(JP)Younger generation in port town turns its back on eating whale meat

[Guest guest]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010627b8.htm

 

IDLE HARPOONS

 

Younger generation in port town turns its back on

eating whale meat

 

Second of three parts [First part]

 

By KAZUHIRO KIMURA

 

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. (Kyodo) Here in Taiji, where

residents have always taken pride in their town's

whaling history, there have been steady moves among

locals to distance themselves from anything to do with

whales.

 

Miyato Sugimori, a 50-year-old official of the Taiji

fisheries association, remembers vividly the day when

his eldest son suddenly refused to eat whale meat.

 

The family had a plate of whale sashimi, his son's

favorite, on the table for supper. However, the boy,

then a fifth-grader in elementary school, refused to

touch it.

 

" Children of Taiji must eat it, " he told his son. " You

must eat it. "

 

" But I feel sorry for the whale, " the child replied.

Sugimori's son has not eaten whale meat since.

 

This exchange took place around 1985, when Japan

withdrew its objection to the International Whaling

Commission's moratorium on commercial whaling.

 

Around that time, the children of Taiji, the

birthplace of organized whaling in Japan, began to

become uncomfortable with the wholesale slaughter of

whales and dolphins.

 

Nevertheless, whales and dolphins caught in coastal

waters off Japan still end up in Taiji.

 

A 5-meter pilot whale brought into the port recently

was welcomed by a group of around 10 people waiting to

carve it up.

 

After it was winched from the boat, they moved in. The

whale was cut open with huge knives, its blood

spilling across the concrete pier.

 

" This is not good for tourists to see, " a fisheries

association official told a reporter with a camera.

 

Fishermen are a little more cautious when it comes to

killing dolphins, which are popular among Japanese.

 

To avoid negative publicity, dolphins are now caught

and slaughtered at sea off the coast of Taiji.

 

" Actually, we would like to openly show how we deal

with (dolphins), but then, there will surely be people

who become emotional and voice opposition to whaling "

because of the similarity of the two mammals, the

official said. When officials involved in the nation's

scientific whaling projects visit Taiji to recruit

young people, they find virtually no one willing to

respond to their call.

 

It is said to be the same in other formerly prosperous

whaling towns, including Oshika in Miyagi Prefecture,

Wada in Chiba Prefecture, Muroto in Kochi Prefecture,

and Uku in Nagasaki Prefecture.

 

" It is absolutely wrong to lose our whale meat dietary

culture and the whaling industry due to external

pressure, " an official from the Fisheries Agency said.

The agency has persistently sought the resumption of

commercial whaling.

 

Scientific data show whale populations are increasing,

he claimed.

 

" Antiwhaling nations' contention ignores science and

(IWC) conventions and we cannot accept it, " he said.

" Citing an extinction crisis as a reason, (they) may

single out tuna as their next target. "

 

The Japan Times: June 27, 2001

© All rights reserved

 

 

 

Get personalized email addresses from Mail

http://personal.mail./