Japan's whale meat consumption - officially declining
That's it for Thursday, no vote on Greenland, but maybe tomorrow, but the Mainichi Daily reports that , 'domestic consumption of whale meat -- long considered a
source of protein for Japanese -- has been on the decline. According to
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries statistics, domestic
whale meat consumption dropped from 230,000 tons in fiscal 1962 to
5,000 tons in fiscal 2008. As of the end of 2009, 4,246 tons of whale
meat -- almost equivalent to total annual consumption -- remains in
stock.'
So please, Japan, stop pushing this huge pile of whale meat up a hill. I am sure there are legitimate things you could spend you hard earned overseas aid on.
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I'm anti-whaling, but this sort of statement denigrates our position.
Consumption could hardly have increased from the 230,000 tonnes in 1962. Your graphs showed that huge numbers of whales were being caught before the moratorium (I assume a fair chunk of them by Japan), and relatively few whales being caught now after the moratorium (although increasing at a slight pace since). So of course consumption has decreased from 1962 to 2009.
We need to stick with sound arguments, rather than grasp needlessly at straws like this.
Actually its a direct quote, but of course the numbers cannot be straight comparisons.
If you look at the interactive graphs http://www.wdcs.co.uk/whaling_graphs/main.swf
you will see Japan's contribution to the destruction of whale populations - whilst they try and blame others (who do share their responsibility) they made a significant impact especially in the latter years with the hunting of highly endangered species.
But the real point I think the paper is highlighting is that there is as much again in storage, so if demand was high it would have all been used, but its not. There are only two conclusions to that, 1. there decline is low, or 2. its held to maintain prices, at which point its a commodity and not such an cultural issue if people are denied access to what is claimed to be a Japanese tradition
As a foreigner who has been living in Japan for a number of years, I want to mention a few important points if any progress is going to be made with the current whaling situation in Japan.
First, whale meat consumption is declining in Japan, and is in fact highly unpopular with most of the population, particularly as more and more people learn about the tremendously high mercury levels associated with whale meat. Due to food shortages and protein scarcity after the war, whale meat was introduced into school lunches as a convenient and inexpensive source of protein. Ironically, whale meat is often considered one of the least liked school lunches for older people in Japan. As time went on, whale meat became less and less popular. Today, one would be hard pressed to find someone who has even tasted whale meat.
Second, since whale meat is so unpopular, a vast majority of the public has little information about Japan's own whaling practices. Most people in Japan are unaware that Japan is hunting so many whales and are officially told that whales are only being killed for government subsidized "research" purposes. Naturally people immediately assume Japan could only kill a very small number of whales if it is only for research purposes and that it would be a waste if that small segment of the population that still eats whale meat didn't consume the meat. Since it is believed to be purely research and since most people don't eat whale meat, few people have even thought to investigate further.
Somehow the real data isn't reaching the general population--though I suspect most people in Japan would be stunned if the actual numbers were finally revealed in the media here. After all, why is it continuing when nobody even seems to be benefitting? The situation remains to be one of Japan's most covert yet seemingly blatant and nonetheless inexplicable cases of government corruption today.
Thanks for the information and comments.
One problem we have encountered in discussing this issue with some Japanese journalists is that they say there is a reluctance for Japanese media to debate this issue in Japanese.
We sometimes see the various pros and cons of the debate articulated in the Japanese English language press, but there seems still to be a 'difficulty' for the Japanese press to act independently of the Government position.
The various news outlets appear to wish to act in unison, with no one willing to 'go out on a limb'.