Japan’s Scientific Whaling Probl… err.. Lunch?

For the moment, I’m going to step aside from my normal ranting and talk about something a bit political… whales!

Sadly, I’m not just talking about how cute whales are. Otherwise, this post would probably be alot shorter. Instead, I’m going to rant about whaling, and the Japanese fetish for it. Here we go….

::turns on Discovery channel narrator voice::

Whaling has been a contentious issue in the news recently, partly because the Japanese government has been loosening whaling restrictions over the past few years, even allowing more hunting of endangered whale species. Of course, there are plenty of international restrictions on whaling aimed at protecting the creatures, which rank as the largest and, some say, the smartest in the animal kingdom. After all, whales are also the animals that hold the record for largest brain. However, Japan skirts around the anti-whaling restrictions by claiming that their whaling is for purely scientific research, which is an exception allowed by the international treaties. This may sound reasonable to some people, but once the whales are killed and sent home, they’re sold to the fish markets to ’support further research.’

Other countries have been decrying to whaling trend, especially since the whaling fleets have been sailing into foreign waters, straining relations with Australia and New Zealand. The whalers are evening hunting inside Australia’s whale sanctuary! Ok, I know it’s a cultural thing, by why push the envelope this far, especially if you’re trying to lead the world as a beacon of environmentalism?

Now that I live in Japan, the situation is certainly closer to home. I’ve brought up whaling with some of the teachers at my school and they insist that it’s been on the decline for decades now. Of course, the term ’scientific’ never comes up. I don’t even know if they’re aware of the pretenses under which the whaling is conducted.

Several times, I’ve been tempted to make a ‘Yay for whales!’ poster to hang along side the “Thanksgiving,” “Christmas,” and “North America” posters I have hanging on the wall at school, but then again, I live in a fishing village where my efforts might arouse some anger. I’ve held off so far, but last week Japan went too far. Of all things to do at a time when Australian authorities are delivering cease and desist letters to their whaling companies, they serve me whale for school lunch. Evidently, not only does Japan insist on whaling as a ‘traditional’ activity, but it has such a surplus of the meat that they can nonchalantly dish bits of charred whale carcass to kids along with cold soup and seaweed salad.

I had heard that whale meat was once served in school lunch and that, occassionally it still show up today, but I never expected to run into it. Hence, I was surprised when I first saw the lunch menu and it read “Kujira” (in katakana), the Japanese word for whale. So I went to my inside sources for confirmation of the ‘whale lunch’ rumor. This, of course, means that I discussed it with the special education students. Several hasty illustrations later…

 

… the rumors were confirmed. Below, is my documentary evidence of the experience. :)

From the pictures above, you might be able to tell that it wasn’t that appealing, even for the students. I don’t think whale meat is naturally charcoal black. Of course, in our case, it was probably because someone charred it to pure culinary perfection, burning every last morsel of nutritional protein from meaty bits. Of course, they spared us from total suffering by battering it and deep frying it (just to be double sure that it was cooked, I presume).

I’m a little mad at myself because I actually ate it. Yes, I’m a hypocrite, but I I just didn’t want to cause a ruckus. It’s standard practice to eat all of your lunch until you finish, at Junior High schools. Otherwise, you would be wasting food. Besides, the students are all pretty skinny anyway and need the nutrition. There was no good coming from this lunch, though (except the bread). Even the students, accustomed the the palatable delights of deep fried fish tails, were barely gagging down the charred meat scraps.  Maybe if I had caused a ruckus, it would have resulted in an uprising.  Damn.

What a waste, eh? I can only assumed the meat was cooked that way because it was otherwise unpalatable. From what I’ve heard, there’s an excess of whale meat in the country, though some of it gets sold for a premium in sushi restaurants. Presumably, that must be the endangeredish super aphrodisiac whale meat (read – humpback).

Oh Japan. Why? Are you really that angsty? I don’t blame you, considering there are still U.S. military bases marring your otherwise peaceful soil, but can’t you take it out on something else? You could char grill Britney Spears CD’s instead. Alas, that’s unlikely, as you charge $40 a piece for those masterworks.

To end, I’ll post one more picture of our sea-worthy mammalian friends and hope that better things are in store for them, down the road. Good luck guys.  Maybe I’ll even make a poster for you, one of these days.

 

 

~ by Ryan on January 31, 2008.