepherd conservation group of piracy.
The captain of the activists' ship, meanwhile, told The Associated Press the two were "hostages" and vowed to continue to harass the fleet.
"We will only accept an unconditional release," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told the AP by satellite phone from the anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin. He said he wanted action immediately.
"We're going to chase them until they stop their hunt," Watson said. "As long as we're chasing them, they're not killing any whales."
The Japanese Fisheries Agency said it told the anti-whaling group to pick up the two activists, who boarded a harpoon ship on Tuesday to deliver a protest letter. The agency said its only demand was that the Sea Shepherd promise not to mount any attacks during the rendezvous.
Watson, however, said Japan was also demanding the group end its harassment of the whaling fleet as a condition of securing the pair's freedom.
Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, which organizes the hunt, accused Sea Shepherd of stalling to get publicity.
"It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel ... on the high seas," he said. "So this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy by the Sea Shepherd group."
Australia criticized both sides for behaving in a potentially dangerous way in a region that is thousands of miles from the nearest help in case of an emergency.
Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35, boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 after chasing it in a rubber boat, and were tied up on deck while other Sea Shepherd activists threw bottles of acid onto the deck, Japanese officials said.
Watson said the activists wanted to deliver a letter demanding an end to the whale hunt and then leave, but were roughed up and held against their will.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian officials had twice contacted their Japanese counterparts to press for the release of the two activists, and were assured this would happen.
He urged both sides to work together to urgently bring about the "safe and speedy" return of the men to the Steve Irwin.
"From the very first day, I urged all parties in this matter to exercise restraint," Smith told ABC radio, referring to previously known plans for the environmentalists to chase the whalers. "It's quite clearly the case that restraint hasn't occurred here."
He warned later at a news conference: "We're dealing with the great distance of the Southern Ocean. The capacity for adverse incidents is high, and the capacity for rescue or assistance is low."
In Tokyo, Japanese Fisheries Agency official Takahide Naruko told reporters the whalers decided to release the activists because they had done no damage to the ship, but Sea Shepherd had not responded to efforts to arrange the handover.
Whaling has been halted until the two are handed over, Naruko said.
Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section, said it sent safety instructions for the hand-over, but attached no further conditions in terms of Sea Shepherd's activities.
But Watson said Japan was demanding Sea Shepherd stop harassing, filming or photographing the whalers, and that the transfer of the pair be conducted by small boat, 10 nautical miles from the Yushin Maru.
"I find it very strange that people who are holding hostages are calling us the pirates," Watson said.
The event was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in the ocean at the bottom of the world and the environmental groups that try to stop them.
Smith said Australian Federal Police were evaluating whether any laws had been broken.
Naruko said whalers briefly tied up the two activists near the bridge of the Yushin Maru, and later moved them to a cabin.
Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.
Under intense international pressure, Japan abandoned its plans to include 50 humpback whales in this season's hunt, which is due to run until April.
__
Friday, April 13, 2007
True World Foods Inc To Distribute Polar Seas Frozen Sushi From Japan's Kyokuyo Co. Ltd: Company That Has Profited From Sale Of Whale Meat Despite Ban
For more on Japan and killing whales see
http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/02/
japanese-whaling-ship-on-fire-in.html
For more on the truth behind whaling in general see
http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/
iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/
coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Article:
Sushi deal rubs U.S. animal rights groups raw
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/
idUSN1042663520070410
Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:40PM EDT
By Brad Dorfman
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A large U.S. seafood distributor is drawing pressure from anti-whaling activists after an agreement to distribute frozen sushi from Japan's Kyokuyo Co. Ltd.
During a telephone press conference on Tuesday, the Humane Society International, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Environmental Investigation Agency called on New Jersey-based True World Foods Inc. to pressure Kyokuyo into getting out of the business of selling whale meat.
The groups targeted True World because it plans to distribute frozen Polar Seas Frozen sushi, manufactured by Kyokuyo. The agreement is on the company's Web site, www.trueworldfoods.com.
The groups say Kyokuyo has profited from the sale of whale meat despite a global ban on commercial whaling that went into effect in 1986. Japan, which says whaling is a cultural tradition, began what it calls "scientific research whaling" in 1987. The meat from the whales caught under Japan's whaling ends up on supermarket shelves.
The 1986 ban was instituted by the International Whaling Commission, of which Japan is a member. But the Commission is now divided between countries that assert that all whales need protection and others, including Japan, that say some species are abundant enough for limited hunting.
The animal rights groups declined to say what steps they would take if True World does not persuade Kyokuyo to stop selling whale products, but hinted at the possibility of calling for a boycott of the sushi.
A poll conducted for the International Fund for Animal Welfare showed that 69 percent of Americans said they were willing to boycott a restaurant carrying products from a Japanese company involved in whaling, said Patrick Ramage, global whale campaign manager for the organization.
"A strong majority of Americans are saying they are willing to put down their chopsticks until their sushi company puts down their harpoons," Ramage said.
Yasuaki Nyuya, a spokesman for Kyokuyo in Japan reached before the press conference, declined to comment because he said the company was not aware of the news conference. He also declined to provide figures relating to the company's whale business, such as annual sales or the number of whales it catches.
A person who answered the telephone at Kyokuyo's office in Seattle, Washington after the news conference, said that office does not speak to the press.
True World Foods did not return a call for comment. The company's Web site says it delivers sushi-quality seafood to more than 6,000 U.S. restaurants.
(Additional reporting by Sachi Izumi in Tokyo)
http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/02/
japanese-whaling-ship-on-fire-in.html
For more on the truth behind whaling in general see
http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/
iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/
coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Article:
Sushi deal rubs U.S. animal rights groups raw
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/
idUSN1042663520070410
Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:40PM EDT
By Brad Dorfman
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A large U.S. seafood distributor is drawing pressure from anti-whaling activists after an agreement to distribute frozen sushi from Japan's Kyokuyo Co. Ltd.
During a telephone press conference on Tuesday, the Humane Society International, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Environmental Investigation Agency called on New Jersey-based True World Foods Inc. to pressure Kyokuyo into getting out of the business of selling whale meat.
The groups targeted True World because it plans to distribute frozen Polar Seas Frozen sushi, manufactured by Kyokuyo. The agreement is on the company's Web site, www.trueworldfoods.com.
The groups say Kyokuyo has profited from the sale of whale meat despite a global ban on commercial whaling that went into effect in 1986. Japan, which says whaling is a cultural tradition, began what it calls "scientific research whaling" in 1987. The meat from the whales caught under Japan's whaling ends up on supermarket shelves.
The 1986 ban was instituted by the International Whaling Commission, of which Japan is a member. But the Commission is now divided between countries that assert that all whales need protection and others, including Japan, that say some species are abundant enough for limited hunting.
The animal rights groups declined to say what steps they would take if True World does not persuade Kyokuyo to stop selling whale products, but hinted at the possibility of calling for a boycott of the sushi.
A poll conducted for the International Fund for Animal Welfare showed that 69 percent of Americans said they were willing to boycott a restaurant carrying products from a Japanese company involved in whaling, said Patrick Ramage, global whale campaign manager for the organization.
"A strong majority of Americans are saying they are willing to put down their chopsticks until their sushi company puts down their harpoons," Ramage said.
Yasuaki Nyuya, a spokesman for Kyokuyo in Japan reached before the press conference, declined to comment because he said the company was not aware of the news conference. He also declined to provide figures relating to the company's whale business, such as annual sales or the number of whales it catches.
A person who answered the telephone at Kyokuyo's office in Seattle, Washington after the news conference, said that office does not speak to the press.
True World Foods did not return a call for comment. The company's Web site says it delivers sushi-quality seafood to more than 6,000 U.S. restaurants.
(Additional reporting by Sachi Izumi in Tokyo)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Japanese Insistence on Killing Whales Due To Ignorant Politicians and Also To Early United States Intervention Post World War II
There are a couple good things to point out about this article:
One, it shows that really there is very little interest by the Japanese people (not politicians) to eat whale meat. It literally has to be forced on them
Two: It was the United States who originally pushed them to resume whaling, but now, thankfully, the US is opposed to the unnecessary practice.
But, unfortunately, as they typically do, the Japanese continue to engage in unnecessary and cruel practices such as killing whales and dolphins.
For more on the truth behind whaling in general see
http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Article:
Whaling: A Japanese Obsession With American Roots
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/
world/asia/14whaling.html?pagewanted=2
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: March 14, 2007
AYUKAWA, Japan — Why does Japan insist on whaling?
The Japanese suffered a major embarrassment recently when they had to cut short their annual whale-hunting season in the Antarctic after a fire crippled their main ship and killed a crewman. The vessel sat idle for 10 days, loaded with 343,000 gallons of fuel that New Zealand said threatened to leak into the pristine waters, creating a potential public relations nightmare.
A few weeks earlier, more than half the members of the International Whaling Commission, led by antiwhaling nations like the United States, Britain and Australia, boycotted a conference that Japan had called in Tokyo to discuss the resumption of commercial whaling.
Why does Japan go through the annual clashes with antiwhaling ships from Western environmental groups? Why does it subject itself to the opprobrium its so-called scientific whaling elicits in the very same countries with which Tokyo proclaims to have shared values? Out of all possible issues, why defy the United States on this one?
After all, current demand for whale meat in Japan is abysmally low. Even in a town like Ayukawa — a small northern community at the tip of a peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean, home to a century-old whaling tradition — officials are struggling to preserve the tradition of eating whale meat by serving it in classroom lunches. Whale nuggets stewed in ketchup was on the menu on a recent Friday.
“I believe this is our traditional culture,” said Natsumi Saito, 15, a junior in high school. “It’s whaling that made this town famous.”
For Japan as a whole, whaling is a far more complex issue. It is intricately tied to Japan’s relations with the West, especially the United States.
It comes as little surprise that foreign opposition to whaling has fueled nationalist sentiments in Japan. What is far less known is how the United States instigated, at least partly, Japan’s nationalist obsession with whaling by first encouraging the Japanese in the postwar years to hunt and eat whale meat, and then urging them to stop.
Tokyo is currently leading a worldwide campaign, arguing that it has the right to manage natural resources and that whale meat is part of its traditional culture.
The clash over whaling emerged with the United States-led environmental movement, which emphasized the belief that endangered animals should be protected and that certain highly evolved ones, like whales, should not be killed at all. Under a 1986 ban on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission, Japan was allowed to engage in limited, scientific whaling of certain species — for things like gauging populations and tracking movements — and to sell the meat for consumption.
Japan has maintained ever since that human beings should be allowed to consume any animal as long as the fishing or hunting is sustainable. To establish this point, Japan sends whalers all the way to the Antarctic’s international waters, said Tetsu Sato, a professor of environmental science at Nagano University. In a world of diminishing marine resources, establishing this principle is critical to Japan’s long-term food security and natural resource management, he said.
“Precisely because whaling attracts so much worldwide attention, Japan can’t afford to lose,” said Mr. Sato, who supports whaling.
Last year, Japan killed 1,073 minke whales, which ended up in restaurants, supermarkets, school cafeterias or unsold. Most biologists agree that certain species of whales, including the minke, have not only recovered but are now thriving. Disagreement remains, however, about whether they can be harvested in a sustainable way or whether they are now so numerous that, as Japan asserts, they are threatening other marine animals.
But arguments about resource management do not resonate as much as those about culture.
“I was afraid that our food culture was going to die, so that’s why we began serving whale meat in school cafeterias,” said Shigehiko Azumi, 80, who served as mayor here when the ban went into effect.
Few deny that whaling is part of Ayukawa’s culture. But opinions divide over whether it is part of Japan’s.
Historically, fishermen in coastal towns, like Taiji in southwestern Japan, hunted whales in nearby waters. But things changed after the Commodore Perry’s so-called Black Ships forced an isolationist Japan to open up in the 1850s. Back then, the United States used whale oil lamps, and part of Perry’s mission to Japan was to secure the rights of American whalers in the Pacific.
Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
AyukawaMap
Ayukawa
Slide Show: Whaling in Japan (iht.com)
As whaling became knotted with Japan’s traumatic opening to the world and its subsequent drive to modernize, the Japanese adopted American and Norwegian whaling vessels and techniques. Some coastal towns were transformed into whaling stations, including Ayukawa, when the Toyo Whaling Company started operating here in 1906.
More Japanese, in turn, began eating whale, especially in western Japan. But it was after World War II, when a devastated Japan had few resources, that the American occupation authorities urged that whale meat be offered in classroom lunches nationwide as a cheap source of protein. For the first time, under America’s influence, whale meat became part of Japanese everyday life.
Japan’s whale consumption peaked in 1962 at 226,000 tons, then declined steadily until it fell to 15,000 tons in 1985, the year before the commercial ban took place. Whaling advocates argue that consumption fell because increasingly strict quotas by the Whaling Commission, followed by the ban, reduced supply.
“The demand didn’t die,” said Joji Morishita, an official at Japan’s fisheries agency and its negotiator at the Whaling Commission. “The supply was cut off. The Japanese didn’t have a say in the matter.”
Whaling opponents say that Japanese mostly stopped eating whale as the country became richer and alternatives became widely available.
“In the midst of Japan’s postwar food shortage, whale meat was used in classroom lunches, but it wasn’t very popular,” said Shuichi Kitoh, professor of environmental studies at the University of Tokyo. “The reaction was, ‘How can you eat that stuff?’.”
Nevertheless, to unify public sentiment behind whaling, the government promoted the argument that whaling was part of Japan’s cultural heritage and that it was being threatened by the West, Mr. Kitoh said. The argument resonated in a country where many feel that traditional culture has been lost in Japan’s confrontation with and then embrace of America; it was also in keeping with a modern Japanese tradition to construct a unified culture to face the West.
Ayako Okubo, a researcher at the private Ocean Policy Research Foundation, said that the cultural argument first emerged in the late 1970s, and was then enthusiastically and effectively used by politicians. Nowadays, most Japanese favor whaling.
“It’s not because Japanese want to eat whale meat,” Ms. Okubo said. “It’s because they don’t like being told not to eat it by foreigners.”
Japan’s unyielding stance on whaling also scratched a nationalist itch.
“Japan, in fact, can’t say no to America on many issues,” Ms. Okubo said, adding, however, that whaling was one issue where disagreement was implicitly tolerated. “It’s become like a form of stress release.”
Mr. Morishita, Japan’s negotiator to the Whaling Commission, chuckled at the term “stress release.”
“And we’re constantly saying no,” he said about pressure on Japan to stop whaling. “That makes some people feel good, no doubt about it.”
“But,” he added, “policy, of course, shouldn’t be decided based on that.”
Around Ayukawa, people are also struggling over the meaning of culture. Like other communities trying to maintain whale-meat eating, Ayukawa has tried to make the strong-smelling meat more palatable to youthful tastes by stewing it in ketchup or serving it sweet-and-sour style.
Yoichi Nishimura, 55, a city agricultural official who grew up eating whale meat, said ketchup and other nontraditional ways of preparing whale meat were just facts of modern life.
“But it definitely is a little strange,” he said.
One, it shows that really there is very little interest by the Japanese people (not politicians) to eat whale meat. It literally has to be forced on them
Two: It was the United States who originally pushed them to resume whaling, but now, thankfully, the US is opposed to the unnecessary practice.
But, unfortunately, as they typically do, the Japanese continue to engage in unnecessary and cruel practices such as killing whales and dolphins.
For more on the truth behind whaling in general see
http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/10/iceland-resume-whaling-excellent.html
For more on Japan and it’s other deranged practice of killing of dolphins - http://geari.blogspot.com/2006/11/coalition-of-marine-scientists-has.html
Article:
Whaling: A Japanese Obsession With American Roots
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/
world/asia/14whaling.html?pagewanted=2
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: March 14, 2007
AYUKAWA, Japan — Why does Japan insist on whaling?
The Japanese suffered a major embarrassment recently when they had to cut short their annual whale-hunting season in the Antarctic after a fire crippled their main ship and killed a crewman. The vessel sat idle for 10 days, loaded with 343,000 gallons of fuel that New Zealand said threatened to leak into the pristine waters, creating a potential public relations nightmare.
A few weeks earlier, more than half the members of the International Whaling Commission, led by antiwhaling nations like the United States, Britain and Australia, boycotted a conference that Japan had called in Tokyo to discuss the resumption of commercial whaling.
Why does Japan go through the annual clashes with antiwhaling ships from Western environmental groups? Why does it subject itself to the opprobrium its so-called scientific whaling elicits in the very same countries with which Tokyo proclaims to have shared values? Out of all possible issues, why defy the United States on this one?
After all, current demand for whale meat in Japan is abysmally low. Even in a town like Ayukawa — a small northern community at the tip of a peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean, home to a century-old whaling tradition — officials are struggling to preserve the tradition of eating whale meat by serving it in classroom lunches. Whale nuggets stewed in ketchup was on the menu on a recent Friday.
“I believe this is our traditional culture,” said Natsumi Saito, 15, a junior in high school. “It’s whaling that made this town famous.”
For Japan as a whole, whaling is a far more complex issue. It is intricately tied to Japan’s relations with the West, especially the United States.
It comes as little surprise that foreign opposition to whaling has fueled nationalist sentiments in Japan. What is far less known is how the United States instigated, at least partly, Japan’s nationalist obsession with whaling by first encouraging the Japanese in the postwar years to hunt and eat whale meat, and then urging them to stop.
Tokyo is currently leading a worldwide campaign, arguing that it has the right to manage natural resources and that whale meat is part of its traditional culture.
The clash over whaling emerged with the United States-led environmental movement, which emphasized the belief that endangered animals should be protected and that certain highly evolved ones, like whales, should not be killed at all. Under a 1986 ban on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission, Japan was allowed to engage in limited, scientific whaling of certain species — for things like gauging populations and tracking movements — and to sell the meat for consumption.
Japan has maintained ever since that human beings should be allowed to consume any animal as long as the fishing or hunting is sustainable. To establish this point, Japan sends whalers all the way to the Antarctic’s international waters, said Tetsu Sato, a professor of environmental science at Nagano University. In a world of diminishing marine resources, establishing this principle is critical to Japan’s long-term food security and natural resource management, he said.
“Precisely because whaling attracts so much worldwide attention, Japan can’t afford to lose,” said Mr. Sato, who supports whaling.
Last year, Japan killed 1,073 minke whales, which ended up in restaurants, supermarkets, school cafeterias or unsold. Most biologists agree that certain species of whales, including the minke, have not only recovered but are now thriving. Disagreement remains, however, about whether they can be harvested in a sustainable way or whether they are now so numerous that, as Japan asserts, they are threatening other marine animals.
But arguments about resource management do not resonate as much as those about culture.
“I was afraid that our food culture was going to die, so that’s why we began serving whale meat in school cafeterias,” said Shigehiko Azumi, 80, who served as mayor here when the ban went into effect.
Few deny that whaling is part of Ayukawa’s culture. But opinions divide over whether it is part of Japan’s.
Historically, fishermen in coastal towns, like Taiji in southwestern Japan, hunted whales in nearby waters. But things changed after the Commodore Perry’s so-called Black Ships forced an isolationist Japan to open up in the 1850s. Back then, the United States used whale oil lamps, and part of Perry’s mission to Japan was to secure the rights of American whalers in the Pacific.
Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
AyukawaMap
Ayukawa
Slide Show: Whaling in Japan (iht.com)
As whaling became knotted with Japan’s traumatic opening to the world and its subsequent drive to modernize, the Japanese adopted American and Norwegian whaling vessels and techniques. Some coastal towns were transformed into whaling stations, including Ayukawa, when the Toyo Whaling Company started operating here in 1906.
More Japanese, in turn, began eating whale, especially in western Japan. But it was after World War II, when a devastated Japan had few resources, that the American occupation authorities urged that whale meat be offered in classroom lunches nationwide as a cheap source of protein. For the first time, under America’s influence, whale meat became part of Japanese everyday life.
Japan’s whale consumption peaked in 1962 at 226,000 tons, then declined steadily until it fell to 15,000 tons in 1985, the year before the commercial ban took place. Whaling advocates argue that consumption fell because increasingly strict quotas by the Whaling Commission, followed by the ban, reduced supply.
“The demand didn’t die,” said Joji Morishita, an official at Japan’s fisheries agency and its negotiator at the Whaling Commission. “The supply was cut off. The Japanese didn’t have a say in the matter.”
Whaling opponents say that Japanese mostly stopped eating whale as the country became richer and alternatives became widely available.
“In the midst of Japan’s postwar food shortage, whale meat was used in classroom lunches, but it wasn’t very popular,” said Shuichi Kitoh, professor of environmental studies at the University of Tokyo. “The reaction was, ‘How can you eat that stuff?’.”
Nevertheless, to unify public sentiment behind whaling, the government promoted the argument that whaling was part of Japan’s cultural heritage and that it was being threatened by the West, Mr. Kitoh said. The argument resonated in a country where many feel that traditional culture has been lost in Japan’s confrontation with and then embrace of America; it was also in keeping with a modern Japanese tradition to construct a unified culture to face the West.
Ayako Okubo, a researcher at the private Ocean Policy Research Foundation, said that the cultural argument first emerged in the late 1970s, and was then enthusiastically and effectively used by politicians. Nowadays, most Japanese favor whaling.
“It’s not because Japanese want to eat whale meat,” Ms. Okubo said. “It’s because they don’t like being told not to eat it by foreigners.”
Japan’s unyielding stance on whaling also scratched a nationalist itch.
“Japan, in fact, can’t say no to America on many issues,” Ms. Okubo said, adding, however, that whaling was one issue where disagreement was implicitly tolerated. “It’s become like a form of stress release.”
Mr. Morishita, Japan’s negotiator to the Whaling Commission, chuckled at the term “stress release.”
“And we’re constantly saying no,” he said about pressure on Japan to stop whaling. “That makes some people feel good, no doubt about it.”
“But,” he added, “policy, of course, shouldn’t be decided based on that.”
Around Ayukawa, people are also struggling over the meaning of culture. Like other communities trying to maintain whale-meat eating, Ayukawa has tried to make the strong-smelling meat more palatable to youthful tastes by stewing it in ketchup or serving it sweet-and-sour style.
Yoichi Nishimura, 55, a city agricultural official who grew up eating whale meat, said ketchup and other nontraditional ways of preparing whale meat were just facts of modern life.
“But it definitely is a little strange,” he said.
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