Japanese Whaling
Posted on November 18, 2007 - Filed Under Environment/Conservation, Politics |
For the first time in decades humpback whales are to be hunted, but that’s okay, claims that the Japanese government, because it’s all for “scientific research”. This bogus claim is of course to circumvent the 1986 ban on commercial whaling, which Japan has long been seeking to overturn with underhand tactics at the International Whaling Commission. The meat from these “scientific” whaling expeditions is sold anyway, so the entire arrangement is farcical. Tokyo’s enthusiasm for killing these magnificent charismatic mega-fauna would be more understandable if people in Japan actually liked whale meat, but very few do, and so it seems that the main reason for the government’s pro-whaling stance is obdurate traditionalism. Whatever their reasons, this policy does immense damage to their country’s reputation in the West, and hence is not only immensely cruel but also economically damaging (I’ll be most reluctant to buy anything Japanese in the next few months).
Comments
Leave a Reply
