Japan will never stop whaling: fisheries chief

by Harumi Ozawa

AFP-JIJI

Fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan will never stop hunting whales despite fierce criticism from other nations and violent clashes at sea with militant conservationists.

“I don’t think there will be any kind of an end for whaling by Japan,” he said Tuesday.

Hayashi, who took the ministerial post overseeing the country’s whaling program in December, said criticism of the practice is “a cultural attack, a kind of prejudice against Japanese culture.”

There is “a long historical tradition about whaling” he said in his office, graced with portraits of the Emperor and Empress.

“Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, so taking some good protein from the ocean is very important. For food security, I think it’s very important,” he said. “We have never said everybody should eat whale, but we have a long tradition and culture of whaling. So why don’t we at least agree to disagree? We have this culture and you don’t have that culture.”

Unlike Norway and Iceland, which openly flout the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling agreed through the International Whaling Commission, Japan hunts using a loophole that allows for lethal scientific research. But it makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up on menus.

Hayashi, a graduate of the prestigious Kennedy School at Harvard University who first entered the Diet in 1995, considers the whaling port of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, his hometown. The 52-year-old said Japan is tired of being lectured by nations whose own culinary cultures can seem a little off-color.

“In some countries they eat dogs, like Korea. In Australia they eat kangaroos. We don’t eat those animals, but we don’t stop them from doing that because we understand that’s their culture,” Hayashi said in fluent English.

“Whaling has long been part of traditional Japanese culture, so I just would like to say ‘please understand this is our culture.’ “

Australia and New Zealand in particular voice outrage over Japan’s annual expeditions in the Antarctic in an area the IWC considers a sanctuary for the ocean giants.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has chased the Japanese fleet off Antarctica for several years in an attempt to stop the mammals being slaughtered.

In the latest clash Monday, veteran antiwhaling campaigner Paul Watson claimed the factory ship Nisshin Maru rammed the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker.

On its website, the Institute of Cetacean Research said several Sea Shepherd boats had slammed into the Nisshin Maru as the vessel attempted to refuel from her supply tanker.

“It was five hours of intense confrontation,” Watson said from the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.

“We took up our positions to block their approach to the (fuel tanker) Sun Laurel and they rammed the Bob Barker twice, causing considerable damage, and then they pushed it into the side of the Sun Laurel,” he said.

Watson said the Japanese threw stun grenades and fired a water cannon at his boat and damaged another Sea Shepherd vessel, the Sam Simon, but there were no injuries to Sea Shepherd crew.

The Institute of Cetacean Research said the Japanese vessels were “again subject to sabotage by the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Sam Simon.”

“During their obstruction to refuelling operations, the Sea Shepherd vessels rammed into . . . the Nisshin Maru and the supply tanker,” it said. “During the attack, the Nisshin Maru used her water pump as a preventive measure to make Sea Shepherd vessels refrain from further approaching, and repeatedly broadcast a warning message to stop them.”

  • phu

    The US has a strong automotive tradition as part of its culture, but that doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t change it because of the harmful environmental effects of emissions. “This is our culture” is not an excuse to hunt endangered or at-risk animals into extinction.

    It’s too bad the loudest voices against this behavior are the Sea Shepherd lunatics. It takes a valid message and makes all of its proponents look similarly insane.

    • doobieibood

      I agree with your assessment of the Sea Shepherd antics, but which whale is being hunted into extinction?

      • WithMalice

        What’s with the questions? You don’t seek answers – you already have your very firm opinion on who’s right and who’s wrong.

  • WithMalice

    Ok… the bias present here is pretty interesting.

    “There is “a long historical tradition about whaling” he said in his office, graced with portraits of the Emperor and Empress.”
    - What the… how does what portraiture he has up in his office have anything to do with this, other than being a fairly transparent attempt to tie the whaling stance to Japanese culture? Come on…

    “Unlike Norway and Iceland, which openly flout the 1986 moratorium on
    commercial whaling agreed through the International Whaling Commission,
    Japan hunts using a loophole that allows for lethal scientific research.”
    - Really? How is what Japan is doing any less “flouting” than Norway/Iceland”? Scientific research? Oh please.

    “‘In some countries they eat dogs, like Korea. In Australia they eat
    kangaroos. We don’t eat those animals, but we don’t stop them from doing
    that because we understand that’s their culture,’ Hayashi said in
    fluent English.”

    - Err… so? First of all it’s not “cultural” that Kangaroo meat is eaten in Australia. I’m aghast at the mindset that Hayashi is presenting when he makes a comparison of the three animals (dogs, kangaroos and whales). He might have a point if the dogs/kangaroos were hunted down with harpoons and cruelly slaughtered. Additionally… who gives a proverbial if his archaic and confusing thoughts were presented in “fluent English”?

    “Whaling has long been part of traditional Japanese culture, so I just
    would like to say ‘please understand this is our culture.’ “
    - This is flat-out obnoxious. Stop pretending this has anything to do with “culture”.

    • doobieibood

      So the difference is in how they are dispatched? The Inuit can kill with harpoons but no one else? Dogs and Kangaroos and Cows are killed in harmonious ways that make things right? I understand many people don’t like killing whales, but have no problem with killing many other species, but you’ll have to have a better argument before I can accept your side. What makes a whale inherently different than any other creature killed for food?

      • WithMalice

        Really?

        You’re going to draw an analogy between Inuits hunting whales in canoes with small harpoons within sight of the land… and mass hunting on the other side of the world by government-sponsored corporate Japan?
        Talk about a reach.

        And yup. As someone who grew up on a farm in rural Australia, there’s a massive distinction between the way a cow is slaughtered (not sure why the capitalization occurred for you), and the way a whale is hunted down.
        Perhaps do your own research on that?

        “Inherently different”? How about being pushed to the brink of extinction… how about relative intelligence…
        You’ve already made up your mind tho’. Anything further is wasted…

  • http://www.facebook.com/danielojost Daniel Oliver Jost

    Oh yes Japan WILL stop whaling, and sooner than you think, my dear Honorable Minister Hayashi…

    1) First of all, fierce criticism has already started to form WITHIN Japan. Can it be that in your function as Minister you have not yet heard of the recent protests organized by groups such as Action for Marine Mammals? Or are you just (rather unskillfully) ignoring this aspect?

    2) Now to the “long historical tradition about whaling”: regarding small scale coastal whaling, certainly. Wasting tons of fuel and taxpayers’ money to go all the way to the Southern Ocean to whale however only started rather recently, in the 80s. So not too much history and tradition there…

    3) “Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, so taking some good protein from the ocean is very important. For food security I think it’s very important.”

    A typical argument of the baby-boomer generation. Piling up tons of whale meat in freezers because nobody wants it is CRIMINAL in today’s overpopulated world!

    4) “In some countries they eat dogs, like Korea. In Australia they eat kangaroos. We don’t eat those animals, but we don’t stop them from doing that because we understand that’s their culture.”

    You’re comparing farmed animals that are slaughtered in a controlled environment, to wild animals slaughtered in the wild Mr. Hayashi – not the same thing.

    5) “Whaling has long been part of traditional Japanese culture, so I just would like to say ‘please understand this is our culture’.”

    No, we shall not understand it, because it is not your culture. And let me know if you need some help on Japanese culture. (Perhaps you spent too much time at Harvard and have forgotten…)

    Kind regards from Switzerland,
    Daniel Jost.

    • irairaneko

      Kangaroos are not farmed.

  • Aaron

    Dear Daniel:

    You fail to understand the history of Japanese whaling when you criticize its historical context. Japan hunted whales in its littoral waters for centuries until American whaling fleets came along and removed all of these whales. Hence, the Japanese have to continue their cultural tradition by moving farther afield to the Southern Ocean. In fact, the country was forced to open up by Admiral Matthew Perry so that Japan would be obliged to refuel American whaling ships and provide maritime assistance when required, similar to today’s Convention of the Law of the Sea.

    Moving on to your point about farmed animals, which is morally righteous:
    1. Inflicting pain on a wild animal for a few hours that results in its death.
    2. Keeping an animal captive for all of its life in what another species
    considers to be humane to it and then slaughtering it by what the other species considers to be merciful means.

    I suggest that you are a hypocrite if you think that the former is better than the latter.

    On your point about piling up whale meat in freezers as being criminal, it is a mere fraction of a percent of the food that is wasted annual by the hotel industries in Europe and North America. So, if you’re out to lecture people about food being wasted, try applying some standard economic theory by starting with those in your own backyard before you go after diminishing returns farther afield.

    Finally, with respect to your last point that “we shall not understand
    it”, rest assured that based on my experience of having lived in Japan for years, nobody there gives a which-way whether or not you “shall understand it”. So kindly put your energy into something more productive rather than wasting it on producing unsubstantiated, historically and factually incorrect vitriol against another culture that you clearly have no understanding about.

    Sincerely,

    Aaron

    • http://www.facebook.com/darryl.mcgarry Darryl McGarry

      Aaron,

      It sounds like you should get out of Japan to see the light. While I comprehend much of what you say is true from a Japanese perspective, for the rest of us it is not necessarily so.

      The arguments you proffer are typical Japanese nonsense arguments. We can hunt whale, it is argued. Why? Because you hunt kangaroo!
      We Japanese seriously want free trade with everyone as long as we can protect our rice industry and what have you with high tarrifs. Why? They are instinscially important to Japan and Japanese culture.
      I have heard all those nonsense arguments before.
      Those arguments are a bit one-sided, don’t you think?

      Where is the causal connection that links whales and kangaroos? Like Hayashi, I think you will have to push the tired, old, propaganda line about the unquestionable purity and righteousness of Japanese culture a little harder to try and sound convincing.

      Following the same logic, by the way, Japanese should not hunt and attack and kill innocent animals in foreign waters. Why? Because Japan has not properly come to terms with its bloody, imperial past where it hunted and attacked and killed innocent human beings.

      So, stop whaling, Japan!

      I think living in Japan has corrupted you.

      We can talk about that over ocha down at Yasukuni Shrine. I think that should agree with your sensibilities.

  • http://www.facebook.com/StephenKent1 Stephen Kent

    Very well said.

  • http://www.facebook.com/StephenKent1 Stephen Kent

    Many countries have a tradition of whaling but don’t do it anymore, so I don’t see why the Japan government gets so touchy about this particular “tradition”, especially since it is loss making and funded using public resources despite there being no demand for it.
    No mammal should be consumed if you can’t farm it humanely.

  • http://www.facebook.com/teampanthaka Frank Thornton

    I say it will stop. Leaving the right or wrong, culture or not
    out, it’s just not profitable. I’velived in Japan for a total of over 25 years and have not once ever heard anyonesay “Hey, let’s go out and have some whale!”
    I do see it on the menu at a few places but not often where the younger
    people would go. I see it at thesupermarkets but just a few packs at the most.
    Nothing compared to any of the other fish on the shelves. I say that the only reason it’s being sold atan affordable price is because of the government funding. If it were strictly a supply and demandsituation, then I say there is no future to whaling. I really think that they should end the “research”game and say openly that it’s commercial whaling. If it’s strictly commercial, then the governmentfunding should end. Then we will see how willing the whalers are to go to the southern seas to catch whale for a profit.

  • http://www.facebook.com/StephenKent1 Stephen Kent

    A brief history of whaling in Japan as Mr. Hayashi probably sees it:

    “Archeological evidence in the form of whale remains discovered in burial mounds suggests that whales have been consumed in Japan since factory ships were introduced in 1500B.C. when the population was exactly the same as it is today and every last person ate whale meat all the time. As whale catches diminished in coastal waters through no fault of their own, Japan whalers looked to Antarctica for traditional and not economic reasons. Refrigerator ships hand crafted from bamboo were sent along to freeze and transport the meat back to Japan who would have had absolutely no source of protein were it not for this whaling operation. This tradition has continued in its original form, unchanged and highly popular, from ancient times until today. “

  • http://www.facebook.com/johnspiri John Spiri

    To me, it comes down to territory: Neither the Japanese whalers, nor the environmentalists, own the whales. Neither has the right to say that it’s fine to kill them (due to “culture”, under a smoke screen of research, or whatever), or it’s “wrong” to kill them because they’re intelligent, or the method is cruel, or whatever. Well, they have the right to say it, but it’s just an exchange of viewpoints even tho both sides try to make it sound like God talking for Eternity. It is a point to say, for example, Australians kill kangaroo whether foreigners like it or not–but with one crucial difference. Roos are in Australia, but the whales are in neutral waters. I think of it like a public park. If some people want to cut down public park trees for firewood, and others want them preserved, it’s a problem, a conflict, but in the case of public lands, I think the value of preservation outweighs the desires of a small group of people to kill that publically shared resource. For whatever reason the whales around Japan disappeared (and it seems dubious to simplistically blame Americans of over 100 years ago for decimating them when so many Japanese supposedly so busy hunting them) so to the extent Japanese (better said small groups of Japanese coastal fishermen) had a whaling tradition, the tradition has ended. Of course, by this argument, I have to admit that Japan has the right to kill dolphins in Wakayama. Regrettably, they do have that right, however barbaric we may think it is.

    • WithMalice

      So… ownership of the whole planet, huh?
      Anything is justified…

  • Phillip

    The minister is ignorant of history.

    In all Australian colonies, whaling was a very important industry contributing to the wealth of the growing populations. The City of Melbourne, for example, still has on its Coat of Arms: the fleece, the bull, the whale and the ship; representing wool, tallow
    and oil, the chief exports of 1843, and their means of transport from
    Port Phillip.

    Australia stopped whaling in the 1970′s, with no ill-affects on their cultural identity or heritage. Instead, they built for themselves a multi-billion dollar industry in whale watching.

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Whale culture: Fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is interviewed in Tokyo on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI

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