Whale hunting resumes in Japan
TOKYO — Japan resumed commercial whale hunting Monday after a hiatus of more than 30 years, defying calls from conservation groups to protect animals once hunted to the brink of extinction.
Now whalers, who have long depended on government subsidies for their survival, face the much tougher challenge of defying basic economic reality: The market for their product is declining while labor costs across the nation are on the rise. Japanese production of whale meat peaked in 1962, and the taste is generally preferred by an older generation.
The government also hopes to start reducing the $46 million in annual subsidies it pays to whale hunters within three years. The value of previous catches, obtained under the auspices of scientific research in the Antarctic, totaled only about a half to a third of that.
“Will whaling succeed commercially?” said Masayuki Komatsu, a former government official who oversaw Japan’s international negotiations on the subject and now works at a think tank in Tokyo. “No way.”
Industry experts say they expect costs will come down as ships move their whaling operations from the far seas to waters closer to home. Producers also hope to increase the appeal of whale meat by promoting it among high-end Japanese restaurants, said Konomu Kubo, secretary of the Japan Whaling Association.
Tokyo has for decades fiercely defended whale hunting despite heavy criticism from the international community. The government and local authorities celebrate the practice as a tradition with a long history and cultural significance akin to the hunting of whales in countries such as Norway and Iceland, where commercial hunting is permitted, or among indigenous communities in the United States and Canada.
Japanese people have “mixed feelings” about whaling, according to Hisayo Takada, spokeswoman for Greenpeace Japan. She cited a combination of national pride and politics, as Japanese lawmakers have propped up an industry they see as economically and sentimentally important for their voter base.
Japan hunted whales under a loophole in international rules that allowed the activity for research purposes. Japanese scientific vessels, financed by the country’s taxpayers, prowled international waters in search of the animals. Once home, whalers sold their catch for meat.