News IWC: Japan turning renegade

With Japan's motion to resume commercial whaling turned down this year, the country now announced to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission. Thanks God, our future supplies of whale steak are secured!

This will probably result in a huge backlash for Japan. It's interesting to see the first reactions in foreign media outlets, with angry readers calling for the boycott of Japanese goods. While the Japanese whale lobby keeps insisting on "upholding century-old traditions", the truth is that most Japanese couldn't care less about consuming whale meat.


Photo: Kyodo

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/26/national/japan-formally-announces-iwc-withdrawal-resume-commercial-whaling/

For those who understand German, read the comments:

Kommerzielle Gründe: Japan will ab Juli 2019 wieder Wale jagen - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Wissenschaft

My in-laws in rural Nagasaki do eat it but it's not huge deal to them. My wife likes to eat it now and then but knows about the taboo in the west particularly as we now live in the US. So yea even people who eat it now and then it is not a big deal and a tradition they must protect etc. I've had it and it's only so-so. Just remember the primarily hunted whale is minke which is not endangered, should other countries have a say in this then? What if we protested some other thing we eat like pigs are supposed to be rather smart. bunny rabbits are cute too. pigs are smart. Vegetarians have a more consistent message at least than most people protesting.

I'd like people to pick holes in my argument, but this may actually be good news for whales.
Instead of paying a lot of taxpayers' money for the trips to the Antarctic and the Institute of Cetacean Research for 'research', if the whaling industry is left to market forces rather than subsided simply so that Japan can thumb its nose at the rest of the world, it may well die a quiet death as the mainly elderly whale eaters die off.
I worry though that with the commercialisation of whaling, there is going to a flurry of TV shows with gormless 'personalities' drooling over whale-based cuisine.

salyavin said:

What if we protested some other thing we eat like pigs are supposed to be rather smart. bunny rabbits are cute too. pigs are smart. Vegetarians have a more consistent message at least than most people protesting.

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I concur. I'm carnivorous myself, but this video helped me better understand the meat industry. I like the remark saying that "future generations will look back at us in sheer disbelief and disgust". (All their vids are brilliant, by the way).

Lothor said:

Instead of paying a lot of taxpayers' money for the trips to the Antarctic and the Institute of Cetacean Research for 'research', if the whaling industry is left to market forces rather than subsided simply so that Japan can thumb its nose at the rest of the world, it may well die a quiet death as the mainly elderly whale eaters die off.

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I want to believe in the self-regulation of the market, and the JT article linked below seems to support that. Then again, you have LPD dinosaurs releasing statements such as this one:

"No country is allowed to complain about other countries' food cultures!"

A food culture that catches creatures with grenade-loaded harpoons, drags them aboard bleeding and suffering and guts them while still being alive.

Harpoon cannon - Wikipedia
Explosive harpoon - Wikipedia

The quote above is from the general-secretary of the LPD and lobbyist Toshihiro Nikai, born in Wakayama, a centre of whaling and dolphin slaughter.

Will Japan's decision to quit the IWC pay off? | The Japan Times

It's revolting to see whaling turned from an environmental into a national(ist) issue.

You need to be careful with those videos. If you watch the wrong one you'll end up vegan or joining ISIS.

I suspect this will significantly mar the rugby world cup and olympics