Whaling.

[User Name Deleted]

Quick poll, how do you feel about Japan's whaling program?

I did notice that there was plenty of it in the shops when I was in Japan.

[kimonolover]

I say save the kimono! Then worry about other stuff.

[cutyourhair]

Terrible.

They chalk it up in the name of science and then go out poaching in deep artic waters to feed their fish eating fetish.

Poor endangered whales. Shame on Japan.

[m2pi]

Quick poll, how do you feel about Japan's whaling program?

I did notice that there was plenty of it in the shops when I was in Japan.

... and especially in Hokkaido.

Take a bite off of a whale burger:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...5DE03D1A30.htm

and see if you can swallow it ;-(

Just think about eating creatures that may have swallowed tons of seamen in the past... yikes!

[mcalpine]

In all seriousness,

I think whale hunting should be better regulated in order to protect the species. Other then that, I am all for eating whale meat from time to time. I think it's one of the best seafoods I've ever eaten. Consequently, whale meat contains alot of mercury which could actually do harm to humans if eaten too much.

[kimonolover]

Japan's "fish eating fetish" is part of why they live so long.

[electric_japan]

All should be aware of this before there is no time left.
Count the hours and minutes.

[sincity]

My personal credo is "eat anything, drink anything, and f*ck the hottest chicks." So this being Japan and all I suppose I've eaten my share of Moby. I don't really know though because part of my personal credo is to never ask what's at the end of my chopstick. Basically, I refuse to label food out of culinary respect for all creatures.

[cutyourhair]

Japan's "fish eating fetish" is part of why they live so long.

That's only in Okinawa, and with fast food its going down.

[edinjapan]

My personal credo is "eat anything, drink anything, and f*ck the hottest chicks." So this being Japan and all I suppose I've eaten my share of Moby. I don't really know though because part of my personal credo is to never ask what's at the end of my chopstick. Basically, I refuse to label food out of culinary respect for all creatures.

I'm more concerned about the dioxins and heavy metals. Whales are at the top of the foodchain and all of these goodies collect in their bodies.

You want to eat whale, it's your funeral.

[Yodogawa]

You want to eat whale, it's your funeral.

It's also the whale's funeral.

The next time you want to eat whale, it might be worth reading.
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/s...hale_meat.html

[sincity]

The next time you want to eat whale, it might be worth reading.
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/s...hale_meat.html

Sorry, reading that would be against my credo.

"Whale's funeral." That's precious. I'll remember to eulogize my blubbery friend before I feed him to myself.

[Shonai Ben]

I have eaten whale several times.
I don't have a problem with the hunting of whales as long as it's regulated...

[Nonbe]

I hunt whales all the time. I don`t eat them after I kill then, I just do it for the sport. I love watching them rot in the winter sun and I stand atop the carcass, stripped to the waist, with my hunting spear `betsy`, raised skyward, chuckling to myself about how I hauled the creature up the beach singlehandedly.

I then spend a couple of hours idly stabbing the blubbery mass before getting bored and going home.


Whales are stupid.

[User Name Deleted]

I don't have a problem with whaling as long as it is sustainable.

I've tried whalemeat on several occasions, but I'm not a huge fan.

[CLOWNPUNCHER]

Had it for school lunch the other week at the school I was at for the day.

If the Japanese want to hunt whale let them do it in their own backyard . No need to come down to my part of the world and flip the political bird at OZ and NZ.

[sankokujin]

If the Japanese want to hunt whale let them do it in their own backyard . No need to come down to my part of the world and flip the political bird at OZ and NZ.

Problem is there aren't enough whales in 'their own backyard'. Whales aren't that stoopid, they know to stay away from Japan's territorial waters if they wanna avoid being cut up and put on a supermarket display shelf.

That's why Japan's whaling fleets are forced to go further afield to catch 'em.

[User Name Deleted]

If the Japanese want to hunt whale let them do it in their own backyard . No need to come down to my part of the world and flip the political bird at OZ and NZ.

Maybe this is why everyone opposes it down under, in that it's done in international waters close to OZ and NZ.

I've even seen the odd sign like 'Save the whales, Kill Japs' about the place. It's a joke, obviously, but shows the depth of feeling some people hold.

[JayJay]

Maybe this is why everyone opposes it down under, in that it's done in international waters close to OZ and NZ.

I've even seen the odd sign like 'Save the whales, Kill Japs' about the place. It's a joke, obviously, but shows the depth of feeling some people hold.

I feel the same. I would have no problem eating whale if it was sustainable and not protected species. Also a "whale sanctuary" in the Southern Ocean is needed.

What really pisses me off about the Japanese is their arrogance, that, as JT said, they can come down into our waters and think the can catch whatever the F&^k they like. And like the oya-ji smoking at the station, if you raise the issue they just turn their back to you and ignore you.

Not just whaling either, the world's smallest dolphin, Hectors Dolphin, is almost extinct because of Japanese drift netting and trawling for tuna in OUR waters.

On the other hand the lefty "whales are beautiful intelligent creatures who feel" argument doesn’t fly with me. If the Japanese should stop eating whale because of our feeling toward them then we should stop eating pork for the sake of Muslims and Beef for the sake of Hindus, and I personally would rather do neither.

For me it Japanese violation of my countries territorial waters and arrogant attitude about it all that really rubs me the wrong way.

[arp]

It's a cultural "man against beast" thing which will take a nother generation to breed out of the psyche.


If you really care, keep up the pressure by donating to Anti Whaling pressure groups.

Change doesn't come about without effort or HARD FING CASH>

GIVE THE WHALES MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[6koala8]

Are we talking about gay whales here?

[sincity]

Are we talking about gay whales here?

I like gay whales. I just have to wink at them and they jump into my pot.

Arp,

Your user name reminds me of the sound a wounded seal makes...Kinda puts me off my sausages.

But I respect your idealism and I too believe that well-fed chickens & goats can wear Armani like the rest of us.

But if I could just get you to try Aunt Syl's chile...It's a special recipe made with squirrel meat. Oh Arp, the post-meal burp is legendary. Word, you'll never try to push those dandelion sandwiches on us again.

[Zap!You'reFrozen]

I personally don't see how killing and eating whales is intrinsically crueller than killing and eating, say, pigs or cows. As long as the hunt is regulated and done in as humane a fashion as possible, and endangered species are not being targetted (which the minke whale, the primary target of Japanese whalers, is not), I have no particular issue with it. That said, I object to it on a purely personal basis, but then again I don't eat beef or pork either.

Having said that, however, I find myself disgusted and baffled by the Japanese approach to the whaling issue. Other countries, notably Norway and Iceland, openly hunt whales, as do Canada's Inuit, and they make no bones about it. Japan, on the other hand, categorically denies that it hunts whales for meat, insisting that their hunt is purely for "scientific research" while whale meat continues to inexplicably appear on supermarket shelves. Why the government takes this duplicitous, round-about and frankly cowardly approach to the issue is completely beyond me. If the Japanese government were to say "Look, we hunt whales. It's part of our traditional diet, and the whales we kill are not a threatened species. Get used to it." I think the issue would pretty much disappear. Instead, they lie about the true intent of the hunt and incur the ire of the global environmental community. After all, we seldom hear of anti-whaling protests against Iceland or Norway. And it's not like Japan is some helpless third-world country with no influence or diplomatic leverage.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest that the Japanese government wants to avoid legitimizing its whaling industry in order to not be required to regulate their hunt and allow whalers to hunt more or less indiscriminately. If Japan were to openly declare itself a whaling nation and regulate the industry, the industry would face considerable international scrutiny, something the government perhaps wants to avoid.

[Yodogawa]

If Japan were to openly declare itself a whaling nation and regulate the industry, the industry would face considerable international scrutiny, something the government perhaps wants to avoid.

There might be some truth to the above. People buying whale at supermarkets automatically assume that it is minke whale that they are buying. However there have been cases when it was actually dolphin or porpoise.

[arp]

I like gay whales. I just have to wink at them and they jump into my pot.

Arp,

Your user name reminds me of the sound a wounded seal makes...Kinda puts me off my sausages.

But I respect your idealism and I too believe that well-fed chickens & goats can wear Armani like the rest of us.

But if I could just get you to try Aunt Syl's chile...It's a special recipe made with squirrel meat. Oh Arp, the post-meal burp is legendary. Word, you'll never try to push those dandelion sandwiches on us again.

I love meat and I would gladly eat your Aunt's squirrel chilli.

I just wanted to tell people who use the whaling issue as another excuse to bash Japan ( Jay Jay- this does not imply you - you are a very nice individual in my experience, lovely in fact, I want to marry you, I digress ) that they should give money to anti whaling groups if they really cared about the issue.

The truth is that most don't really care about the whales , they just want to slag off Japan. Blubber blubber blubber....

[Ed Ob]

A student recently told me that during and after the war Whale was a staple of the Japanese diet as it was reatively cheap and abundant. She claimed that the older generation of Japanese should be allowed to continue eating whale meat for nostalgic resons. Hmmm. . . .
As with many other contentious international issues, its the lack of diplomacy (read "arrogance") on the part of the Japanese government that makes the issue worse.

[edinjapan]

I hunt whales all the time. I don`t eat them after I kill then, I just do it for the sport. I love watching them rot in the winter sun and I stand atop the carcass, stripped to the waist, with my hunting spear `betsy`, raised skyward, chuckling to myself about how I hauled the creature up the beach singlehandedly.

I then spend a couple of hours idly stabbing the blubbery mass before getting bored and going home.


Whales are stupid.

Were you by chance the gaijin with the pegleg and eyepatch I saw down at Enoshima last summer toting the Nantucket Magnum with detachable barbs?

[Zap!You'reFrozen]

A student recently told me that during and after the war Whale was a staple of the Japanese diet as it was reatively cheap and abundant. She claimed that the older generation of Japanese should be allowed to continue eating whale meat for nostalgic resons. Hmmm. . . .

Actually, that strikes me as a perfectly good justification, at least as good a one as any I've heard. I mean, most younger Native Canadians don't do much hunting these days and yet indigenous hunting rights are fiercely defended by First Nations people on the grounds that it's tradition, and most non-native Canadians don't argue with this as long as species aren't being threatened. It's certainly a better justification than the blatantly untrue "We're only hunting for scientific purposes." song and dance.

As with many other contentious international issues, its the lack of diplomacy (read "arrogance") on the part of the Japanese government that makes the issue worse.

I don't think arrogance is the right word. I think the Japanese style of international relations is better described as ambiguous, underhanded and generally spineless. Take the Yasukuni Shrine issue, for one. PM Koizumi continues to visit the shrine, an act seemingly designed to provoke Japan's Asian neighbours. The PM could stand his ground, saying that it is his right as head of government to visit his country's national war cemetery and call China on its own hypocrisy in continuing to propagate the cult of Mao Zedong (a mass murderer to compare with Hitler and Stalin) while denouncing Japan for failing to properly atone for its wartime sins. This would be the arrogant, high-horse approach. Instead, he opts for the oft-repeated "I visit the shrine as a private citizen," in spite of the fact that he's, well, PRIME MINISTER and he does not cease to be PM when he leaves the precincts of the Diet building.

Arrogant foreign policy? That's Washington for you. Japan's foreign policy is simply slippery and obfuscating, but it seems to work. Kind of.

[edinjapan]

Actually, that strikes me as a perfectly good justification, at least as good a one as any I've heard. I mean, most younger Native Canadians don't do much hunting these days and yet indigenous hunting rights are fiercely defended by First Nations people on the grounds that it's tradition, and most non-native Canadians don't argue with this as long as species aren't being threatened. It's certainly a better justification than the blatantly untrue "We're only hunting for scientific purposes." song and dance.

The Inuit may not hunt the whales as much as they used to, in fact there may not even be a need to do so but, they feel they have a right to do so and will defend that right. If that defense means they must take steps to protect and manage the whales, provide oversight and improve the environment then they will do so.

I've read that Iceland and Norway are taking similar steps and are committed to making the fishery thrive. Japan-well Japan doesn't see the need to follow international rules unless they suit them and don't want to spend the time, effort or money on something they can get for free.

I don't think arrogance is the right word. I think the Japanese style of international relations is better described as ambiguous, underhanded and generally spineless.

The LDP make Charlie Brown look decisive and commanding by comparison. But, that goes with the territory, they aren't in control and they know it. Koizumi has lost any rapport he had with the bureaucrats over his attempts to streamline government and reduce their perks and priviledges. In retaliation they have basically stonewalled/dragged their feet on any request he or his followers have made.

I consider the going ons involving the Japanese to be like those of a school of 'dither fish' in a tank of $500 a piece discus. The discus if left to their own devices would commit murder, mayhem and just generally destroy the tank's decor in an effort to carve out their individual territories and choosing mates. By placing some cheap, fastmoving fish in with them, you give them a distraction, an outlet for their frustration and a safety valve when they feel like going berserk.

The life of a dither fish is short, fraught with danger and they are constantly being replaced. But, the result is that everybody picks on these easy targets, forgets temporarily about what they were fighting about and gets on with the business of pairing off and making babies.

Japan is one of the dither fish that keeps the big powers from ripping each apart. The Japanese are good for comedic relief and as the fallguy. But, taking them seriously...You gotta be kidding!

[arp]

I consider the going ons involving the Japanese to be like those of a school of 'dither fish' in a tank of $500 a piece discus. The discus if left to their own devices would commit murder, mayhem and just generally destroy the tank's decor in an effort to carve out their individual territories and choosing mates. By placing some cheap, fastmoving fish in with them, you give them a distraction, an outlet for their frustration and a safety valve when they feel like going berserk.

The life of a dither fish is short, fraught with danger and they are constantly being replaced. But, the result is that everybody picks on these easy targets, forgets temporarily about what they were fighting about and gets on with the business of pairing off and making babies.

Japan is one of the dither fish that keeps the big powers from ripping each apart. The Japanese are good for comedic relief and as the fallguy. But, taking them seriously...You gotta be kidding!

Congratulations must go to you for the most bizarre analogy I have had the pleasure of reading on GP. Well done.

[edinjapan]

Congratulations must go to you for the most bizarre analogy I have had the pleasure of reading on GP. Well done.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn't have done without help from all the little people!

[Nick Halliday]

I'm more concerned about the dioxins and heavy metals. Whales are at the top of the foodchain and all of these goodies collect in their bodies.

You want to eat whale, it's your funeral.

If they (some of them) eat krill, are they really at the top? I guess if they are mammals eating from the oceans they are bound to accumulate a lot of the really awful stuff in the water that gets into their food. I guess you could say the orca is at the top of a food chain.

[m2pi]

... and here's something more offensive :-(

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jh...ss/scienceNews

[noskich]

It s impossible to provide sustainable whaling because of lack of information. Noone really knows for sure how many whales are there in which areas, also it s impossible to track them cause they cross great distances with remarkable speed.
The big problem is that each country will say it s OK in our backyard, others are guilty, so I would ban whaling completely and punish any country who would not prohibit it legally.

[Nonbe]

It s impossible to provide sustainable whaling because of lack of information. Noone really knows for sure how many whales are there in which areas, also it s impossible to track them cause they cross great distances with remarkable speed.

I know where they are. And I can track them...

word.

[Che]

I don't see much difference between killing whales, dolphins, dogs and killing other animals, I mean no animal is worth more than another. so I'm a vegetarian and object to all unnecessary killing.

One difference is that there is no human way to kill whales, and that they may be endangered.

People talk about traditional killing, well fine, but it was also traditional to keep slaves, that women couldn't vote, and you'd throw bananas at black soccer players. It's not a valid argument.

Anyway, let them hunt them traditionally, with those row boats and they have to throw the harpoons themselves, and wear those funny hats and big beards, and no satellite navigation equipment. That should lower the hunts.

[Ed Ob]

Actually, that strikes me as a perfectly good justification, at least as good a one as any I've heard. I mean, most younger Native Canadians don't do much hunting these days and yet indigenous hunting rights are fiercely defended by First Nations people on the grounds that it's tradition, and most non-native Canadians don't argue with this as long as species aren't being threatened. It's certainly a better justification than the blatantly untrue "We're only hunting for scientific purposes." song and dance.

Actually, I was just impressed that the student correctly used the word nostalgia. . . .
seriously though, if some good ol' southern boys suddenly felt nostalgic for lynching, would that be a viable justification for murdering an innocent black man? Not the same thing? tell that to the whales.

Anyway, let them hunt them traditionally, with those row boats and they have to throw the harpoons themselves, and wear those funny hats and big beards, and no satellite navigation equipment. That should lower the hunts.

Now that seems fair.

[arisuta]

Bloody hell, I thought humanity had progressed to some sort of understanding of the precarious balance of nature upon which we depend, and that right thinking people would condemn all forms of environmental destruction, especially unnecessary ones. I was even folish enough to believe that teachers must by implication be educated, intelligent people who would be pro environment. Reading these flippant and ignorant posts on here is quite distressing, I can only guess that the trolls and twats who wrote such a lot of twaddle are ignorant Yanks who would kill anyone or anything, drive huge SUVs, vote Bush and are morons. Grow up people and smell the destruction all around you. Perhaps a global meltdown that eradicates the human race is the only hope for life on this planet.

[Libertine]

Don't get me wrong,

I’m not Anti-Whale.

I'm Pro-Plankton!

Gazillions of poor plankton get consumed by these filthy Whale creatures every single day, but nobody gives a Shiet about that now do they!? FCUKERS!

I'm ashamed to be a mammal!

COME ON DO YOU PART PEOPLE

EAT WHALE AND SAVE PLANKTON

[arisuta]

Can't you be serious about a serious subject. Whales are highly developed, intelligent creatures who have their own language, love and nurture their young and mourn their dead. The way they are killed is horrifically cruel and causes a slow lingering death. The facetious bags of smelly wind posting on here are just a bunch of peurile morons who should be ashamed to call themselves human, I am certainly ashamed to be classified in the same species as you. Hurry up and grow up you infantile morons. (Oh, I just remembered, the reason you came to Japan as EFL teachers was so that you could avoid growing up and avoid responsibilty for your inane actions for as long as possible, twats!)