Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Japan’s Whale Hunting: The Quest for Meat”.
Hi, everyone welcome to another exciting episode of our series on all things. Japan, today, we’ll be taking a look at the largest animal on the planet, whose sheer size and Majesty hasn’t been able to prevent it from landing on the Japanese plate. So get ready. Take a sip of your Mountain Dew and enjoy the story of the Japanese fascination with whales can be traced back to 1846, when whaling was one of the largest and most profitable Industries on the planet. As a matter of fact, it was the fifth most profitable sector of the U.S economy and brought in a whopping 10 million US dollars now. I know that doesn’t sound like that much now, but back then it was serious buck anyway. Whales were prized because all their different parts could be used for something the meat could be used as food. The oil is lubricant in Heating and strangely enough, their poop is used to make perfume yeah. I don’t get it either anyway, since whales are the largest animals on the planet, catching one meant that a whole lot of people could make a whole lot of money, but that all came to an end in 1986, when whaling was banned. Doing this, as you may have guessed, a lot of people were upset and a lot of politicians made up a whole lot of lies, including the notable Whopper that claimed that whaling is good for humans.
However, Japan’s basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources based on scientific evidence has not changed, and under that policy we have decided to resume commercial whaling anyway. The international court of justice wasn’t hearing it and by 2014, Japan was ordered to shut down its whaling industry by the icj, but somehow whales are still on the menu in some parts of Japan. To understand.
Why I’ll need to show you just how whale me became so popular in Japan? In the first place it was during World War II and Japan. Surrender to the United States meant that it was basically on the brink of starvation. The Japanese had no choice but to turn to Wales as a source of much needed protein.
So most Japanese people who grew up in the 1950s developed a mandatory taste for whale meat that persisted through the years foreign ly. This dependence on whale meat meant that overfishing would inevitably occur and by 1986 whales were dangerously close to extinction. In recognition of the danger this pose to the ecosystem, a bunch of countries came together to stop wailing for profit, but you know we wouldn’t have made this video If whaling still existed and the reason for that was Japan insisted they had to hunt whales for scientific Purposes anyway, they used pretty much the same vessels they had used for commercial whaling and somehow Wales kept ending up on the plate until a United Nations Court finally had enough and ordered Japan to stop hunting whales in the Antarctic region in 2014., which has fought many Battles with Japanese hunting fleets says Japan’s decision to abandon whaling around Antarctica is a victory.
This wasn’t as much of a win as you think, because it meant that they could keep hunting whales in other oceans foreign. To make this an even bigger problem. The Japanese government has stated that whaling has long been a part of their culture and acknowledged that they would likely continue despite the controversy, they also left the international whaling commission, an institution meant to regulate whaling across the world’s Waters. So what does all this mean? First of all, it means that Japan can hunt as many whales as they like, wherever they would like, essentially making it possible that whales May someday make it back on the endangered species list or Worse, go extinct in their defense. The Japanese government states that the mink whale the species they hunt, the most is not endangered and that they will only hunt in their territorial Waters and economic zone around the country, which means Japan will stop whaling around Antarctica. They also claim they have enough scientific evidence that some species of whales have recovered enough to be commercially hunted again, which is a bad idea for several reasons.
First, off the demand for whale meat in Japan only comes from a few people who wanted for nostalgic reasons. Most Japanese people don’t actually eat whale meat. I’Ve never eaten whale before I don’t know if it tastes good, so I’m wondering if I should buy them or not. Secondly, whales are an essential part of the world’s largest ecosystem and removing any big predators from an ecosystem. Can be disastrous, Wales enable populations of krill and fish to thrive as their poop releases, essential nutrients like iron and nitrogen, into the surface waters which fertilizes plant Plankton, which in turn feeds fish in krill. If your eyes are only on the money, then consider this sperm whale poop is the most expensive poop in the world.
Just one pound costs 7. 000 US Dollars. This poo is used in the perfume industry and you can’t get it if they’re all dead.
If you need another reason to convince you that the way whales are hunted and killed is extremely inhumane and cruel, and this is even more horrifying when you consider that whales are extremely intelligent and able to process complex emotions like us. They love singing many complex songs and a single song can last for 25 minutes foreign [ Applause ] in Tokyo. The sentiment is split about whaling. Some people enjoy whale meat and fail to understand why whaling is so controversial, While others just don’t like the fact that Outsiders are telling them what to do. Others don’t care so much about the subject, while the rest insists, that is tradition regardless of traditions and personal opinions, though we should all aim to preserve our planet and prevent unnecessary harm to innocent animals, and I think that stopping whale hunting is a small price to Pay for that foreign .