Japanese town celebrates first whale catch of the season

Disgusting

Japan maintains that most whale species are not endangered and that eating them is a cherished culinary tradition.

Bull! It is only a "cherished culinary" tradition among a few hundred people out of a nation of over 120 MILLION!

I guess I could make the claim that eating goat soup, a "cherished culinary" tradition among many, not all Okinawan's, is a JAPANESE tradition too! Or that the penis festival is a "cherished" tradition for all Japanese, or any number of a probably a thousand or more local traditions throughout the country, are treasured by ALL Japanese!

Everyone knows that's BS, just as much as this!

They should be ashamed. Disgusting people

"Whoa, look at that red meat," one boy said as other children oohed. A few made sounds of disgust or pulled shirts up to cover their noses as blood ran down gutters to the sea.

Like a veritable horror film!

It’s hard not to feel a sense of disgust when blood is seen flowing freely into the gutters-has it put those kids off whale?

I hope so.

'Bringing the children down to see the first whale is part of the school's efforts to normalize the slaughter.'

Fixed it for you!

The beaked whales are toothed whales and are full of heavy metals and pesticides. They have been deemed unfit for human consumption by the WHO. This is what they should be teaching the ten years olds and not filing their heads with garbage like, "I get its life force when I eat it."

I'll chop it really fine, simmer it with sugar, ginger, soy sauce and sake,...

Sounds delicious!

Sounds delicious!

Yeah right, if it were truly delicious there would be no need whatsoever to disguise the flavor under those particular spices and sauces.

Sugar, ginger and soy sauce, have pretty strong flavors all their own, add them together and you are basically making a teriyaki sauce, and that is the flavor you will be enjoying, not the meat of the whale!

Celebrates? I count 16 people...

"Eating whale is part of our food culture, and we want to teach the children to have pride in their hometown and its traditions,"

These people who want to instill pride in tradition - I don’t see any of them wearing topknots, or working in mompe or insisting their wives blacken their teeth, or selling their young children into servitude to rich families.

Good, relevant traditions will survive naturally without being rammed down schoolchildren’s throats. Bad, outdated traditions should be allowed to die a natural death.

And barbaric cruelty to animals should be outlawed.

CLEO you made me laugh!

Too true, tradition is stupidity, it had a time and a place but now no longer.

im trying to get my back hair into a top not, like whaling just not going to happen.

there is a "tradition" gone.

Japans country, Japans culture, Japans right.

Their country, their right, no one has a right to judge what other people eat.

Ganbare Japan! - Japans country, Japans culture, Japans right.

You forgot one. "Japan's ignorance!" Yes, Japan does have the right to poison their kids with mercury tainted toothed whale meat. It has been proven time and time again that toothed whale and dolphin meat has extremely high levels of heavy metals and pesticides, but Japan choses to ignore it for the sake of some aged tradition. None of this meat will be tested for fear of what they might find.

It is interesting to note that in 2014 Japan imported, then disposed of, whale meat from Norway.

Why?

When tested they discovered the imported meat was unfit for consumption as it exceeded safety levels for pesticides and PCBs. **Note: **the reason that the tests were conducted was that this was an imported product.

It would be interesting to learn whether similar tests are conducted on domestically caught whale meat prior to sale. I bet that none are carried out., and nor would the Japanese whaling industry want them to be carried out . . . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/world-on-a-plate/2015/mar/23/japan-refuses-norways-toxic-whale-meat

See the crowds of happy people...er

"Everybody's happy today," she added.

Clearly not everybody

 "I realized that when we eat it, we are receiving its life force."

So perhaps let it keep it's own life force rather than you consuming it. What, there's not enough other stuff to eat?

A few people will do stupid things, most won't!

Booo!

"Eating whale is part of our food culture, and we want to teach the children to have pride in their hometown and its traditions," she added. "They're 10, they're just the right age to take lots of things in."

Translation: We love indoctrinating kids when they can still be indoctrinated!!!

The article itself is written to provoke. It seems to be achieving it's goals :)

cleo - Good, relevant traditions will survive naturally without being rammed down schoolchildren’s throats. Bad, outdated traditions should be allowed to die a natural death.

Are you suggesting that the eco-terrorists, and animal-rights zealots, should mind their own business, and stop issuing propaganda, and attacking whaling and fishing crews?

zones2surf - Translation: We love indoctrinating kids when they can still be indoctrinated!!!

The eco-terrorists, and animal-rights zealots, have been trying to use that technique for years. They don't seem to have been very convincing.

@Yubaru Today 07:11 am JST

Bull! It is only a "cherished culinary" tradition among a few hundred people out of a nation of over 120 MILLION!

Do you wish to say the value of a culture is based on its membership count? If anything, it is easier to accommodate the peculiarities of a smaller tradition than a larger one. We may not, for example, be able to tolerate a tradition with 5 billion people who say they must eat one whale per year (since they'll all be eaten, and we can't even fish that many if we tried), but we can easily accommodate one with only 100 people.

Try Minke fried like chicken - a tempura batter will do - marvelous!

As long as they eat the meat I see nothing wrong with it.

"Everybody's happy today," she added.

The whale doesn't look very happy.

The eco-terrorists, and animal-rights zealots,

I'm confused. Are the eco-terrorists you speak of the ones putting exploding harpoons into pregnant whales, then stockpiling them in freezers, or the ones trying to stop them doing it?

have been trying to use that technique for years. They don't seem to have been very convincing.

So both sides have been trying to get kids to eat more toxic whales? Could you please make a little more sense?

"Eating whale is part of our food culture, and we want to teach the children to have pride in their hometown and its traditions," she added. "They're 10, they're just the right age to take lots of things in."

How small to force this barbaric, wasteful and ignorant part of Japanese society down school kids throats.

Notice how I said 'society' and not 'culture'? Here's why:

Shinichi Nojiri, a 59-year-old worker at a shipbuilding company who used a vacation day to come watch, said he thought the process was a bit grotesque and he personally couldn't remember having eaten whale, although many older Japanese had it in school lunches.

Its not culture, it is toxic pride and propaganda...

Wow, what a huge crowd celebrating the death, with such uncontrolled gusto!

I haven't seen such a teeming throng since Trump's inauguration.

Japan maintains that most whale species are not endangered

And the IUCN agrees.

Are you suggesting that the eco-terrorists, and animal-rights zealots, should mind their own business

I agree with ClippetyClop. The eco-terrorists should certainly stop torturing whales by shooting exploding harpoons into them and subjecting them to sow, painful death.

And yes, stop using my taxes to finance the bloodbath.

animal-rights zealots?

One man's animal-rights zealot, another woman's decent person with a heart.

Japan maintains that most whale species are not endangered

And the IUCN agrees.

Japan still plans to hunt endangered Sei whales, although I admit the number is small (25). They might face less criticism if they didn't hunt them at all.

As for the Baird's whale in the picture. it is very possibly loaded with mercury & PCBs. I'm sure the kids won't mind though.

When they can raise whales on a whale farm let them eat as much whale as they like. Until then, it's really not a good idea. Also, remember it was an 86-year-old who was happy to buy some whale meat. That's about the limit of the market for it (the over 70s who ate it in their school lunches). If anyone knows of any schools serving it for school lunch these days, please share. I doubt there are more than a handful, if that.

Japan still plans to hunt endangered Sei whales, although I admit the number is small (25). They might face less criticism if they didn't hunt them at all.

I will again cite the IUCN for the fact that even though Japan has been hunting Sei whales at almost 100 a year for decades, the population is increasing and they expect to remove the Sei whale from the endangered list within 5 years.

Also the claim was that most whale species are not endangered and that the IUCN assessment agrees with that statement. Pointing out that one species is endangered does nothing to refute either the claim or the facts that support it.

ClippetyClop - I'm confused. Are the eco-terrorists you speak of the ones putting exploding harpoons into pregnant whales, then stockpiling them in freezers, or the ones trying to stop them doing it?

I chose to use the FBI's indentification as to who is an eco-terrorist.

Good morning Chairman Hatch, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you and discuss the threat posed by animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists in this country, as well as the measures being taken by the FBI and our law enforcement partners to address this threat, and some of the difficulties faced by law enforcement in addressing this crime problem.

As you know, the FBI divides the terrorist threat facing the United States into two broad categories, international and domestic. International terrorism involves violent acts that occur beyond our national boundaries and are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or similar acts of violence committed by individuals or groups under some form of foreign direction occurring within the jurisdiction of the United States.

 Domestic terrorism involves acts of violence that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any state, committed by individuals or groups without any foreign direction, and appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States..... 

John E. Lewis 

Deputy Assistant Director 

Federal Bureau of Investigation

 Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in Washington DC, on May 18, 2004.

The FBI has been investigating the threats posed by animal rights extremists, and eco-terrorists, for a long time. If you have a problem with the FBI's identification, and targeting, of animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists, you should send them an email stating your objection.