Daniel Oliver Jost comments

You may think I'm crazy, but I believe phasing out the cruel drive hunts in Taiji and providing the hunters with an economic alternative would...have a positive effect on PM Abe's health - what comes around goes around...

Oh yes Japan WILL stop whaling, and sooner than you think, my dear Honorable Minister Hayashi...

1) First of all, fierce criticism has already started to form WITHIN Japan. Can it be that in your function as Minister you have not yet heard of the recent protests organized by groups such as Action for Marine Mammals? Or are you just (rather unskillfully) ignoring this aspect?

2) Now to the "long historical tradition about whaling": regarding small scale coastal whaling, certainly. Wasting tons of fuel and taxpayers' money to go all the way to the Southern Ocean to whale however only started rather recently, in the 80s. So not too much history and tradition there...

3) "Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, so taking some good protein from the ocean is very important. For food security I think it's very important."

A typical argument of the baby-boomer generation. Piling up tons of whale meat in freezers because nobody wants it is CRIMINAL in today's overpopulated world!

4) "Whaling has long been part of traditional Japanese culture, so I just would like to say 'please understand this is our culture'."

No, we shall not understand it, because it is not your culture. And let me know if you need some help on Japanese culture. (Perhaps you spent too much time at Harvard and have forgotten...)

Kind regards from Switzerland, Daniel Jost.