Whaling continues in Japan despite worldwide protests 

Forklifts hauling various kinds of seafood whizz past at Toyosu, the world’s biggest fish market on Tokyo’s east side.  

This cold, wet and sprawling concrete space houses more than 500 wholesale vendors selling just about every creature you can find in the sea — from $700,000 tuna to pufferfish.

Then, there are sellers like Ando Takaaki, Toyosu’s only whale meat vendor, who says he sells around 200 pounds of fresh whale meat daily.  

But when asked how often he eats whale meat, Takaaki shakes his head. 

“The younger generation — like myself — we don’t really eat it,” the 41-year-old said, adding that he sees his work as more of a cultural preservation.

Despite a global outcry and growing unpopularity, Japan’s whaling industry continues to thrive. Although whale meat sales have declined sharply over the years, most Japanese people continue to believe in their right to the delicacy.

Japan has a long and complicated history with whaling.

The industry dates back to the 1600s, though consumption of whale meat peaked shortly after World War II when food resources — especially protein — were tight. But today’s tastes have changed.

Japan’s Fisheries Ministry estimates that around 2,000 tons of whale meat are consumed annually compared to 230,000 tons at its peak in 1962.

A 1986 moratorium on whaling introduced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) put a pause to the industry.

That is, until 2019 when Japan controversially decided to withdraw from the IWC and resume commercial whaling in its waters.

The current industry is propped up by government subsidies (despite contributing around $10 million annually, the whaling industry continues to operate at a loss.) 

At the same time, globally, the practice of whaling has become widely restricted. Whales are an endangered species and seen as mysterious beautiful creatures. 

Which begs the question — why is Japan so keen on preserving such a small industry that is also so controversial? 

“A lot of it is political in nature,” said Jeffrey J. Hall, who teaches Japanese politics at Kanda University of International studies. 

Hall said a lot of this has to do with the center of Japan’s whaling industry — Yamaguchi Prefecture — a conservative stronghold for Japanese politicians and the home of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe and other conservatives leaned into the idea that whaling is part of Japan’s traditional culture. 

“When you defend something as a tradition, or as a cultural thing that is under attack by foreign ideology, the message really resonates with people emotionally,” Hall said.

The other defense of the industry, Hall said, is that a lot of the criticism tends to come from foreigners who lean into moralarguments against the practice of whaling.

Those arguments don’t resonate in Japan, Hall said.

“Saying whales are special, or saying whales are a beautiful creature that you shouldn’t eat just feels to a lot of Japanese like cultural imperialism.”

That may explain why opinion polls have found that only a quarter of the country is against the resumption of commercial whaling—even though 95% of Japanese people rarely or never eat whale meat.

Perhaps enemy No. 1 on the list of foreign activists speaking out against Japan’s whaling industry is Paul Watson.

The Canadian American anti-whaling activist and founder of the conservation nonprofit Sea Shepherd is known for a history of headline-making altercations with Japanese whalers.

At times, he and his team have used violent tactics to disrupt Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic ocean. Some of those disruptions were caught on his reality TV show, “Whale Wars.” 

“We were never under the illusion when we took on Japan that this was going to be easy; I mean, this is one of the world’s superpowers,” Watson said on the show in 2008.

Now, it appears Japan is seeking revenge for those actions.

In July, Watson was arrested in Greenland after Japan put out an Interpol red notice over Watson’s anti-whaling activities in which he and his team allegedly attacked Japanese whaling ships.

Watson is currently in detention as Danish officials investigate his potential extradition to Japan — if extradited and convicted, he faces up to 15 years in jail.

The case has garnered international attention, with widespread outcry from environmental activists calling for Watson’s immediate release. 

But that attentionhas also inadvertently helped garner support for the whaling industry at home. 

“I don’t think there’s any sympathy in Japan for Paul Watson,” Hall said. “There’s lots of people who would be happy to see him in a jail cell here.”

At the top of that list is Hideki Tokoro, president of Kyodo Senpaku, a major Japanese whaling company. 

In May, Tokoro dressed up as a whale to introduce Kyodo Senpaku’s whaling “mothership,”  the Kangei Maru. The $48 million 370-foot, 9,300-ton vessel is currently on an eight-month tour of the country’s northern waters.

Despite claims from activists the ship might one day be used to sail deep into the southern ocean around Antarctica, Tokoro makes a point to say he has no intention of letting the Kangei Maru go beyond Japanese waters. 

“It’s too expensive,” Tokoro said.

Tokoro described Watson as an “eco-terrorist,” and said that he should be extradited and tried in Japan. 

But when asked what Watson’s punishment should be, Tokoro shook his head.

“That will be for the courts to decide,” he said. 

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