[cstaylor]

No, they don't already eat beached whales if they're already dying... government considers it a health risk... but beware of older Japanese bearing chainsaws to the site.

[cstaylor]

...what's the difference between meats? The biggest problem the Earth has going for it is humans damaging the homeostasis of the food chain (5 billion meateaters at the top of the food pyramid seems rather top-heavy).

[cstaylor]

You've hit it right on the head! If we allowed human flesh to re-enter the consumption cycle, many of the world's problems could be cured!

Hannibal: A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice

Aerosmith: Eat the rich!

Soylent Green: Soylent Green is people!

[cstaylor]

Here come the angry Korean protestors!

[cstaylor]

...some of them accidently had human parts...

[kamome]

I've also heard that the US government has a tolerance policy for a certain amount of rat feces, bones, and other scrumptious vittles in corporate food factories. Which begs the question: does Japan have the same thing? And what kind of nastiness goes on in Japanese meat-packing plants?

Also, a fun anecdote: I was eating at a cheap teishoku place with some buddies from work and while I was scooping some rice into my mouth, I saw a cockroach scittering up the wall next to me. All of us shouted in disgust and the woman working there just ran up with a tissue and killed it, on the wall, in front of us. Still a bit queasy, we continued to eat until another roach scrambled along the wall near our table. Again, we shouted in disgust and the woman just told us to move to another table. Needless to say, we lost our appetites. And yet, we still had to pay for our lunch! WTF? You can bet I'm not going back there again. Lousy business practices for sure--in the US, that food would have been free of charge.

I'd love it if the Japanese government instituted a grading system like the Los Angeles Health Department has--you know, an 'A' for 100% clean eating establishments, 'B' for semi-clean, and so on. How many restaurants here would get an 'F'?