At the government's Fisheries Agency in Tokyo, which drives the prowhaling campaign in Japan, there is thinly disguised contempt for the antiwhaling finger-wagging of New Zealand, a country with boundless rich farmland and a tiny population to support.
In contrast, Japan's food self-sufficiency is extremely low -- now just 40 percent, down from 73 percent in 1965.
What right does New Zealand have to tell us how to use the global sea commons, asks Akira Nakamae, the FA's deputy director general. "New Zealand, Australia and Britain are the top antiwhaling countries. The reason they are involved is just egotism. It is quite simple: The countries that are not involved should stay out of the problem. In the high seas, we divide up all resources, so why not whales?"