Would you be comfortable eating whale meat?
Posted by Dave onboard the Esperanza
An interesting little news story popped up a few days ago; Japan firm launches whale curry.
A Japanese company said Tuesday it would start offering whale curry in its takeaway business lunches, as the country pursues its controversial whale hunt in the Antarctic. Asian Lunch, which says it sells 1,000-1,500 lunch boxes daily in Tokyo's business districts, will offer the meat once a week, starting Thursday with a South Asian-style keema curry.
Horrified? well, read on:
As for protests against Japan's whaling, [Asian Lunch spokeswoman] Yamaguchi said the company just "does not want to waste meat once their lives were deprived of for research."
"We would feel uncomfortable if we hunted whales by ourselves for the purpose of eating them," she said.
Brian, back in our HQ Amsterdam was incensed by this, and wrote an open letter to Ms. Yamaguchi:
Dear Ms. Yamaguchi,
"You should feel uncomfortable selling whale curry. The whales that you are eating were "deprived of their lives" not for the purpose of research: there are non-lethal means of learning virtually everything which research with a harpoon can tell us. And while it would make you uncomfortable if the whales were killed for the purposes of eating them, this isn't the case either: 4,000 tonnes of whale meat sit unsold in cold storage while the Japanese Fisheries Agency attempts to launch desperate programmes to get rid of it through school lunches and other subsidized programmes."
"The reason you should feel uncomfortable, Ms. Yamaguchi, is that the whales that were killed to make your curry were killed to line the pockets of a very few bureaucrats who spend 945,550,000 yen per year, about US$8.6 million, subsidizing a whaling programme that generates no useful science and a lot of unsellable whalemeat."
"Rather than feel uncomfortable, you should cancel your contract and demand an explanation of the Japanese Fisheries Agency and the parliamentarians who approve these scandalous subsidies every year."
"There is no honor in eating a lunch made possible by a criminal waste of taxpayer's money."
Meanwhile, back on the Esperanza, Karli has a similar sentiment:
I wonder how comfortable Ms. Yamaguchi feels now that the Japanese government has publicly announced that the goal of the research programme is to overturn the moratorium on commercial whaling? The company's claim that it "does not want to waste meat once their lives were deprived of for research" doesn't stand up to scrutiny once the government's true intentions are known as they now are. But, as for the entire sham science programme, its all about trying to avoid scrutiny, isn't it?
Back in the AP article we're told that
"Asian Lunch decided to introduce whale after being approached by Whale Labo, a seller set up last year with the backing of the government's Fisheries Agency, Yamaguchi said."
This says it all - despite the Fisheries Agency's best intentions to make us believe that people in Japan are banging on the coldstore doors looking for whalemeat, they're still trying desperately to push whalemeat back in the national diet, via Whale Labo (or Geishoku Labo), a company set by the Fisheries Agency of Japan for the express reason of marketing whale meat.
Pro-whaling pundit david@tokyo has translated a 2006 Asahi Shinbun article about Geishoku Labo over on his blog; Whale meat abundance - Fisheries Agency in all out marketing effort, but prices high. The article suggests that the reason for the establishment of the company was a "whale surplus" - which suggests they need a company like Geishoku Labo to help shift the stuff.
"Nakata of Geishoku Labo smiles wryly, 'The Fisheries Agency is telling me that "we want you to sell the meat but don't overstimulate the market"'. There is a desire to re-establish distribution channels with an eye to the resumption of commercial whaling, but even so for the foreseeable future, as supply is limited, there is a concern that too much demand would result in supply not keeping pace."(my emphasis)
Geishoku Labo also wants to get schools, hospitals and company cafeterias turned onto whale meat. Not that it's a big company. According to The Age, it's a one-man operation, run by a gentleman fancifully referred to by Asahi Shinbun as "company president Hiroshi Nakata". No news on whether he's got any staff yet!
Whatever about Geishoku Labo, Asian Lunch certainly should start feeling uncomfortable - are they telling their customers the curried whale meat comes from a whale sanctuary at the other end of the world. Or that the scientific research that makes them feel comfortable is really a commercial business masquerading as science, propped up Japan's tax funds? It's a real pity - from what I hear about Asian Lunch, they're an otherwisealtruistic outfit, having made social contributions in the past, such as in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami.
- Dave
Comments
Hi, to what extent do you think the Japanese public that eat whale meat are aware of the dangerously high levels of mercury and other pollutants in whale meat. If a campaign was ran focussing on the dangers to health maybe the market could be destroyed once and for all.
Jason
Posted by: Jason | November 30, 2007 2:03 PM
Good morning Greenpeace Japan - time to act NOW!!!
Posted by: Tom | November 30, 2007 5:51 PM
Horrified? No.
Whales are as edible as any other mammal. The Japanese are far closer to making Albacore extinct than any whale species.
But it does sound like a bunch of beurocratic balderdash going on.
Posted by: AD | November 30, 2007 7:31 PM
It's unbelievable to think that we are in the 21st century and Whale killing continues, it's beyond believe even to imagine that there is such a business for Whale curry. In a world so fragile it breaks my heart to see and read about things such as this. It's time this stopped.
Posted by: Mark Eyre | November 30, 2007 8:10 PM
Well... you cannot expect much from a country that only pretends to have high standards while still dwelling in a barbarian age.
Posted by: Paul | November 30, 2007 10:12 PM
Don't knock it until you've tried it. Whale meat is actually quite tasty, speaking from experience here; smoked minke in Norway.
Posted by: DoppelFrog | November 30, 2007 10:38 PM
I hear that whale meat is delicious.
Posted by: richard | November 30, 2007 10:47 PM
Wow, Whale Meat? Get me the knife and fork, time to get eatin'.
Posted by: Kami-Kaze | December 1, 2007 2:25 AM
Shocking, indeed. Just read about this latest provocative and outrageous attempt by the Japanese gov't. to promote their hunt from the dark ages - buried in the very back of our local papers in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Unbelievable. What lengths will this government go to further take on the International Whaling Commission in pushing for a return to a full-on whale meat industry? Obviously, to great, any and all. Giving out free whale meat on the streets now? That takes the cake. What is the current level of consciousness of the average Japanese citizen? Obviously a two-pronged approach is necessary. Provoke, prevent (and attack - go Sea Shepherd Society!) on the high seas, and a home campaign, educating the Japanese populace. This is the year 2007, for god's sake, the time for whale hunting is so over. The time to save our oceans and all the species in them is NOW.
Thanks Greenpeace, for your efforts! Will be watching this blog and the news in the coming months with great interest and concern as this hunt proceeds.
Good luck, godspeed, and save voyage to you all.
Posted by: Carol DiPasquale | December 1, 2007 2:29 AM
I'm going for whale tomorrow actually.
Whether it's delicious or not depends on how it's been prepared. Much like any other food.
Posted by: david | December 1, 2007 9:12 AM
Paul, you would be hard pressed to find a nation more advanced than Japan.
That aside, if thier were whales killed in the name of science then just allowing the body to go to waste seems criminal. Dispite the fact that you can probably make those same observations on a living whale. In the case in question, the whale is still dead.
Hopefully the Japanese will see the error in hunting whales, as well as the tax dollars wasted. Attacking thier civilization as our friend Paul here has is not likely to produce any meaningful results except deeply offending those who might otherwise be on your side.
Posted by: Geekmasterflash | December 1, 2007 3:29 PM
Gee, so some commenters like to point out that whale meat tastes like 'any other food'... well, they sure don't die as any other mammal, with a heavy warhead rammed deep inside their body and then exploded, barbs pivoted outward to prevent an escape out of sheer-panic. Are these cynical people so cavalier after they watch an unedited video of the long agonizing, frantic death of a whale? Would they be horrified to watch, say, their beloved pet dying in such a manner? I suspect they would get to know a suppressed part of themselves, unless they are what is known as a "pyschopath", which is a person incapable of feeling anything, and actually derives satisfaction from killing and death.
Posted by: Eric | December 2, 2007 2:45 AM
Whether whale meat is 'tasty' or 'delicious' is hardly the issue here. The whales should be left alone in their natural environment to live their lives in safety. Japan's senseless slaughter of these gentle giants under the guise of scientific research is nothing short of barbaric and should be banned.
Posted by: Serena | December 2, 2007 4:24 AM
I am a Kenyan and I'm outraged that a rich country like Japan could be so Greedy, not to mention callous, thoughtless, and uncaring. It doesn't matter what it tastes like, killing whales for research is ridiculous and someone should take the nation to court over this action. It is absolutely disgraceful. Richard Leakey agrees see his blog www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/richardleakey
Posted by: Paula | December 2, 2007 10:49 AM
For Fisheries Biology studies it is common that it's not allowed to sell catch from research cruises - tonnes and tonnes of fish are tossed back into the ocean and wasted. Why? Think about it, it makes sense!
How many additional "Research Vessels" would there be, fishing in disguise if it would be allowed to market the catch?
How many Whales would be killed by Japanese "Whale Scientists" if they could not sell the meat?
It's time for the IWC to ban commercial use of research catches!
Posted by: Tom | December 2, 2007 1:09 PM
To all 'Whale eaters',
I remember reading somewhere that human flesh tastes great.And we have an abundant supply. So do we get our forks and plates ready? Good sense must rule our tongues and stomachs.
While a few hunt large whales to please their'vulgar'tongues,millions
hunt for morsels to fill their crying stomochs.
Just think before you eat.
Dev.
India
Posted by: Devraj Bandla .V. | December 2, 2007 3:08 PM
Eric,
Before you refer to people who have no problem stomaching whale meat as psychopaths, and suggest they derive "satisfaction from killing and death", I recommend you try a little harder to understand their way of thinking, their point of view.
One may not agree with the belief systems of whaling peoples and their supporters, but remarks such as those won't help to resolve this already long-standing dispute, only prolong it even further.
Posted by: david | December 3, 2007 1:35 AM
All sentiment aside, this all comes down to basic economics. Whales are worth more alive than dead. Simply put, Japanese whalers are robbing Australian, New Zealand, American, etc. whale watching tour operators, which generate far greater revenue than whaling. What's more, you can watch a whale many times, but you can only kill it once. The Fisheries Agency of Japan needs to pay reparations to the governments of whale watching countries. The whales swim on the oceans that are shared by all countries- Japan doesn't own them and they have no right to take for their own what is shared by all... I really, honestly hope that the whalers kill Migaloo and Greenpeace catches it on camera. Just make damn well sure this time CNN doesn't ignore you, as always!
Posted by: Greg_in_Okinawa | December 3, 2007 6:59 AM
Has anyone thought of organizing a class action lawsuit against the Fisheries Agency of Japan on behalf of whale watching tour operators, whose business is being harmed? This is the way to go, everyone...
Posted by: Greg_in_Okinawa | December 4, 2007 10:07 AM
great idea, Greg! Hey people! All of you! Australia, New Zealand, Americas, pay attention!!! Japan is robbing you! They are making you loose money in tourism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do something!
Are you listening?
Hellooo! Is there anybody out there?
Posted by: Teca | December 13, 2007 10:10 PM