Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
HOGEI
捕鯨
whaling
The practice of whaling in Japan dates back to the eighth century. Whales were especially valued for their meat and oil. In fact, when U.S. Admiral Matthew Perry forced Japan open in 1852, one of his objectives was to obtain a forward base for U.S. whaling operations in the northwestern Pacific. Whale hunts are the subject of numerous Japanese paintings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and Japanese have whalers continued to hunt the animals through the postwar era.
Japan and the International Ban on Whaling
In 1982, the International Whaling Commission imposed a ban on commercial whaling, citing diminishing numbers of whales in the world’s oceans. Nonetheless, a few countries, including Norway, Iceland, and Japan, continue to hunt whales in limited numbers. The hunts are ostensibly carried out for purposes of scientific research; but the meat from the slain whales usually makes its way to the consumer market.
The Japanese government disputes the premise of the 1982 whaling ban, and has stated its belief that whales could be hunted commercially without threatening their survival as a species. Japan’s position on whaling has drawn criticisms from a number of nations. Japanese whaling ships perennially spar with Greenpeace vessels that attempt to disrupt their operations.