My work has brought me in touch with quite a few Japanese researchers who have been published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals. Their institutions have ethics committees that review their proposals before they are permitted to begin animal studies or human trials.
So when I read in a recent article that whaling opponents call Japan's lethal scientific research "a sham," I couldn't help but wonder how many articles are published each year in respected scientific journals as a result of research performed by the whaling industry, and who evaluates the study designs and methods before the fleet sets sail.
The Japan Times would do its readers a service by answering this question instead of listing the same old arguments on both sides of the debate.