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Tokyo last week unveiled plans to resume whale
hunting in the Southern Ocean in 2015-2015 despite an
international court ruling that previous hunts were illegal,
although it also slashed the quota for the so-called scientific
whaling program.
Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International
Whaling Commission, said the new proposal, which calls for
taking 333 minke whales instead of 900, is Tokyo's latest
attempt to pursue sustainable whaling according to scientific
principles.
"The whaling issue is seen as a symbol of a larger issue
sometimes in Japan... You might have heard the word
'eco-imperialism'," Morishita told a news conference.
"When you go out and ask ordinary Japanese about the whaling
issue, they're going to say 'I don't eat whale meat, however I
don't like the idea of beef-eating people or pork-eating people
saying to Japanese, stop eating whales."
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled earlier this year
that Japan's decades-old whale hunt should stop, and Tokyo
canceled its Antarctic hunt in response. It carried out a
scaled-down version of its Northern Pacific hunt this summer.
Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not
endangered and that eating whale is a cherished part of its food
culture. It began what it calls scientific research whaling in
1987, a year after an international moratorium began.
Japan's situation resonates with some developing nations,
Morishita said, adding that while elephants are indeed in danger
in some parts of Africa, nations where they are numerous face a
similar dilemma when they want to pursue sustainable use.
"Now elephants are seen as a charismatic animal so just killing
it is seen as wrong in many parts of the world," Morishita said.
"Charismatic animals cover not just elephants but (also)
whales."
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Ryan Woo)
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