Just to go on a minor, cultural "best-of" tangent.

For a culture that historically embodied such high virtues of honor and deference to nature. Samurai. Shintoism. Karaoke. Shame on Japan. You're still nowhere near as vile as the United States when it comes to respect for nature, but you can get shamed anyway. Sorry about the whole modern industrialization thing. That's a tough one for all of us.

hatton: national cultures are soooo 20th century. As a global citizen, double-shame on Japan. "Culture and tradition" drivel lets Canadians validate the revered baby seal hunt time and time again. Eco-sphere collapse? But hey, if it's on some ancient scroll, it must be acceptable. Global citizenry lets me critique everything everywhere. It's a tough job, but more people need to take it on. So I encourage you to talk more shit about America, because we need it.

Irreverence is great on a Sunday. Can we just live harmoniously already?

Thank you for all the great background information, history of this issue and passion profoundly expressed!!

It warms my heart to read of other's concerns and brings tears to my eyes. I just wanted to log in and stand tall with you all in defense of the whales and other sea creatures that are living in the dumping grounds we have created!

Thank you! Yes, thank you!

thank you for enlightening me about sea shepherd..i did not know..--savethemanatee.com

Forget Greenpeace, this article mentions nothing about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. We are the real earthwarriors out on the oceans fighting the Japanese. Greenpeace can spend all their money on tests, protests, demonstrations and "bearing witness," but when SSCS shows up the Japanese run (and don't kill whales!). This will be our fourth year down in Antarctica confronting the whalers, and hopefully this year we will stop them for good!

Any act done for the sole purpose of it being "a part of our culture" is ludicrous. This madness must end... It's bad enough Japan has destroyed and depleted their own costal waters, even more so that they then blame it on the dolphins and then slaughter thousands of them every year. That alone is enough to condemn the entire country publicly (or at least the government, the fisheries and the public who support them). But going down into an international whale SANCTUARY and hunting an ENDANGERED species while violating a United Nations Moratorium against whaling is unforgivable, and will not stand.

The Japanese whaled before westerners showed up... they just didn't do it on such a massive, corporate scale (like Ahab as one person posted). The way in which Japan handles itself these days has nothing to do with their "culture," it has to do with westernization and industrialization. They have kept those "cultural" things which serve their purpose and discarded and destroyed most of the good stuff. Granted, this is not entirely their fault, but people (and "A People") must ultimately be responsible for their own actions.

I'm sure there are some (if not many) Japanese individuals out there who stand against such things, just as there are many Americans who stand against most of the things the United States is doing and has done in the recent past (I'm one of them). But that does not forgive complacency. The greatest evil in the world is the indifference of good men (and women).

Ultimately, perhaps the Japs would do well to remember WWII, and the fact that they unconditionally surrendered to U.S. forces? So, technically, they have to do anything the U.S. government tells them. Let's all lobby Washington! I'm sure King George II will drop everything to employ sanctions against one of our most lucrative trade partners...

Or you could support the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Just do something!

People outside of Japan miss the point entirely. You can`t say that anything "japanese" is ridiculous or unecessary or out of date. The very fact that it was once done, or is still being done, makes it part of Japanese culture, and therefore should be continued indefinitely (and without question).
Industry has more clout than grassroots protestors? No sh#t! I have never seen anything on the news here (Japan) about the whaling issue, even when the fire on that boat happened.
To allot of people in Japan, the Environment is something that if you can`t eat it, you`d better put a cement wall around it so as to control it.
And just to set the record straight, if you hadn`t already noticed. Japan does not give a sh#t what you think. You will never understand what being Japanese is like (how could you? you are NOT Japanese) and therefore you opinion does not matter.
The only way to stop this is with money, the only card that trumps the "culture" card in Japan.

standing ovation..applause..bravo,longtime warriors for the side that is right !!kudos..thank you,more than words can say....

i view the gentle,intelligent,social and peaceful whales,manatees and porpoise..as a mirror reflection,A METAPHOR..of the good and gentle and loving human beings,left on this planet.IF THEY DO NOT MAKE IT..NIETHER WILL WE (THE GENTLE AND PEACEFUL OF OUR SPECIES).EVERY INJUSTICE TO THESE GENTLE GIANTS IS A DIRECT ATTACK ON US..!

It's not about macho hunting and killing actions. What it is: The Japanese guys have little teeny pee-pees and rubbing them with whale meat makes them seem bigger to the poor abused Japanese women. Same deal as tiger bones, raccoon penis bones, sea turtle penis soup, deer antler fuzz and a whole wealth of other silliness.

Greenpeace ought to dose the whales with small amounts of potassium nitrate and thus render them useless as a source of sexual performance placebos.

It's important to note that here is not "one" Japanese attitude towards whale-hunting or beef-eating, but a multiplicity of views. Activists within Japan are equally eager to see an end to this barbaric, cruel, and senseless practice.

I am not sure about other historical antecedents (i.e. if indigenous people in Japan also killed and ate whales), but know that modern whale hunting was brought to Japan by American nineteenth-century whale hunting ships during the "Captain Ahab" era. Beef-eating was also brought to Japan at the same time, as well. Most Japanese initially felt repugnance towards beef and dairy products upon their introduction by Americans and Europeans.

Kelmer is right -- the continuation of Japanese is absolutely irrational and makes no sense. Whale is not a popular form of food among most Japanese. However, the Japanese whale industry does have a disproportionate amount of clout in contrast to grassroots Japanese groups (i.e. Greenpeace Japan -- http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/index_en_html, http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/save-our-seas-2/save-the-whales/japanese-whaling ) which seek to stop the whaling by Japanese whalers. The only reason the whaling continues, in my view, seems to be a mean-spirited stubbornness that characterizing the Japanese whale industry and its official supporters.

However the whale-killing industry does not reflect the majority of Japanese people who have moved on beyond the Captain Ahab era.

On this issue and many other progressive issues, the alternative media needs to distinguish between the Japanese government and grassroots Japanese activists and NGOs. By not recognizing the significant progressive activist grassroots organizations and movements in Japanese society, the English-language alternative media actually undermines the political agency of these grassroots groups by making them invisible.

The English-language alternative media would bring much needed moral and political support by providing much-needed coverage to these dedicated activists in Japan and elsewhere, and providing some more context, nuance, and texture to geopolitical conflict analyses.

Not only are Japanese environmentalists and animal welfare activists aligned with those in the U.S., but also Japanese progressives across the gamut of issues.

On another related front, Japanese and American environmental activists have joined together to also protect the habitat of the Okinawan dugong, a relative of the manatee. Common Dreams has covered this issue for some years now.

A 2003 EARTHJUSTICE 2003 press release outlines the facts of its lawsuit (now in federal court) against the U.S. Dept of Defense -- http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0926-01.htm -- on behalf of a coalition including the US Center for Biological Diversity -- http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/ -- and the Turtle Island Restoration Network -- http://www.seaturtles.org/ -- and four Japanese groups: Dugong Network Okinawa, Save the Dugong Foundation, -- http://www.ii-okinawa.ne.jp/people/higap/ -- Committee Against Heliport Construction - Save Life Society, and the Japan Environmental Lawyers Federation. The lawsuit seeks to halt the construction of a U.S. military airport on a coral reef off the eastern coast of Okinawa, which is the principal home of the dugong.

The Center of Biological Diversity has an action page for sending emails to officials at both the U.S. and Japanese governments, asking them to reconsider their military airport construction plans.

Well, let's see. Macho hunters (used to) hunt tigers by sitting in a tree with a high powered rifle near a staked out wounded goat. When the tiger was attracted to the goat, bang! Another tiger skin rug and valiant story.

Macho hunters rent a helicopter to drive a wolf pack to exhaustion, then shoot them from the air and land to collect their trophies.

Young Makah's, in "imitation" of their ancestors, take a high powered speedboat, tow a canoe out to a gray whale pod. The young braves then throw a harpoon, followed instantly by a barrage of fifty caliber machine gun fire. The power boat then tows the carcase back to the beach in Neah Bay. The elders who remember say gray whale is like eating inner tubes.

Any state of the art hunt today involves the most high tech gear that big money can buy, and the least threat to the hunter. Most game animals, unless being driven, don't even know they are being hunted until someone with a scope sighted high velocity rifle hits them from a quarter mile away.

Japan has the ultimate hunt! You, too can chase a whale until it is almost drowned, then hit it with a cannon when it desperately surfaces to breathe. Wow! Macho! You've just killed the largest, and one of the most intelligent and inoffensive, animals on the earth.

If you are really macho, why don't you enter a grizzly bear's cave with a knife and a spear? Either you or the grizzly will have a hell of a story to tell.

Humpbacks need blackwater.

Department of state needs study.

Japanese whaling is like hunting--few people do it, but they have an irrational amount of clout. They want to push whale meat on schools--even though the meat has been shown to be contaminated with toxic chemicals.

And counter arguments that domestic livestock are intelligent too--well obviously, and being a vegetarian is the answer--but that doesnt defend Japan--which also eats beef.