Why do the Japanese want to harpoon more Minke and Fin whales?

Question

The Japanese claim they kill all those minke whales for "scientific" research, but then they eat the meat, losing scientific credibility in the process. Now they want to kill endangered Fin whales too. The Norwegians just like the taste of whale, which at least is honest.

To even up the odds for the whales, I'd like a chance to go out in a boat to hunt and harpoon the whalers. Would anyone else sign on as crew?

Answer 1

Damn straight! In today's world there's absolutely no need to hunt and kill whales, there's plenty of food on the market. Cultures evolve...the rest of us have left off hunting and fishing for our daily sustenance, why can't the Japanese? Same goes for the Alaskan peoples. They claim an ancient right to hunt whale as part of their tradition...yeah, the tradition was in dugout canoes and hide covered kayaks, not motor boats...and they pulled the kill on shore by man-power, not bulldozer and snowmobiles! And if there's stockpiles of this meat, what are they doing with it? Watching it get freezer-burn?

Now I know someone's going to holler at me for trashing natives and their traditions and call me racist and that kind of ridiculousness. I don't give a fig what your ethnicity is, all I care about is ending the exploitation of endangered species, particularly whales!

Answer 2

I don't understand it, Japan has said that they have stock piles of whale meat as it is, why do they need to kill more. Whaling brought most whale populations to the brink of extinction and anything that puts any extra pressure on the slowly recovering populations should be prevented. At the moment Japan claims its only killing the whales as part of "scientific research" but this is absolute c ra p, they are trying to start commercial whaling again and may even ignore international law in their pursuit of this. I think penalties should be very severe if they try to.
Arguements that say whaling is part of japanese heritage and culture are pathetic, Whales are part of the Earths natural heritage and Japan have no right to finish of the last remaining animals.

Answer 3

They're not pink and fluffy and as cute as Hellokitty. In the plastic world of the orient, real whales are a very distant reality from the daily existence of the the average city slicker.
Blasting the hell out of the Middle East to secure access to major oil fields for another couple of years seem to be much more important to some British and American politicians (and the majorities who put them there) than saving entire species.

Answer 4

Join Green Peace. They often put their lives on the line by trying to get between the whalers and the whales. A very thorough cause I think and I have the up most respect for anybody that is willing to try this.

Answer 5

that is their food and they are not worried of the ecological disturbances that may arise. you see, japan is plastic. they can't imagine other parts of the world natural.