1 September 2018
JAPANESE
Historical transition of Japanese whale meat diet
Prehistoric times
In Japan, whale bones have been found from shell mounds of the Jomon Period (before the 4th century BC), and earthenware with a picture of whale hunting appearance on the surface has been excavated.
But the whale and dolphin hunting at the time was targeting those stranding or straying into the bay and had also been accidental and sporadic.
Jomon people were eating a variety of things they could get such as seals, fur seals, and dugongs, which modern people do not eat.
A picture of a whale and a ship was drawn on earthenware which was excavated in the Yayoi era (before the 3rd century AD), and it is said that it depicted whaling.
But many items from the Korean Peninsula have been unearthed from the ruin and it is considered that whaling technology was brought in from the continent of China.
Ainu people, the aboriginal people living in Hokkaido, captured whales along the coast till the Edo Era (from 1603 to 1868).
They approached whales by a small boat and speared them by a harpoon with a poison of aconite applied to the head.
Ainu people had songs and dances to appreciate the grace brought by the whale.
Whale products were also used for regional trade, but they did not conduct proactively whaling even if prey decreased.
On the other hand, there were some areas that did not capture whales that would drive the herring herd to the coast.
They especially worshiped killer whales in the same way as indigenous people in North America.
However, As Wajin (Japanese other than the Ainu: persons whose origin is the Japanese mainland) advanced into Hokkaido, Ainu people had not been able to coexist with whales as before.
Matsumae Domain (the Japanese historical term in the Edo period, which was established in Hokkaido and was ruled by Matsumae clan) forcibly managed the whaling by the Ainu and exploited them as a labor force to use the products as export items of the clan.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the Meiji Era (from 1868 to 1912), the Meiji Government had prohibited Ainu's traditional whaling and hunting forcibly.
At present, Japan insists that small coastal whaling should be accepted because it is equivalent to aboriginal subsistence whaling, and Ainu whaling is sometimes cited in the context in Japan.
But there are no historical and cultural ties between Ainu whaling and modern commercial whaling in Japan.
And JSTWA; Japan Small-Type Whaling Association explains overseas that their whaling is "the Yamato race's subsistence whaling".
Yasuyuki Kaneko, the Former Sapporo City (the largest city in Hokkaido and the prefectural capital) councilor who belonged to the LDP said: "There is no Ainu anymore".
He keeps repeating the same remark denying the existence itself rather than the traditional culture of the Ainu people after being defeated.
In fact, Japan's indigenous people policy is very late compared with other developed countries. The Japanese Government has not recognized Ainu's right on land and resources.
Ainu has traditionally carried out salmon fishery in Hokkaido, but now the Fisheries Agency permits only a small portion after it gave the Japanese fishermen's cooperation a majority.
Joji Morishita, the current IWC chair and the former Japanese Government commissioner, made quite facetious comments to the US newspaper in 2007; "I would not claim that my government is always consistent", "You cannot be perfect on every issue and unfortunately that's happening in the case of the Ainu."
Reference:
- Japan's whaling logic doesn't cut two ways | Los Angels Times, Nov. 24, 2007
The age of traditional whaling
According to the historical records, the organized whaling in Japan began at the end of the Muromachi Era (from 1336 to 1573).
Early whaling had been carried out in areas where there was no other notable industry, pirates and water military also flourished there.
Meat diet was forbidden in Japan by Buddhist precepts from the Nara Era (from 710 to 794).
The main products of the whaling industry were whale oils for lamplight and exterminating locusts in paddy fields.
Whale meat was evaded as resembling animal meat and its consumption was restricted to the local area.
Eventually, Kujira-Gumi (organization for whaling equivalent to the present whaling company) stood out in various areas and competition occurred between those groups, leading to over-capturing.
The whaling industry had self-destructed in areas such as the birthplace Owari or Misaki in Kanto region introduced early.
In the surviving region such as Wakayama or north Kyushu, commercial property and unsavory ties with the domain government became increasingly strong.
Major whaling groups occupied fishing grounds using the political power and shut down small fishermen.
There is such a proverb in the areas where whaling was popular; "To one whale, seven beaches are prosperous."
On the other hand, there is a reverse proverb in the areas where whaling has been destroyed; "To one whale, seven beaches have withered."
A new whaling technique using the net was developed in Taiji in order to capture the humpback whale instead of the reduced gray whale and right whale, and it spread quickly to other areas.
Nearly hundred humpback whales were harvested annually immediately after the development of the new catching method, but not for long.
They captured humpback whales and continued to damage gray whales and right whales.
It is in contrast to Ainu whaling that prioritized business rather than resource recovery.
In addition, it shows that there were the same defects as BWU: blue whale unit regulation which failed in the sustainable management of modern whaling kept pursuing blue whales while capturing fin whales and sei whales.
Taiji whaling group attempted to advance whaling business to Hokkaido at the end of the traditional whaling.
Furthermore, Taiji and other whaling groups liked using tactics to catch a pup whale first and make as a decoy to prevent a mother whale from escaping.
Joshin Miura, an essayist in the Edo Era strongly criticized the inhumanity of whaling and predicted the decline caused by over-catching.
It is estimated that 800 whales per year were killed at maximum in the peak period of Japanese whaling in the Edo Era.
In Japan, the decline of whales in Japan's near waters is caused by American whaling with sailing boats.
However, catch target species of Japanese whaling are different from foreign whaling and Whale reduction has begun before American whaling ships have arrived in Japan Ground so that it is obvious that there was Japanese whaling industry's own responsibility.
Before World War II
In the Meiji Era, Juro Oka, an industrialist who called as "Whaling magnate", introduced technology from Norway and started modern whaling in Japan.
His founded the first whaling company in Japan later became one of three major whaling companies, Taiyo Gyogyo.
Then whaling companies had stood out nationwide and exhausted whales in the sea off Japan, so consolidation of the whaling companies occurred.
After that, these whaling companies gained patronage by the government under the expansion policy and advanced to the North Sea and the Antarctic Sea.
Japan did not participate in international agreements which Western whaling countries had tied for production volume adjustment before World War II.
When the whaling company founded by Oka attempted to advance into Hachinohe, a fierce opposition came from fishermen, saying that "Their port would be polluted" and "The fish would be not caught".
In Hachinohe, whales have been cherished as Ebisu (the Japanese deity of wealth and commerce) bringing a good fishing.
The Hachinohe fishermen rose up burned the whaling company, collided with the police and became an uproar taking one's toll.
Traditional culture in Hachinohe to protect whales carefully had been trampled by whaling industry.
Today Hachinohe becomes a base of pelagic fishery companies with overfishing constitution, and it was designated as the area of NEWREP-NP coastal research last year.
The main purpose of Japan's whaling before World War II was to export whale oil to Europe and earn foreign currency.
Especially whaling in the Antarctic was almost abandoning whale meat to the sea without bringing it back to Japan since it competes with coastal whaling.
It is said that Japan's whaling used whale meat as much as possible, but this is totally against the facts.
Whale meat with low production value was useful as military food during the war.
Canning plant factories were built on the Korean Peninsula where Japan colonized, and the can of whale meat was transferred to the occupied land and the front line.
The whaling industry was tied to a military who became a big customer, and the same relationship was handed over to the Police Reserve Force and the SDF after World War II.
During the end of the Pacific War, robust whaling ships were recruited as warships and the whaling industry itself was forced to temporarily suspend.
After World War II
When World War II ended, General Headquarters, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers allowed Japan whaling operation to eliminate serious food shortage.
Whale meat was distributed nationwide and accounting for 40% of the animal protein intake of Japanese at that time.
However, as the nutritional status of the people improved with reconstruction, whale meat was shunned for odor despite being cheaper than other meats.
It was already oversupplied in the early 1950s. The whaling industry, which had tremendous inventory, launched a promotion to distribute posters and leaflets for encouraging consumption.
Meanwhile, they tried to find a way to explore new demand. The way of forced creation of demand at that time overlapped with the current situation.
Even after World War II, the major product of Japanese whaling industry was whale oil for export and whale meat was only a part of filling up unstable whale oil in market conditions.
Subsequently, owing to the overproduction and the advent of inexpensive alternative fats and oils, the price of whale oil has been steadily declining and the whaling industry inevitably has to transfer the gravity of production from whale oil to whale meat.
While Western whaling countries were withdrawing one after another, the whaling industry in Japan, which was in the middle of the high-growth period, tried to maintain the production capacity increase to keep up with other industries.
In addition to buying factory ships of other countries with a capture quota, Japan also imported whale meat from non-member countries and conducted whaling at overseas bases that are not regulated.
The cause of the drastic decline of Antarctic cetacean such as blue whale is non-scientific BWU regulation and Olympic Game Style that fueled international competition.
The whaling Olympics eventually turned into a competition among major Japanese whaling companies.
Japan went to the top of the percentage of capture by country in all target species at the stage in which the decreasing trend was revealed and just before the prohibition.
Furthermore, whaling companies themselves also committed extremely malicious regulatory violations as with the former Soviet Union, they also pulled strings behind pirate whaling.
Japan is the second largest after Norway in terms of the total number of whale catches, but it is no doubt that Japan has been the most vicious whaling country.
The following is the actual situation of the demand for whale meat after the World War II.
School lunch affects children's health and it is also an opportunity for children to learn about how to think about food and the environment.
However, school lunches have been a tool of policy to promote synthetic seasonings, processed foods, and imported foods and have played a central role in destroying the traditional food culture in Japan.
It was the development of the food processing technology of past products such as ham and sausage, etc. that saved the whaling industry troubled by the inventory of unpopular whale meat.
Fish meat sausage simulated real sausage by mixing tuna meat into whale meat which is half of the raw material and leaning spice.
Major fishery companies prepared the production system by the automation factory and tried mass production and spread of fish sausage.
Since the 1970s the demand and prices of fish sausages themselves were sluggish and raw materials were switched to minced fish meat such as cod.
Whale meat with lowered commodity value was chosen as the main feed until the 1970s for carnivorous and omnivorous animals kept in zoos.
Of course, the animals did not have the option to choose like the children in the school.
Since the end of the 1950s, whaling companies such as Nichiro, Taiyo, Nippon Suisan, Nitto, etc. began to fur farming one after another.
Whaling industry that bothered the sluggish sales of whale meat had diversified its business to eliminate inventory.
When international whaling moratorium passed at the IWC in response to the international public opinion, the Japanese whaling industry and Fisheries Agency have put up slogans contradict each other one after another.
It was a desperate public relations activity that bet on their existence.