Whaling in Japan
When I went to Nachi-Katsuura, the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture, I found a restaurant which served whale dishes in front of the station. I saw many kinds of whale products at souvenir shops and I tried some of them. This was the first time for me to eat whale meat. The idea of eating whale meat is a little bit shocking to me because I’m not used to the custom. I don’t think, however, whaling is bad or should be banned.
I learned from this web site that whaling in Japan started in Taiji, near Nachi-Katsuura, in the early Edo period, and people in Taiji presented whale meat to the emperor at that time. They depended on the income gained by whaling and so, the tradition of whaling still remains.
Now they can’t catch whales for commercial purposes, and the conflict between those who support whaling and those who are against it doesn’t seem to have an end. As far as I knew from the exchanges between the Japan Whaling Association and the Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network, they are clashing with each other in every point. For example, the former says that there are enough whales and a limited, carefully determined number of them should be caught. Then the latter protests, “How do you know how many whales there are, and are you really sure the number you determine is appropriate?”
Some people who oppose whaling assert that it is cruel to kill and eat such a “cute” animal as whales. I understand them, but they miss the point. Whether an animal is cute or not doesn’t matter. What matters is the difference of culture. Every country has a unique culture and a tradition of eating certain foods; we should respect other cultures as well as our own culture. My idea is that the tradition of catching and eating certain animals should be protected as long as it doesn’t do damage to the natural environment.
Comments
My parents have the same experience as your mother. They have had whale dishes as a lunch when they were school kids. My mother says she didn’t like deep fried whale meat.
I don’t remember how much whale products were at the souvenir shops but I guess they were not so cheap. Now whaling is strictly limited, so the price may be expensive. What is more, the products I saw were ‘souvenirs’. In order to compare the price of whale meat, we should go to a supermarket.
kevin :: September 19, 2004
My idea is that the tradition of catching and eating certain animals should be protected as long as it doesn’t do damage to the natural environment.
This quickly becomes a very confusing issue. On one hand, if whales go extinct, it might not do any obvious damage to the natural environment, but the loss of bio-diversity is obviously not a good thing.
Eating whale may not be an immediate threat to the environment, depending on the whalers’ methods, but on the other hand, the meat that is in no danger of being extinct, such as beef, is a nightmare for the environment…
Many of the concerns of overfishing have to do with the fact that certain fish species may become extinct, but we do not know exactly how that will effect the natural environment. At the same time, we do know how other seafoods, the shrimp farming industry for example is a huge contributer to environmental destruction.
I think my point is, that it is difficult to separate between killing an animal because it is cute, and we don’t want such a cute animal to be extinct, and damage to the environment. The fact is the system is too complex, and we can never know what effect it will have if a species disapears… even if it is not so cute :)
kevin :: September 19, 2004
Oh Yeah… I was babbling so much, I forgot to say my other point… :)
While I believe that we should preserve traditions where possible, there comes a point where it just can’t be done. Japanese people traditionally ate whale, but there are just too many Japanese people now. To keep up the tradition would be devistating.
Some other culutres however, Inuit for example, may be able to still eat whale as part of their culture, simply because their population has not grown so large as to make it a problem. If they do grow to be too many, then it is unfortunate, but they will have to make new tradtions as well.
“Traditions” don’t seem to be that hard to come by anyway… there are many “traditions” that have only been started within the last century, but still feel just as close to us, as if they have been a part of our culture forever.
>Japanese people traditionally ate whale, but there are just too many Japanese people now. To keep up the tradition would be devistating.
Mmm…I agree that the population of Japan is large, but not so many people eat whale meat nowadays, I think. We know Japan has the tradition of eating whales but few of our generation have eaten them. Some limited areas like Taiji regularly serve them and we only occasionally try them, for example, on a trip. In addition, the size of a whale is big, so we don’t need so many whales to satisfy the diners.
Kevin Cameron :: September 21, 2004
I know what you mean, and I don’t have enough knowledge about the current whaling regulations, but I wonder what would happen if there were none, or less stringent regulations in place?
From what I hear, many whales are hunted under the pretense of “research”. Because the out-right commercial whaling is banned since the mid-eighties. What if it was not though… would the increaed avaialbility cause more people to eat it? Or would some entrepenurial fishermen jump at the opportunity to create a brilliant marketing campaign, making people young and old go goo-goo over whale meat?
kevin :: September 21, 2004
I just came across an article that has the WDCS (whale and dolphin conservation society) response to some of the issues you raise about eating whale being a tradition, and a part of Japanese culture. Unfortunatly the article is obviously one-sided (it is on the WDCS web-site) but it give an interesting view.( i.e. just more stuff to research and fact-check.) Scroll down to where it says (i) “Japan’s Whaling is traditional”
“… The only historical, ‘traditional, whaling in Japan, was the lancing of stranded whales and a limited form of ‘net whaling’, which came to an end around 1901… “
“…The artificial demand for eating whale meat is now an economically driven marketing ploy. The Japanese Fisheries Agency recently sponsored a television programme about Japan’s desire to recommence whaling and has placed several advertisements in weekly magazines. They are desperately trying to create a market for this dead product. …”
Great topic.
So, what did the meat taste like?
I’m not so sure either that the “tradition” argument is very convincing — not if you think of “tradition” as a pre-modern practice. The United States had a big whaling industry back in the 19th century — Herman Melville wrote a novel about it, it’s called Mobi-Dick — and nobody wants that industry back today because it’s “traditional” or because it somehow relates to American identity. The traditon argument is much stronger in the case where hunting practices actually support a traditional way of life; the Inuit people, for example, are exempt from the ban on seal hunting.
The “tradition” of whale meat as a staple food is probably limited to the last hundred years or so, and I’ve noticed that people who went to school before the 1986 ban all have stories to tell about whale meat in school lunches — most people didn’t really like it; the meat ended up in school lunches not as a delicacy but for the simple fact that it was the cheapest meat available, which, given the usual laws of supply and demand, shows how big whaling must have been before the ban.
The “cute” argument is interesting. In traditional Western symbolism, the whale was never cute — it was much more of an evil demon, associated with the biblical Leviathan, the world-devouring monster. Moby-Dick still has lots of that symbolism. When the WWF chose the panda for its mascot, it chose the animal not only because it is endangered; it chose the animal for the raw emotional appeal of its cuteness. Greenpeace did something similar with the whale, although I don’t think this is about the animal’s cuteness; it’s about its power, majesty and beauty.
None of which is very relevant here. The ethics of killing animals for food remain the same, no matter whether any specific animal happens to be considered cute or beautiful. Opponents of commercial whaling object to the process of killing these animals: they die a slow, agonizing death that takes several minutes. So, apart from the conservation aspect, the big question is if, from a humane perspective, we allow that to happen.
It probably will happen. Japan signed the ban in 1986, and all whaling since has been conducted under the pretense of scientific research — some tatemae — but now there’s this big push to have the ban lifted and allow commercial whaling to resume — ironically under the banner of “sustainability”. Next year, Japan will probably be able to push limited commercial hunting through the International Whaling Commission — or else walk out of the commission altogether and create a new regulatory body with less emphasis on conservation.
And once that happens — yes, expect the consumer advertisements to appear, telling you that whale meat is healthy, poses no risk to whale populations, and is very, very traditionally Japanese.
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One of my elementary school teachers often said to us, “It’s a pity for you, because whale meat was my favorite menu of the school lunch when I was a child. Now we can’t eat it anymore, though.” At that time, I was surprised to hear that schools used to serve whale dishes for lunch to children. Now my mother told me she also had whale meat in school lunches.
I’ve never eaten whale meat, but I’d like to try it some day if I have a chance. We can see that many whales used to be caught in the past since whale dishes were served even in school lunch, and maybe it was cheap. Is it expensive now?