https://apnews.com/article/japan-commercial-whaling-fin-whale-7d9aba49ed69f241204df8a05f720205
Japan’s Fisheries Agency has proposed expanding commercial whaling to fin whales, a larger species than the three allowed now.
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/38982154
95% of Japanese rarely or never eat whale.
for good reason; i tried it in japan, its pretty gamey and tough.
Japanese eat between 4000 and 5000 tons annually, only one ounce per person per YEAR on average, and the country throws away 3500 to 4000 tons per year, about 40%.of all harvested whale meat
They sell it at my supermarket in northern Japan. I've had it at a restaurant I think twice and it was ok; nothing to write home about but I didn't find it gamey or anything.
First, as I stated in another reply, I've never directly/intentionally purchased it. The times I ate it, it was as a part of some set meal that I got. I ate it rather than let it just be thrown away.
Second, as long as they're not hunting threatened/endangered species, I don't know that there is an argument to be made by someone who already eats animal products.
It's so funny to me when people are like 'oh yeah I participated in and helped fund this disgusting thing, it's wasn't that great so I did it again...'
Most people seem to have no personal morality or shame, it's so weird.
I never specifically ordered whale. In Japan, there are places you go and get whatever set menu is being served that day. I did, it contained whale, and either I ate it or it went in the trash. As such, I ate it.
My japanese partner says most people have tried it once or twice but don’t eat it regularly
I think it was often in school lunches through the early post-war period but was replaced by other things so some boomer era folks are it a lot growing up.
I remember on QI, Jeremy Clarkson said he ordered whale in a restaurant in Iceland and they asked him if he wanted grated puffin on it.
What the fuck is up with the Japanese and whaling? Do they eat that much whale meat? Or what?
It's often (but not always) available at supermarkets, but it's not commonly eaten. Hopefully the tradition will die off with the older generations.
I think that it's been a thing for a while. Japan's an island nation, and harvesting sea life has been important. Probably some people who want it just for tradition.
kagis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_whaling
The oldest written mention of whaling in Japanese records is from Kojiki, the oldest Japanese historical book, which was written in the 7th century CE. This book describes whale meat being eaten by Emperor Jimmu. In Man'yōshū, an anthology of poems from the 8th century CE, the word "Whaling" (いさなとり) was frequently used in depicting the ocean or beaches.
One of the first records of whaling using harpoons is from the 1570s at Morosaki, a bay attached to Ise Bay. This method of whaling spread to Kii (before 1606), Shikoku (1624), northern Kyushu (1630s), and Nagato (around 1672).
Kakuemon Wada, later known as Kakuemon Taiji, was said to have invented net whaling sometime between 1675 and 1677. This method soon spread to Shikoku (1681) and northern Kyushu (1684)
Using the techniques developed by Taiji, the Japanese mainly hunted four species of whale: the North Pacific right, the humpback, the fin, and the gray whale. They also caught the occasional blue, sperm, or sei/Bryde's whale .
In 1853, the US naval officer Matthew Perry forced Japan to open up to foreign trade. One purpose of his mission was to gain access to ports for the American whaling fleet in the north-west Pacific Ocean. Japan's traditional whaling was eventually replaced in the late 19th century and early 20th century with modern methods.
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/big-fish-history-whaling/
People have been whaling for thousands of years. Norwegians were among the first to hunt whales, as early as 4,000 years ago. The Japanese may have been doing so even earlier.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, whose electoral district is traditionally known for whaling, said Thursday the government supports sustainable use of whales as part of Japan’s traditional food culture and plans to promote the industry.
“Whales are an important food resource and we believe they should be sustainably utilized just like any other marine resources, based on scientific evidence,” Hayashi told reporters. “It is also important to carry on Japan’s traditional food culture.”
I think Cabinet Secretaries are an important food resource that should be sustainably utilized.
They added whale meat to vending machines last year to boost consumption. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/24/asia/japan-whale-meat-vending-machine-intl-hnk/index.html
With some things the Japanese just have the worst fucking ideas. How have they still not understood that overfishing is a problem?
Great idea Japan. Artificially trying to fuel consumption of a product you KNOW is controversial and unpopular instead of just... stopping
That's the impression I'm getting front reading this thread. Most people don't care about it yet they still insist on killing and fishing whales
Americans own piles of guns. Russians drink themselves into the ground. Rich people the world over pay for 'exotic' hunting trips to shoot endangered animals. All of these things are bad.
The Japanese aren't the only ones clinging to outdated traditions despite controversy.
It's not just the controversy though. Hardly anybody actually eats it, and it's apparently not very well liked by those that do. For your listed examples they have very fervent supporters who strongly resist any changes, whereas here I can't see any reason why they don't just stop
The Japanese have clearly ignored the threat of an alien probe showing up 200 years from now and sucking away the oceans looking for the missing whales.
The whale in the picture is at the natural history museum in Ueno. It's a really nice place to visit if you're ever in Tokyo and you can see taxidermied Hachiko ( ⚈̥̥̥̥̥́⌢⚈̥̥̥̥̥̀)
Those savages
Anyway, who's up for eating a bucket with the wings of 30 chickens that were killed in the same box they were born in
I don't eat meat, but I really don't understand how people like you expect to insult people into not eating meat.
Have you ever been insulted into doing something other people want you to do? I sure haven't.
You can eat meat, just don't be a hypocrite about it and pretend you're better than other people eating meat because your meat lives in pain neck deep in their own shit before you kill it
Cool, so anyone who eats meat should be totally ok with eating whales. Thanks for clarifying that, we'll stop trying to get people to stop eating whales now thanks to your advice.
The options are either that or not eating meat while continuing to try to stop people from eating whales. I support you in whichever you pick.
I really do not understand your "people can be as cruel to animals as they want as long as they aren't hypocrites" position.
Sounds like you don't care about animal cruelty either, in that case. As long as you aren't participating in it.
Seems to me like trying to convince other people not to do it rather than insulting them might be a better use of your time.
Plenty of others have put a lot of effort into convincing people to stop eating meat with a decent amount of success. Do you have some sort of condition preventing you from doing the same? I doubt it.
Again, it seems to me like you have no issues with animal cruelty, just hypocrisy.
The irony is lost on most people but in a lot of ways you are correct. I eat meat, I rather wouldn't but dietarily it works well with me, but to say cow's are more worthy of killing and eating than a whale is a preposterous thought.
The issues usually fall to two things. Some find it abhorrent to eat sapient creatures. Others are opposed to eating an endangered animal you don't need to.
Sapience is very ambiguous and hard to judge. Could definitely get away with saying chickens are less intelligent than a whale, a cow maybe, but a pig probably not.
The whales currently being hunted, the minke whale and byrdes whale, are not endangered. The fin whale which they're currently considering in this article is vulnerable but not endangered. Probably shouldn't be hunting if it's vulnerable but there's a bunch of other fish that are vulnerable that no one gives a shit about eating.
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