Japanese schools serving whale meat

I dont know how the Japanese can be so heartless when it comes to whales and dolphins...so selfish.

http://enviroshop.com/wordpress/?p=11548

Unjust Sentence for Anti-whaling Activists Condemned by Greenpeace

By EnviroEditor, on September 6th, 2010

Greenpeace has condemned as disproportionate and unjust a one year jail term, suspended for three years, imposed on two Greenpeace activists, who exposed widespread corruption in the Japanese government’s Southern Ocean whaling programme.
Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were today convicted of theft and trespass after carrying out a public interest investigation into embezzlement, during which they intercepted as evidence one of numerous boxes of whale meat coming from the whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru and destined for private use, which breaches the regulations of the taxpayer-funded programme.
Responding to the verdict Sato said, “While the court acknowledged that there were questionable practices in the whaling industry, it did not recognise the right to expose these, as is guaranteed under international law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on which our defence was based, supersedes domestic criminal law, but the judgement did not properly take this into account.”
“This sentence is totally disproportionate and completely undeserved,” said Suzuki. “We set out to reveal the truth about the government’s whaling programme, but instead have been punished, while those behind the misuse of public money walk free.”
Following the news of the verdict Greenpeace supporters hung black flags and banners outside Japanese embassies around the world, to signal that the judgement cast a dark shadow over democracy and civil rights.
Following their arrest in June 2008, Sato and Suzuki were subjected to a 26-day detention, that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1) considered a breach of their human rights and politically motivated, followed by a two-year prosecution. During the trial, whalers and whaling officials consistently contradicted their own and each others’ evidence about the embezzlement.
Commenting on the case, international law expert and defence witness in the case, Professor Dirk Voorhoof of Ghent University, Belgium, stated “The Tokyo Two’s treatment was already a violation of international human rights law. While a suspended sentence is preferable to a jail term, it still constitutes a further failure to respect the rights of two activists who should never have been arrested and charged in the first place. It also discourages other organisations and journalists from investigating and reporting misconduct by the authorities.”
The case of Sato and Suzuki has generated significant international attention, from senior political figures, including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, international human rights groups and legal experts (2). During a visit to Japan earlier this year, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed concern about the case particularly with regard to freedom of expression and association. She emphasised the importance of investigations by NGOs to society in general and how their work should be respected.
“Activists are not criminals, and to treat them as such has a chilling effect in society, undermining the quality of democracy,” said Greenpeace International Executive Director Dr. Kumi Naidoo, who travelled to Japan to hear the verdict. “The freedom to peacefully expose wrongdoing is not only a crucial part of any democracy, it is a right that must be defended. Greenpeace will continue to make this case a global priority until this unjust conviction is overturned.”

Eating whales is comparable to eating chimps.

I really don't see what research could be done by killing whales. Isn't studying them while they're alive enough?

I don't care if they hunt them or not, cause who am i to tell you what to eat and not, but if they don't another Minamata disease disaster. Then they should stop hunting and serving these high mercury mammals. Peace

thats nothing new.

Dangerous levels of mercury have been proven to be present in whale, dolphin and porpoise meat sold widely as food in Japan, according to a study by Japanese scientists. One U.S. researcher says the findings point to a "major health problem" in Japan.

The Japanese scientists bought samples from across the country, and found that every single slice of toothed whale red meat — Japan's most popular whale product — exceeded that country's provisional limit on mercury, with some samples containing almost 200, and in extreme cases 5000 times the maximum value.The metal has been linked to neurological defects and may damage a fetus's developing nervous system.

Minamata disease, sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb.

Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which when eaten by the local populace resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.

As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso. By 2004, Chisso Corporation had paid $86 million in compensation, and in the same year was ordered to clean up its contamination. On March 29, 2010, a settlement was reached to compensate as-yet uncertified victims.

A second outbreak of Minamata disease occurred in Niigata Prefecture in 1965. Both the original Minamata disease and Niigata Minamata disease are considered two of the Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan.

Hunting whales is illegal, and the Japanese thinly disguise their "traditional" practices of hunting whale as scientific research. A 2006 episode of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science show Catalyst, which strongly argued against whaling, reported that of the 18 year JARPA I program, which lethally obtained samples from 6800 whales, less than 55 peer-reviewed papers were produced, of which only 14 were claimed on the program to be relevant to the goals of the JARPA program, and that only FOUR would require lethal sampling.

A professor of environmental studies in Japan wrote in his book (WHALING IN JAPAN: Power, Politics and Diplomacy, by Jun Morikawa) that Japan's whale-eating culture is an invented tradition, only lasting 20 years from the end of World War II to the early 1960s to augment Japanese school lunch programs during Japan's reconstruction.

Actually most countries hunted whales for oil and not food. Despite the exploitation of whales at one stage mainly due to oil, there are whale species today which are not endangered. As I stated earlier, a sustainable hunt of a renewable resources is the most sound way of producing food for human consumption.
http://twitter.com/alehaycraft

Living in Japan for 4 years and teaching at an Elementary school, I can say we had whale meat about twice a year for school lunch. Contrary to what everyone here wants to think and believe in their little ideal world that everything is endangered, there are various types of whales, not all of which are endangered. It's not only that it's a tradition, but the whales that are being hunted are not in the least bit endangered. And no, whale hunting did not start in Japan just in the 1950s.

So instead of going around and trying to say an animal is endangered just because we don't hunt them, educate yourself and look at the facts before speaking. It's easy to say bad things without actually talking to a Japanese person and getting their side of the story. Way to go guys. Sorry to say, but just because the people here and the Sea Shepherd don't like their practices, doesn't mean it's going to stop. You can cry and attack the ships all you want, but the Japanese are still going to hunt whales and I support their decision to do so.

Isn't it super high in mercury too?

where else are you supposed to get your vitamin whalecium?

Such a horrible act to murder a whale. I support the Sea Shepherd and all of their attempts to stop the Japanese "researchers" from doing this.

Fuuucckkaayooooooo Doooolllphhheeeeeeenn and a Whaaaarrrreeee!!!!

Ho...

chicken and a cow. CHICKEN AND A COWW!!!!

Thar she...tastes like chicken!

I'd feel like a hippocrit if I condemned these people for eating whale when I just inhaled a big bacon cheese burger. Yeah it sucks to kill whales, but some of them (and i know this form conversation) think it sucks to kill cows.

Japan eats incredibly intelligent creatures. Awesome. (not.)

Damn it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese dined on human sashimi.

I say jump the gun and go Truman on their asses...
But thats just me.

The Yakuza or Japanese crime syndicate (who run the whaling industry in Japan) is working toward three objectives here.
1) Many of those kids will develop a taste for whale, want more and politically demand it. It is just like giving junior high school children cigarettes.
2) Keep the whaling issue on the national heritage and pride table of Japan.
3) Use these two tactics, and others to make millions on killing sentient whales.
The entire affair is shameful, and outside pressures, letting every person in Japan know we are ashamed of them and their whaling industry will change their minds. We have to keep the pressure up. The Japanese are extremely polite and flexible when it comes to reason. We are talking about a people that reasoned that the British Navy back in the nineteenth century was best. Therefore, they bought British ships, and trained their seaman like the Brits. They even copied, literally brick per brick, the British Navel school in England, and built themselves an exact duplicate in Japan. Now that’s reasonable and flexible!
In Japan, whaling as a bad thing hardly makes the news. Why? Because like any news broadcaster, Japanese News is subject to the bottom line. People would change the channel if they saw, what most Japanese believe is anti-Japanese programming ie. objecting to whaling.
If we make every effort to voice our objections about Japanese whaling, the Japanese will listen. The responsibility is for none of us to ever shut up! Write, chat, e-mail, twitter, or just speak to friends. It gets around.

thats just wrong

perhaps the crew from Whale Wars will chuck stink bombs at the school children. should make for some entertaining tv

...on and on it goes...sigh...I think a we need to research their research...WTF...