OK, a little harsh, well, no not really, they plan to defy the ban on whaling anyway regardless of the outcome of the vote, snubbing their noses at the world community, and presenting as scientific research. Here we are in the 21st century and there's still whaling going on, ridiculous, and have you ever seen footage of the whales being pulled aboard and carved to pieces, really sickening. They call it cultural tradition too, but there's pplanty of bad things done under the guise of tradition. Crap on you Japan!!!!

as much as I like Japan generally thru personal whatever interest..... the whaling is definately one of the most persistently annoying exploitations of the world- no doubt about it. :(

I don't really have anything against Japan..But they do kill everything, every form of animal they murder and sell...which is pretty sick of them..The same goes for China, except I think they are worse.

Funny what traditions and culture makes you do (murder shouldn't be one of them)

I think whaling sucks. But to say Japan sucks because of that is shameful.

Whaling sucks. Japan does not.

Whaling sucks. Japan does not.

Thank you, ceryna!

I read about this in my local news paper last night:


Hokkaido chain to sell whale burgers


HAKODATE, Hokkaido -- Lucky Pierrot, a hamburger restaurant chain active mostly in Hokkaido, will begin selling whale burgers on Thursday.

Mainichi Shimbun
A whale burger.

Whale and lamb burgers were the two most popular choices of fillings in a contest held by the Silk Road Group, which owns Lucky Pierrot.

"We want to improve the taste of both burgers," a spokesman for Silk Road Group said.

Silk Road Group conducted a contest to find a popular burger filling.

It was originally only going to sell a burger based on the most popular choice, which was the lamb that will be used in its Genghis Khan Burger - an idea proposed by Koichi Sera, 40, an assistant professor at Hokkai Gakuen University.

However, it also added whale meat, for its Kujira Burger, which was the second most popular choice. The idea for the whale burger was put forward by Toshihiro Okawa, 37, an employee of a whale meat sales company in Tokyo.

Lucky Pierrot's whale burgers will go on sale just two days after the International Whale Commission upheld a moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan had been seeking to rescind the ban that has been in place since 1986. (Mainichi)

"Japan sucks"

I know you're probably being overly dramatic (sometimes we say stuff like this) but by this logic all countries suck

I'm disappointed in peoples' attachment to the novelty of eating a variety of animals (including whales) and also tradition in general which I find generally 'sucks'


Anyone who feels the novelty of eating a whale burger surpasses in importance the pain and brutality experienced by a whale has a character trait which I find quite unappealing.

I don't get it*

*It being why killing and eating/using whales is worse than killing and eating/using other animals.

"*It being why killing and eating/using whales is worse than killing and eating/using other animals."
------------------

Personally I agree. But it also has to do with how they are killed. I don't know much about how the whales are killed or how long it takes or how effecient it is.

Theoretically one whale has one consciousness and can feed quite a number of people whilst a chicken can only feed very few (one , two people) and so to feed the same amount of people that one whale can feed would reauire a lot more killings (also chickens lives are much worse than whale lives before being killed).

It's still very objectionable to me but really not any more than what happens to animals in our nations.

Theoretically one whale has one consciousness and can feed quite a number of people whilst a chicken can only feed very few (one , two people) and so to feed the same amount of people that one whale can feed would reauire a lot more killings (also chickens lives are much worse than whale lives before being killed).

It's still very objectionable to me but really not any more than what happens to animals in our nations.

Whales can live an exceedingly long time, and their numbers aren't particularly great, so I get a lot more sad about hearing about a whale dying than a chicken dying.

The other thing is, I've grown up in a culture where eating chicken is commonplace. I don't like it, but it's not particularly shocking to me. I am not happy when another animal gets added to the list of "yummy" snack foods. Turning whale meat into a fast food item is a step in the wrong direction.

Ok, the entire country of Japan doesn't suck, think that's kinda obvious, but those who make the decision to continue with this barbarism, and those who support the market for it, do indeed suck very bad.

"I don't know much about how the whales are killed or how long it takes or how effecient it is."

They are pulled out of the water and shredded to pieces while alive.

"It's still very objectionable to me but really not any more than what happens to animals in our nations."

Relative statement if ever there was one, it's all horrible and completely unnecessary.

"But to say Japan sucks because of that is shameful."

No, whaling is shameful, getting really pissed about it and lashing out at those who are responsible for it is not.

I agree the whaling sucks, but it still doesn't change the fact that I've been wanting to visit Japan since forever. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if I could maybe eat veg*an in Japan, and here's some proof that it IS possible: http://www.vegdining.com/GetRestList.cfm?rgk=AS-JAP
http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/index.html
:bobo: :vebo: :vebo: :bobo:

I'd love to see all sorts of places to some degree, but limited eating options do pose a dilemna in many places. I can't help but be very frustrated that in the 21st century whaling hasn't been abolished.

No, whaling is shameful, getting really pissed about it and lashing out at those who are responsible for it is not.

To take your anger out on an entire country is silly. If you can't see that, your anger has blinded you.

No one should use this as an excuse for racism. Asia has a long history of vegetarianism, where do you think we get so many yummy recipes from? Tofu, anyone?

I don't really have anything against Japan..But they do kill everything, every form of animal they murder and sell...which is pretty sick of them..The same goes for China, except I think they are worse.

Funny what traditions and culture makes you do (murder shouldn't be one of them)


You know, I have problems with this whole thread. Yes, I understand that whales are an endangered species, and it's important to preserve them. However, I have always gotten very upset about our strange placement of ethics. Gazillions of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys etc are slaughtered here in the US yearly. As well as in other countries. When I lived in South Korea, I remembe soldiers would get really grossed out that people ate dogs...how can you eat dogs? Etc....but I always just felt really strongly...well, we eat cows, we eat pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, lamb. Why are dogs somehow worse or better? The answer to me is that they're not. Culturally we think differently than people in Japan, and different things are important to us. Hindu people probably come to this country and are totally grossed out by the cows we eat..but they as welll do things in their country that we don't understand, like having a cast system that includes untouchables.

To say that one is culturally better/worse than another is silly (this just seems obvious to me). We are culturally different. And actually, this same things happened in WA state in the US just a few years ago, with whales, a protected species being hunted by the native tribes in WA. Whom I think hunted one whale a season with a paddle boat just as a connection with an older way of life. Now, I don't condon or not condon it....I think it's generally bad to kill animals, but other than that....ascribing more importance to one animal than we do to another is really part of our problem as humans IMHO.

B

^^ great post

The post specifies Japan and whaling, not if that's more acceptable than killing any other animals. There's increasingly few whales in the seas, and this hunting has brought them to the brink of extinction, really a different thing from factory farming, the cows, pigs, chickens, etc. aren't in danger of going extinct.

"To take your anger out on an entire country is silly. If you can't see that, your anger has blinded you."

I feel pretty comfortable having issues with a country that practices something as completely unnecessary as whaling, I think if you watched a video of a whale being pulled from the water and shredded to pieces you'd understand my reaction better. There's nothing silly about caring and wanting a better world for us all. Blind? Just the opposite :)

The post specifies Japan and whaling, not if that's more acceptable than killing any other animals. There's increasingly few whales in the seas, and this hunting has brought them to the brink of extinction, really a different thing from factory farming, the cows, pigs, chickens, etc. aren't in danger of going extinct.

First, your outrage at Japan implies you do take greater issue with the killing of whales as ooposed to other animals.
But anyway...
Your statement that there are increasingly few whales is BS. Most whale populations have experienced an increase in their numbers.

http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/lec04/b65lec04.htm#Recovery_of_some_populations

"First, your outrage at Japan implies you do take greater issue with the killing of whales as ooposed to other animals.
But anyway...
Your statement that there are increasingly few whales is BS. Most whale populations have experienced an increase in their numbers."

I take issue with the unnecessary harming of all other life.
Whale populations have been plummeting for quite some time, some may have rebounded slightly after having been greatly reduced but most whale species are in danger.

Whale populations have been plummeting for quite some time, some may have rebounded slightly after having been greatly reduced but most whale species are in danger.


*Ahem* Read the link. Most whale populations have been rebounding. Several are now off the endangered species list. The North Atlantic right whale is in great jeopardy, but the whales being hunted by Japan are not.

Here is a link with the estiamted number of minke whales:
http://www.cetacea.org/minke.htm

Sperm whales:
http://www.cetacea.org/sperm.htm

Relative statements, their numbers have been greatly reduced but some are rebounding a little; the impact of atmospheric warming doesn't bode well at all for whales and marine life in general as well, but that's something of another subject.
Think of it like this, if there's ten thousand members of a species, hunting reduces the numbers to one thousand, and then they rebound to 1500, does that mean they're in ok shape?
At the most fundamental the question is 'is it necessary to kill whales?' Of course not, I believe in treading lightly on the Earth and respecting all life (yes even the japanese ;) ). Are there ever enough of a species to justify unnecessarily hunting them?