Whale watching in Japan more profitable than whaling: report

Wednesday 24th June, 10:00 PM JST

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davidattokyo at 07:21 PM JST - 29th June

Brunobear

our culture now respects these magnificent creatures and is eager to learn the importance of the role they play in the oceans.

Same can be said of whaling cultures. Indeed I don't know if the great Australian culture has developed so far as Japan's - do they have gravestones for whales in Australia yet, or hold buddhist ceremonies for those that are taken?

If the Japanese have to sale five thousand miles or more to find a whale to see and kill in the remote freezing Southern Ocean,

They don't have to. But under the IWC rules they and every other signatory to that convention has the right to expect to be able to do so. As well as catch whales in their own EEZ. So Japan is interested in both, and why not?

I can understand tourists not wanting to spend their whale watching money in Japan

Japan does have whale watching industry.

even though they would get the full experience of seeing a whale in its natural setting, being chased, harpooned, dragged up the slipway, chopped up alive, and then boxed and frozen.

So far as I know no such whaling safari tours are available yet but it has been noted here that they might be a profitable draw card.

You will have to wait for local numbers to rebuild in Japanese waters

Some of the species have rebuilt to a level at which sustainable utilisation through whaling is now possible. Common minke, Bryde's whales for example. The idea is to catch a conservative number so that the numbers either remain roughly stable or continue to increase despite the extra mortality due to anthropogenic causes. If we get this right then both whaling and whale watching can thrive.

most western tourists

Whether they are western or not is irrelevant. There are lots of non-western tourists in Japan.
cleo at 12:49 PM JST - 30th June

It seems the pro-whalers' minders haven't been able to explain to them yet the difference between the cultural fabric of communities that revel in slashing marine animals to pieces in front of schoolchildren, and the cultural fabric of communities that slash young girl to pieces in back rooms.

Come on, give us a laugh.
davidattokyo at 07:54 PM JST - 30th June

cleo, you've already made it clear that you don't like whaling, no need to repeat yourself.
cleo at 08:17 PM JST - 30th June

no need to repeat yourself

lol

Coming from you, that's really precious. I take it you'd like to retract your claim that 'cultural fabric' makes it OK to do really nasty things?
Brunobear at 10:45 AM JST - 1st July

davidattokyo: No disrespect to the buddhist's but we don't need gravestones because we don't kill them.

As I stated in an earlier comment, Japan has 127 million people, china say 1300 million, India say 1300 million and the rest of near Asia probably another 500 million, that's about 3,200 million people that could be prospective whale whatchers if Japan was an attractive enough destination to come and view them.

Sailing 5000 miles to see a whale slaughter, a guess you would be the only paying customer. Cross that one off your marketing strategies.

I think I will write to PM Aso about abandoning whaling and putting the money into promoting a Japanese whale watching industry and associated tourist dollar generating attractions. If you are my real opposition David, it will be easy for me. You clearly are not a financial and political strategist.

Lastly, though it is none of my business, what "cleo" has to say is of the utmost seriousness and I strongly support her. "Female sexual mutilation" of beautiful young girls by primitively minded old frazzled up women and the stealing of the young girls God given sexual pleasure spot before they even get a chance to experience it, is as evil as anything I see or read of what some humans do or have done. The veneer of what some societies and cultures regard as "modernity" or "civilization" is paper thin indeed. Then they force the beautiful young girls to cover their bodies in rags so their God given beauty is hidden also. The Christian "Lord's Prayer" as delivered to us by by Jesus Christ says, "Though shalt be done on earth as it is in Heaven". I cannot imagine God allowing these practices in Heaven. To me earth is Heaven and we need to use that command as our guide in our lives in everything we do. I do, do you?
davidattokyo at 03:53 PM JST - 1st July

cleo,

Whaling isn't a "really nasty thing".

Brunobear,

we don't kill them.

What about that whale, Coleen, that you guys euthanised?

if Japan was an attractive enough destination to come and view them.

Japan already has a whale watching industry, there is nothing stopping the 3.x billion population from Asia coming to watch whales in Japan.

Sailing 5000 miles to see a whale slaughter

Whalers catch whales just off the coast, its those day trip hunts that would be suitable for safari trips.

I think I will write to PM Aso about abandoning whaling and putting the money into promoting a Japanese whale watching industry and associated tourist dollar generating attractions.

I doubt even Aso would be so silly as to think one has to give up one sustainable activity in order to make for the development of another potentially sustainable activity, but write a letter if you like.

Finally, regarding cleo's comparison, honestly anyone can compare any "really nasty thing" to an activity such as whaling that one does not like, but the argument is pathetically weak. If I were so inclined, I could arbitrarily point to a number of activities in which Australians indulge and demand that they end it because they are also "really nasty". The fact that Australians themselves haven't already acted speaks volumes, while they continue to happily criticise people who do similar activities with the only difference in the details.
cleo at 04:11 PM JST - 1st July

Whaling isn't a "really nasty thing".

No, it's a warm cuddly thing that you'd want to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon indulging in with your grandchildren.

If chasing a terrified animal for miles until it is exhausted, shooting an exploding device into its body, following that up with a couple of rifle shots and eventually hauling it up by the tail so that it literally drowns in its own blood is not a Really Nasty Thing, then there's nothing at all nasty in this world.

the argument is pathetically weak

Your argument is that communities should be allowed (encouraged?) to do whatever they want to do if their activities form the 'cultural fabric' of that community. That is a pathetically weak argument, as it's so easy to come up with any number of activities claimed to be part of the 'cultural fabric' that it's bleedin' obvious ought not to continue. Whether you think whaling is on a level with FGM, child labour, slavery etc etc is by the by; 'cultural fabric' is no more a rational excuse than is 'But it's traditional'. If our ancestors had listened to their neanderthal mates whining 'But we've always done things this way,' we'd still be living in caves and cutting things up with sharp stones.

It's time to move on and join the 21st century.
Brunobear at 07:38 AM JST - 2nd July

dadvidattokyo: Our Aborigines used to eat each other two hundred years ago. My European Ancestors would have been doing the same thing until some point in time. We moved on! Tell me about the "Really Nasty Things" Australians do so I can do something about it. Do you mean treating whales with respect and not eating them? Call up "Whale watching" on Google and see how many coastal towns in Australia are making good money from it. 13 million Asians paid to go whale watching last year. How much did Japan make from killing whales - nothing, you are running that industry at a loss like so many Japanese industries. US$8 trillion in public debt and rising rapidly towards US$9 trillion - twice your GDP. And they reckon the way to put a New Zealander into a small business is to give them a big one and just wait. Sorry Kiwi's, I am making a point for David.
davidattokyo at 12:19 PM JST - 2nd July

cleo,

Earth is not a Disney movie rated G. Get over it.

Your argument is that

... there is nothing wrong with sustainable use of natural resources using the best modern technology available, and thus to deny people of it is Bad.

Things change when there is a proper reason to. Not when there isn't. And that is the situation. If it weren't, then things would already have changed.

Brunobear,

We moved on!

So give up cows, kangaroos, etc, if you are so into "moving on". But don't be so arrogant as to try to dictate such matters to other people. Since when did Australia become an authoritarian state?

Tell me about the "Really Nasty Things" Australians do so I can do something about it.

Smashing baby joey's heads against the tow bar of a ute to kill them seems kind of "old school". And if you are killing millions of kangaroos each year I don't see why you need to then go to the effort of raising cows and killing them as well. Just kill the roos only and eat them instead.

Do you mean treating whales with respect and not eating them?

Eating something and not having respect for something are different things, I think. If you disagree, does it mean that you do not respect whatever matter it is that you eat and where it came from?

How much did Japan make from killing whales - nothing

Dunno if it was exactly nothing, but as for the Japanese government programmes, they are not designed or intended to make profits. If research activity was making profits then that would be ringing alarm bells I think, and Australians would be the first ones complaining for sure (Australians are always the first ones complaining though).

US$8 trillion in public debt and rising rapidly towards US$9 trillion - twice your GDP.

Japan's public debt hardly has anything to do with whaling. The amount of money spent on that each year is relatively insignificant.

And they reckon the way to put a New Zealander into a small business is to give them a big one and just wait.

That's a good joke, but on the other side of the Tasman we tell it about Australians.
Brunobear at 02:22 PM JST - 2nd July

davidattokyo: Don't tell me you are a kiwi? I am falling off my chair with laughter. Now that explains the huge log you have on your shoulder and the inevitable petty comments. Your not from Tokyo, you're actually at Surfers Paradise with the other 50% of the Kiwi's, pretending to be a success. That is why we are getting your suxpence worth! Petty help the poor old Japanese with you as their ally. No wonder you are backing a loser like whaling, its because Australia opposes it. So there you go world!
griff at 02:34 PM JST - 2nd July

eating whale meat is not a central part of japanese culture. if i remember rightly, it only grew in popularity after the war as a cheap, if oishikunai foodstuff. the only problem is that the whaling lobby only has to cry wolf that "gaikoku is attacking of beautiful traditional culture" and most members of the population will turn off their critical faculties and start getting hotheaded

this tendency is only going to get uglier in the near future when a seafood that is on most people's menus (tuna) starts to look like going the way of the dodo. i seriously doubt that sense will prevail in japan. so much for the ol' "unique relationship with nature"
Brunobear at 02:40 PM JST - 2nd July

griff: Thank you. It is what we all believed but it is good to have it confirmed from a Japanese. Does the tiny Japanese whaling lobby realize they have a Kiwi in Surfers Paradise as their sole Southern Hemisphere ally? Davidattokyo: I bet you even work on a whale watching boat on weekends taking Aussie and Japanese out to see the Humpback whales.
davidattokyo at 06:53 PM JST - 2nd July

Brunobear,

griff: Thank you. It is what we all believed but it is good to have it confirmed from a Japanese.

What makes you think griff is Japanese?

Does the tiny Japanese whaling lobby realize they have a Kiwi in Surfers Paradise as their sole Southern Hemisphere ally?

I've never been to SP and don't intend to. The closest I have ever been to Australia is Sydney airport. In and out about 6 times. Wouldn't have it any other way :)

By the way, there are various New Zealanders that support the sustainable use of whales. Some of them spoke at the recent IWC meeting in Portugal. And hey there is an Australian bloke that is heading up an NGO that has prepared a new convention for the sustainable use of whales. See the info here:

http://www.e-kujira.or.jp/iwc/2009funchal/photo/report/2009/06/25

You are living in the dreamtime if you believe that Australia in it's entirety is with you in your anti-whaling cult beliefs.
Brunobear at 08:32 PM JST - 2nd July

davidattokyo: If you haven't been to Melbourne David you haven't been to Australia. I was going to ask you to name me two Australians that supported whaling, and you apparently have come up with one already. Are you sure he is not a Kiwi disguising himself. It is not by chance that Kiwi's call themselves the all blacks, and wave black flags David. It has something to do with melancholy. If you had spent more time in Australia like the other 50% of Kiwis, you would embrace gold and green. At least your ancestors were wise enough to adopt a British colonial type flag like we did. If you guys could only play AFL you would learn the happiness and fun that flows from the Sherrin. You may put your misplaced enthusiasm for whale slaughtering into going to real footy. Cheers!
davidattokyo at 12:14 PM JST - 3rd July

AFL is that game that manly men wearing tight shorts play, isn't it? My Great Uncle likes AFL though, so it must be OK.