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Subscribe to RSSJapan is spending 2.3 billion yen ($29 million) from its supplementary budget for tsunami reconstruction to fund the country's annual whaling hunt in the Antarctic Ocean, a fisheries official confirmed Thursday.
Tatsuya Nakaoku, a Fisheries Agency official in charge of whaling, defended the move, saying the funding helps support Japan's whaling industry as a whole, including some whaling towns along the devastated northeastern coast. One ship on the hunt is based in Ishinomaki, a town hit badly by the March 11 tsunami, he said.
The budget request was made to beef up security and maintain the "stable operation" of Japan's research whaling, he said, which has faced increasingly aggressive interference from boats with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Conservationist group Greepeace blasted the funding move, claiming it was siphoning money away from disaster victims.
The Japanese government has passed supplementary budgets totalling 18 trillion yen ($230 billion) for reconstruction after the March 11 tsunami. Nearly all the items are rebuilding projects, including nearly 500 billion yen for fisheries projects directly in the region, but some, including the whaling expedition, appear less directly related.
Media reports said Japan's annual whaling expedition left Shimonoseki in southern Japan on Tuesday with plans to cull 900 whales, mostly minke whales, which are not endangered.
Japanese officials didn't confirm departure details, citing safety reasons. But Coast Guard spokesman Masahiro Ichijo said this year's fleet is carrying "the biggest protection ever," including an unspecified number of Coast Guard officers, safety equipment and a Fisheries Agency patrol ship.
He said the announcement of the deployment of coast guard officials "would serve as a deterrent" against attacks by the conservationist groups.
"We have no intention to show off our capability to respond to their attacks or declare a fight," Ichijo said.
Each year, protesters try to harass the whaling fleet into stopping the hunt Japan says is a scientific exemption from an international moratorium on commercial whaling.
The protesters say whale research does not require killing the animals, and Japan's scientific program amounts to commercial whaling in disguise because surplus meat is sold. Whale meat, however, is not widely eaten in Japan.
Clashes between the two sides often take place, and last January a Sea Shepherd boat was sunk after its bow was sheared off in a collision with a whaling ship. The hunting season runs from about December through February.
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as someone who sent money in the wake of the tsunami to help these poor people pick themselves up, I am extremely irate at this news. I cannot believe the government would allow aid money to be used for anything other than its intended purpose.
This is no difference from our spcial security tax being used to wage Afgan war. It all goes into a general fund and we have no control over the money and how it is being spent.
Whaling is a part of Japanese income and food supply just as seal and whale hunting in Alaska are a part of their livelyhood. Get over it, this is their job and they need to work and eat. We want the villages to be able to feed themselves and fight to stand on their own when possible and they're trying. They have to work and like it or not, they hunt whale for work. Quit hugging trees. Not everyone is a vegetarian and just like our shrimping and crabbing industry, we have sea hunters. If we were short on shrimp and had plenty of whale, would we let them tell us we can hunt whale and not shrimp. It's their culture and we need to back off. I wouldn't eat whale but I don't want others beliefs pushed off on me. Ooooh, it's against my religion to eat pork! Give me a fat a*s ham and some bacon. Greensuk, get real jobs and get lost.
I'm not an animal rights activist or anything, but it's pretty insulting that they're still trying to pretend like this hunt is being done in the name of science for the purpose of research.
If they really wanted to help the whaling communities via Tsunami relief funds, why aren't they just using the money to supplement the hunt or rebuild whatever was destroyed in the villages in question? Why would anyone donate money to another Japanese cause if they're not going to use it for the stated purpose and then try to go behind everyone's back and use it for something like the whale hunts?
If you donated to the relief fund and find this insulting; live and learn. They never needed those donations in the first place b/c it's not a poor country.
I am glad I didn't give any money! No way should they use it for anything other than what good hearted people intended.
LN68: Your not donating money can only be fully justified by (a) knowing in advance for what purpose the money would be used and (b) knowing that all of the donated money (not just the portion mentioned in the article) was being used to fund whale hunting.
Things are bad worldwide. The UN needs to get onto finding a quick solution for the world or World War III will ensue. I suggest Worldwide Financial Amnesty on national debt. Resetting the dial to zero will be quick, simple, painful for debt-holders but might avert WW3 now. The pace of negativity is not sustainable. Something has got to give now.
and killing whales is wrong, and misappropriation of funds is wrong.
Because the tusnami was caused by the whales and dolphins of course! They must retaliate!
Should make for an interesting season of Whale Wars. While I don't agree with everything Sea Shepard does and think they use just as much disinformation as the Japanese, I do think that their goal to end commerical whaling (because this is most deffinetly not for scientific study) is a just one. Unless you are a native tribe that takes a few whales every year to sustain your families, whaling is an outdated and simply I hope soon to be a thing of the past.
Too bad the opposition is a bunch of PR crazed, hippie pirates. Pretty hard to take them seriously. They disgust more people than they attract.
I agree. These people are complete stooges and I can't believe some of the things they do or say on the show, but like I said, they are the only ones out there doing it and for that reason alone I give them props. Now if they could just act like normal people and not be such ass hats...
As much as I like the Japanese people, that whaling stuff has to stop. There is zero research in this. It is pure whaling for profit!! I know, I lived there there for 7 years.
I bet its going to be another sneek attack this time on the whales , they better stay away from pearl harbor or they will get harponed or bombed . The japs have had a lot of practice at sneek attacks .
Think Im going to donate to tha Sea Shepard now.......
Think I'll donate to the Japanese now. How much you giving?
"Research whaling" my eye. Next time I'm in the Antarctic Ocean I'm going to target my whaling guns on those lying and deceiving bastards.
yea, cuz you're in the Antarctic often. Typical Monday morning quarterback.
Hahaha...shaking my head. Oh Japan. Just when you're really feeling sorry for them they decide to reallocate clean up money to go kill a bunch of whales. Gotta love 'em. The Japanese are really giving Americans a run for their money in the "good ole' red blooded [________]" category.
Trying to think how their tsunami-wake whale hunt is not analogous to our 911-wake war in Iraq. Having trouble coming up with any legitimate anological difference other than, perhaps, the fact that the Japanese government has not deceitfully justified the whale hunt by the tsunami.
First, any donations made didn't go to the government. They went to individual charities and I'm sure they are greatly appreciated. Next, I've tasted whale meat and I've tasted better flip-flops (don't ask how I know). So why is Japan all gung-ho to continue whaling under the subterfuge of "scientific data gathering" when few people eat the stuff? The simple answer is, the whaling business is still fairly powerful in Japan and supports many politicians. Much like rice farming. Farmers don't need subsidies but like elsewhere, they don't want them to stop. So a small bag of rice costs the yen equivalent of sixty US dollars where a large sack of foreign (mostly US) rice is less than twenty dollars (most experts can't tell the difference). Talks about getting Japan into the TPP (an Asian free trade pact) are being pilloried by politicians in hock to farmers groups afraid of what will happen to their exalted position if TPP comes about. Whaling groups exact similar pressure so whaling will continue using government funds. Those who suffered in the disasters in the north east will not be denied anything because of these funds going elsewhere. But yesterday's Mainichi Shimbun reported that the government is taking steps to avoid economic problems because it's debt is also rising alarmingly. They're running oput of money and the continued support of privleged groups like the farmers and whalers will have to end someday.
I know why they eat whale meat. It's for the same reason the Chinese eat Rhinoceros horns: superstition.
the Japanese are small people and Whales are big animals, so when when a small animal eats a big animal, they might grow bigger. That, and it's a"freebie" from the oceans. Other nations stopped eating whales and that way there's more for the Japanese. With 110 million folks on a territory the size of California, there's a serious overcrowding issue. I don't think the Japanese islands can sustainably feed more than 20 million people. Cars, electronic exports and whales affords the other 90 million people sustenance.
save the environment: People eat whale meat (which is usually available in most of the supermarkets I frequent) because they like it or are used to it, not because of any particular superstitions. After the war, great shortages of protein led to greater consumption of whale meat (not to mention insects), and most people of a certain age (viz. 60 or so and older) ate whale meat at school.
In supermarkets, one can see stocked (usually) about 500 grams of whale meat, usually sold in baconlike strips and packaged as bacon is. I've never seen anyone buy it, but some people must, as I havechecked the packages' expiration dates periodically, and the packages keep changing. (If no one bought it, stores would not stock it.)
Younger Japanese (in case you've never been to the country) are no longer particularly small people, although I have heard people in Japan say that drinking (cows') milk makes one taller.
What's with these fools in Japan?
When are these idiots going to realize that tiger-dick suppositories, snort'n Rhino Horn, shooting-up Snake Bladder Chunks for Colon Cleansing, and Elephant Tusk Dildos doesn't do anything for virility or anything else for that matter, it's just further Decimating this Endangered Species - in this case our Planets Whale Families - for what ever reason. Besides being a STUPID IDEA it's CRIMINAL!!!
Why not spend those DOLLARS on cleaning up all that RADIATION THEY'VE SPREAD OVER THE GLOBE INSTEAD!
I don't know why the article says that whale meat is not widely eaten in Japan. It is.
OMG I DONT THINK I HAVE BEEN THIS PISSED OFF IN ALONG F*CKIN TIME. I was so happy last season when the Sea Shephards came out on top and Japon released a statement that said they were ending the whaling in that area, but the stupid f*ckin idiots wanna be cheeky little b@sterds and use money donated to them to help with the rebuilding for Japan, and they are going to be running out to go whaling!! Lord i hope the Sea Shephards take them out this year! ***I LOVE YOU SEA SHEPHARDS*** JAPANS WHALING FLEET CAN GO TO DAVY JONES LOCKER!!!
I hope the Sea Shephard capsizes. ****I HATE YOU SEA SHEPHARDS******!
Whaling is a part of Japanese income and food supply just as seal and whale hunting in Alaska are a part of their livelyhood. Get over it, this is their job and they need to work and eat. We want the villages to be able to feed themselves and fight to stand on their own when possible and they're trying. They have to work and like it or not, they hunt whale for work. Quit hugging trees. Not everyone is a vegetarian and just like our shrimping and crabbing industry, we have sea hunters. If we were short on shrimp and had plenty of whale, would we let them tell us we can hunt whale and not shrimp. It's their culture and we need to back off. I wouldn't eat whale but I don't want others beliefs pushed off on me. Ooooh, it's against my religion to eat pork! Give me a fat a*s ham and some bacon. Greensuk, get real jobs and get lost.
Save the whales...Trade 'em for valuable prizes!
Because the Japs are pieces of Sh!t... It makes me feel good they were beaten and killed by the tsunami...
A few dozen RPGs would take care of the problem, go get some Somali pirates and take them up there, and tell them they insulted their mommas
yes!!! my thoughts exactly
Scientific program my ass.
Research wailing! What the hell is that? Wouldn't it help if the whales were left alive to study them? What pieces if Crap.