But Tokyo has been caught in a striking dilemma: by rapidly expanding its much-criticised whaling program, Japan now kills more of the mammals than its consumers care to eat.

The Kerama Islands are 25 miles west of Naha. The area was once a popular whale fishing ground, but became overfished. Today, the Whale Watching Society has a campaign under way to repopulate the area and restore the region as a principle whale breeding ground. It appears to be working, as humpback whales make the annual trek to the Keramas to give birth to their young, then nurture them in the warm, quiet waters.

After the whale population was decimated, the humpbacks in the region fell under protection of the International Whaling Commission, which in 1966 banned their hunting. The Russians continued illegal catches until being pressured to stop in the 1970’s, allowing the 25-40 ton mammals to regenerate. There are now 35,000~45,000 humpbacks, about 1/3 of the
previous population.

Charles wrote:Apparently the "national heritage" is killing whales, not eating them.

Charles wrote:Apparently the "national heritage" is killing whales, not eating them.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, a British based charity, has claimed that whale meat is being marketed in Japan as organic pet food. Japan's stockpile of whale meat has reportedly grown from 673 to 4800 tonnes since 1998...Mark Simmons, WDCS science director said, "We have heard many arguments from Japan over the years about why whaling is necessary to them but they have never stated that they needed to kill whales to feed their dogs."

dimwit wrote:Sounds like a pretty dubious claim. Whale meal is extremely expensive and selling it as pet food is unlikely as there are lots of meat sources you could use that would be cheaper.

dimwit wrote:Sounds like a pretty dubious claim. Whale meal is extremely expensive and selling it as pet food is unlikely ....

High levels of mercury found in melon-headed whales: study
Kyodo, Tuesday March 7, 5:19 AM----About a dozen melon-headed whales recently found dead in Chiba Prefecture contained 10 times the standard of mercury currently allowed by the government, a study showed Tuesday.
Tetsuya Endo, a lecturer at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, said the high concentration of mercury was detected in the muscle of the whales washed ashore in Ichinomiya, Chiba, late last month...
....Melon-headed whales are not eaten in Japan but Endo says the public had better be cautious.
"While we were studying the whales, some of the onlookers said they looked appetizing. But I think eating is not recommended," he said.

"While we were studying the whales, some of the onlookers said they looked appetizing. But I think eating is not recommended," he said.

homesweethome wrote:
Oh man how can you resist that!

homesweethome wrote:And when you run over an opossum or even a deer in 'Ill noise' or 'In Diana' I only know a few people who even think about taking the remains home and making dinner of it.

homesweethome wrote:My profound question is: When a whale dies from mercury poisoning or liver cancer or whatever and washes up on a beach in Japan, spilling it rotten putrid, diseased, guts all over the place, the natives all come out and cry "Oishiso!"

Taro Toporific wrote:High levels of mercury found in melon-headed whales: study
Kyodo, Tuesday March 7, 5:19 AM----About a dozen melon-headed whales recently found dead in Chiba Prefecture contained 10 times the standard of mercury currently allowed by the government, a study showed Tuesday.

"While we were studying the whales, some of the onlookers said they looked appetizing. But I think eating is not recommended," he said.

homesweethome wrote:I also had another interesting experience one time. A Korean friend living in Japan came to my home for dinner. When he arrived I introduced my family and I happened to have a dog at the time. I introduced the dog and told him it's name, his remark was (about my dog) "Oishiso!" He wasn't joking either.

By the way GB, I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is NO! I did not serve my dog for dinner that evening!

gboothe wrote:
BTW, how old was the Obasan and is their any chance I could get her keitai number?

homesweethome wrote:I will PM you her number right away.

gboothe wrote:Ahh, could you expedite that PM?

homesweethome wrote:I think I will keep this one in my own keitai (for legal reasons) since she is married to me(at the moment) and divorce is so mendokusai!