Japanese continue to pig out on whale meat. Or is is whale out on pig meat?

“Why do people say we can’t eat the things we’ve eaten since the end of World War II?” asked Koji Shingu, the proprietor of a whale eatery called Yushin in Tokyo, a few blocks from the city’s oldest temple, a popular tourist draw.

Japan has hunted whales for hundreds of years and whale meat is a sentimental favorite of people who survived Japan’s post war lean years. At that time whale meat was the chief source of protein, sometimes eaten every day.

Whale Sashimi

Most whale meat eaters are over 40. Young diners eat whale meat for novelty sake.

Japanese whalers hunt between New Zealand and Chile. One crew member has already been lost this year. PETA? Greenpeace? Sea Shepherd chased Japan’s whaling ships for several thousand miles, threw bottles of rancid butter at Japanese boats and even collided with one boat at sea.

Japan catches primarily minke whales and minke whales are not endangered.

“We deal with a ruthless and cruel enemy whose very reason for being here is to inflict agonizing suffering and to deliver cruel death to gentle, sensitive, intelligent and socially complex sentient beings,” says the captain of Sea Shepherd.

Tokyo calls Sea Shepherds aggressive save-the-whales activities terrorism. It seems the harder knuckleheads like Sea Shepherd try, pro-whaling sentiment in Japan increase.

Can’t we all get along?

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