The Japanese will keep hunting whales, even though they’ve lost their appetite for them

[n2doc]

By Gwynn Guilford

The International Court of Justice just ordered Japan to temporarily stop killing whales in the Antarctic, calling Japan’s 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 isn’t science.
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That’s a big deal. But while the ICJ’s decision will halt the ¥795 million ($9.94 million) Antarctic “research” operations of Japan’s 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 Japan’s whaling program, which has long been struggling. ICR sold only ¥2 billion in whale meat last year—down from ¥7 billion in 2004—even 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 ICR’s 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 ICR’s 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]

1. I don't know if it "enhances physical strength and reduces fatigue",

but when I tried whale in Iceland recently it was rather yummy!

[narnian60]

3. How many times are you going to say this--

third time that I have seen. I guess until you get a rise out of someone.

[Jgarrick]

5. Others have commented on this topic multiple times as well.

Why single me out for bring some much needed perspective to this subject?

[Larkspur]

2. Whale meat is full of mercury and other toxins

So eating it is like eating rat poison.

[Bonx]

4. Please stop whaling

Thanks,
The rest of us.