Obviously, the cultural preservation and whale preservation have polarised and the culinary aspect is caught in the middle. And things have got out of hand because both parties attack each other with literally guns ablazing. I don't need whale meat but if there are people who have been eating them as a normal, ordinary diet, I can't tell them to stop and start eating what I deem is normal and ordinary.
Without a doubt, the Japanese population of whale meat eaters is small and shadowy. For the sake of preserving both the culture and the whale, it is desirable to at least acknowledge each other's perspective.
References
EDITORIAL: Anti-whaling activists. (2010, March 15). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved from http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201003140131.html
Editorial: Diplomatic way to end whale killing. (2010, Jan 18). nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved from
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10620734
Fish, R. (2010). Canned whale meat. Retrieved Apr 3, 2010, from http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/canned_whale_meat
Greenpeace. (n.d.). Fact Sheet: The Whale Meat Market in Japan. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/fact-sheet-the-whale-meat-mar.pdf
Head, J. (2005). Japan pushes whale meat revival. Retrieved Apr 3, 2010, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4106688.stm
Legros, B. (2008, July 22). The Japan Times. Retrieved from http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080722zg.html
Whale meat redux. (2006). Japundit: a whole lot more than raw fish. Retrieved Apr 3, 2010, from http://blog.japundit.com/archives/2006/10/29/3966/
Hi Akiko, I had a good read on your essay, you sure included a lot of materials. I found the interviews very interesting. However, I feel that your personal point of view is not really expanded in this blog. Maybe you can add on a bit more of your personal opinion/argument? Well done.
ReplyDeletewow, its really amazing. I wander if other countries have whale meat eaters ! Did you try whale meat by any chance?
ReplyDeleteI loved how you interviewed people and intergrated it into your blog. ^^
Nice blog and as other people have mentioned there is a great range of material!
ReplyDeleteI always get annoyed, when people think they have to tell me that japanese eat wale as soon as I express my interest in the japanese culture. I've read in 100s of books that only a small minority does but unfortunately half of the world doesn't read the same books :-P
@Jisoo:
the Inuit in Alaska, Greenland and so eat whales, for them it is kind of essential for survival! Also europeans in island eat or used to eat it.
nice topic, nice blog!
Thank you for the comments! It was strange writing about something I never related to but pressured to think I should. Anyhow, it was a good experience. Hopefully, I get to grow my own opinion from here.
ReplyDelete