The whaling in Japan has long been notorious in the world. As a large and rare marine creature, whales are declining in number as the global climate changes. And whales play an important role in maintaining the marine climate and marine ecological balance. Doesn't Japan know this? I certainly know, but why insist on whaling?
When it comes to whaling history in Japan, it is really long. Japan is an island country surrounded by the sea. Marine resources are the only natural resources available to Japan, a country with almost no energy on land. Therefore, In ancient Japan, when materials were even more scarce, the Japanese had to rely on marine resources to survive.
Propaganda against whaling
The beginning and end of whaling in Japan
Whales were unearthed in the relics of the Jomon period in Japan more than 5000 years ago Bones, and use the bones as living utensils. But whales are huge monsters in the water after all. The ancestors' navigational skills may not be able to catch whales. It is possible that the whale's carcass floated to the shore or stranded and was killed.
The more accurate transcript is in the Nara period waka collection "Manyoshu", there is Waka recorded whaling (いさなとり).
In ancient times, whales were very valuable marine creatures for the Japanese. Whale meat is edible (in the Edo period, the Japanese also wrote a book "Whale Meat Seasoning", which specifically introduced the method of whale meat.), whale oil can repel insects, whale baleen can be used for combs and crafts, etc. .
arrived in modern times, Japan started whaling again after the war, in 1946. At that time, Japan was also suffering from the war, and the domestic material was scarce, and everything was awaited. The then Allied Commander-in-Chief in Japan, Macasser, gave an order to alleviate Japan’s domestic food shortages and asked the Japanese to use modified warships and other equipment to start whaling again.
Postwar Japanese whaling ship
From 1946 to late 1960, whale meat has been the main source of protein in Japan for nearly two decades. Feeds a generation. In 1964, there was a large-scale whaling activity in the history of Japan and also in the history of mankind. Japan killed a total of 24,000 whales. and they are all huge blue whales, sperm whales, etc.
If Japan in the 1960s was still a poor country with a shortage of supplies, but now Japan has already met its domestic protein demand by importing meat from the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries, why should it kill petite and cute whales? What? For this reason, many countries in the world have stood up and opposed Japan's commercial whaling activities.
Whaling culture, or Whale meat consumption countries mainly include Iceland, Norway, and Japan. But now the first two countries almost no longer consume whale meat, mainly exporting to Japan. However, Japanese officials said in a high-sounding manner that whaling is part of Japanese traditional culture. Whether the consumption of whale meat is good or not has nothing to do with other countries. I also said that dog meat is eaten in other countries, but the Japanese will never eat dog meat. Japan has not condemned those countries that eat dog meat, has it?
However, in the face of strong international criticism, Japan stopped commercial whaling under pressure in 1986. However, he changed his mind and began to "investigate whaling."
Investigation of whaling is also bloody
The so-called investigation of whaling is to conduct whaling activities for the purpose of investigation and scientific research. But even so, the Japanese going to sea to hunt whaling will always attract the attention of the world and think of bad places in parallel.
The Fisheries Agency of Japan said in response to investigation of whaling suspected cloud : every whaleThere are more than 100 scientific research projects worthy of. Japan reports all these scientific research projects to international organizations after researching and collating them. And in accordance with regulations, the whale meat is processed and consumed.
Whaling Festival
In response to the question " Don’t you think whales are special marine creatures ", they said: Not only whales are, but all animals are special Population. But every animal has its own role in the ecosystem. The special status of whales is given by humans, but the "animal worship" of different races is different. For example, the holy thing in India is cattle, but in other countries, cattle are meat. Therefore, Japanese whaling is also reasonable.
responded to " will kill the whales at risk of extinction? " said: The Japanese government has not hunted and killed rare cetaceans, and the number of killings is controlled within a safe range.
Of course, the above words are all lies and excuses.
From 1987 to 2018, Japan went to Antarctica to hunt a large number of whales every year on the grounds of investigating whaling. In the first year of investigating whaling, the target was 300, and 273 were actually killed. From 1988 to 1994, it expanded to 330. From 1995 to 2004, it expanded to 440 again. However, in 2005, the budget was once expanded to nearly 1,000 heads, and until 2018, the budget number of 10 heads has been increasing every year. This includes not only small whales, but also scarce large whales. This is only the "investigative whaling" carried out by Japan in the Antarctic ocean. If the number of whales killed in the Northwest Pacific is added, it is impossible to count.
Not only this , in January 2019, despite the opposition of the international community, Japan restarted commercial whaling after thirty years. In June of the same year, he withdrew from the International Whaling Commission, aiming to make Japan's whaling activities no longer subject to international control.
The whaling boat is waiting to depart
Is it really for eating whale meat?
In the third year of coming to Japan, when I visited the supermarket, Saw canned whale meat. I've heard of whaling in Japan before, but I don't know it is for eating. I have never seen whale meat dishes in restaurants. After hesitating for a long time, I bought a box of canned whale meat for 500 yen. To be honest, I didn't want to eat it, I was just curious, what would the meat of such a behemoth taste like?
does not sell Guanzi, the taste is-unpalatable. First of all, the taste is very hard, and it is also very hard when it is made into cans, which is completely different from fish. The taste is similar to that of half-dried steak, so you have to bite into it. As for the taste, apart from the taste of the sauce, the meat itself has nothing unique. But in the process of chewing, there will be an indescribable strange taste. In short, is not a taste that makes people want to eat the second bite, . The box of canned food was just one bite and then thrown away.
Japan’s most famous canned whale-Yamato whale
So, do Japanese like to eat whale meat? As mentioned earlier, There are basically no whale meat dishes on the Japanese menu. There is basically no sale of whale meat in supermarkets. In other words, Japanese people do not eat whale meat. In the past, eating was just a shortage of domestic meat, and I had to rely on it to supplement protein.
Whale Meat Sashimi
In the original Tsukiji seafood market, there are more than 1,000 shops specializing in fish and meat wholesale. There are only two sellers of whale meat, which can be said to be very rare. Some people may ask, is it because the scarcity is the most expensive, only two sell them, the price should be high. In fact, the better whale meat (raw) is only 2,000 yen per kilogram . This price, let alone wagyu, is much more expensive than beef imported from the US. According to the survey, per capita consumption of whale meat by Japanese in 2015 was 30G. A boxCanned whale meat is about 170 grams, which means that a family can't even consume a box of canned whale meat a year.
Therefore, compared with the 1960s, Japanese whale meat has long become a "nostalgic taste". Except for a very small number of Japanese izakayas that still retain whale meat-related dishes, no one now eats this unpalatable "protein supplement".
Selling whale meat
Even the Japanese say that anyone who has eaten beef will eat whale meat. Not only from the standpoint of marine life protection, the Japanese also strongly oppose the government's whaling. Are large numbers of whales killed every year, are they really all used in scientific research? If it's scientific research, does it need to kill so many whales?
Another thing is that Japanese nationals do not buy government accounts. means that a lot of taxes are spent every year for the construction and expenditure of the whaling team. Is such a large expenditure really necessary? Do these expenditures bring any real benefits to the people and the country? I am afraid that not only is it not good, but it has attracted international infamy.
Whaling Inside Story in Japan
As Japanese officials said in response to international criticism, whaling is a traditional Japanese culture.
However, Japanese officials are different. At a Japanese government meeting. Some people questioned officials about the necessity of whaling in Japan. An official told the shocking truth: "I admit that whaling is not part of Japanese traditional culture, because this incident has made Japan's international reputation worse. I also know that Japan's domestic commercial demand for whale meat is also It’s very small. I think in a decade or so, the commercial whaling in Japan will slowly disappear.”
Try eating whale meat curry on the street
The last sentence “I If you want to catch more than ten years, Japan's commercial whaling will slowly disappear." It is very meaningful. Now that it has been admitted that whaling is useless to Japan, why wait another ten years?
Therefore, someone asked: "If this is the case, why not stop now?" The official
replied: "For some political reasons, we cannot stop now."
Follow the Japanese arrest When analyzing the so-called “political reasons”, Junko Sakuma said that whaling activities are entirely government actions. Therefore, there is a huge bureaucratic system related to whaling in government agencies, including whaling activities. Budget, planning, implementation plan, etc. No leader will cancel the whaling activities during his term of office, which means that all personnel who drain the whaling system will be reduced. Once such a thing is done, I am afraid that his status will not be preserved.
Therefore, whoever is in a high position will obediently maintain the status quo of whaling in order to preserve his status.
Reference
BBC NEWS
朝日新闻
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