Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Moby Dick diners spout joys of harpoon
tang
By Ryann Connell
July 1, 2003
Whales are among the most
majestic creatures on earth -- an entire industry is devoted to carrying
throngs to watch as the prehistoric relics frolic and gambol along on the waves
or occasionally swim by to dazzle with their magnificent girth and grace. In
Japan, though, people would just prefer to eat 'em.
Last month, the
International Whaling Commission met in Berlin and upheld its 1982 ban on
commercial whaling, despite the best efforts of the Japanese contingent to make
sure the majority of celebrated cetaceans could get back on the menus in diners
from Sapporo to Saga.
"One reason is
because minke whales now have more food to eat," Shigetoshi Nishiwaki, a
researcher at the Institute of Cetacean Research, tells Shukan Taishu (7/14).
"We estimate there are now as many as 760,000 minke whales in the Southern
Ocean."
Institute officials
hope to get these whales into places such as Taruichi, a Tokyo restaurant
specializing in whale cuisine.
"Whale is a
traditional Japanese food and is a part of the Japanese culture,"
Taruichi's owner, Takashi Sato, tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "Who cares
what the anti-waling lobby may have to say, but those are the facts."
Taruichi offers a
wide array of whale sushi. It serves dishes using the whale's meat, skin,
marrow, fins and tails. One of the apparent features of whale meat is its
variety of uses. Taruichi and other whale restaurants across Japan serve myriad
other cetacean delicacies, including whale steak, whale soup and whale
croquettes. Most of the meat comes from creatures culled for scientific
research purposes.
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© 2000 Cunningham/Greenpeace Greenpeace
Activists attempting to prevent the transfer of a recently killed juvenile
minke whale from the catcher boat Toshi Maru No. 25 to the Nishin Maru
factory ship in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. By hunting whales
in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Japan is in violation of Articles 65
and 120 of the United Nations Convention on The Law of The Seas, which
requires all states to cooperate with the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) in the matter of Whale Protection. Webmasters
insert |
Japan -- where
rather than watch "Free Willy," most people would prefer to take a
chomp out of the star -- is permitted to catch up to 540 whales a year for
scientific research purposes. Most of the catch are minke whales, which are,
according to the magazine, studied while still aboard the trawlers that reel
them in before they're cut up into little parts and refrigerated and brought
back to Japan. The roughly 3,000 tons of whale meat caught to advance the
scientific knowledge of the Japanese is then sold at fish markets across the
country.
Before it was
common to eat beef in Japan, whale meat was a staple source of protein. Genso
Kujiraya in Shibuya maintains that tradition, according to Shukan Taishu,
with its whale sukiyaki. When it was first opened in 1959, commercial whaling
was still in full force and whale meat was cheaper than chicken. Then, it was
packed with students looking to save money, but has since became a high class
establishment, though it's still possible to munch on some Moby Dick for as
little as 2,300 yen a person.
Despite the
widespread condemnation across the globe of Japan's taste for whale, it seems
likely to remain on the menu at many restaurants here for the foreseeable
future.
"Research into
minke whales began along Japanese coasts last year, so this year's whale meat
is 20 percent cheaper than before," Taruichi's boss Sato tells Shukan
Taishu. "But, if we really want the young people to know what it's
like to eat whale, we really have to get rid of the commercial ban on
whaling."
WaiWai stories are transcriptions of articles that
originally appeared in Japanese language publications. The Mainichi Daily News
cannot be held responsible for the contents of the original articles, nor does
it guarantee their accuracy. Views expressed in the WaiWai column are not
necessarily those held by the Mainichi Daily News or Mainichi Newspapers Co.
International
Whaling Conference meets 2003
Posted July 1, 2003