Japanese Whaling

As early as the 12th Century though to the 20th century, Japan has been involved in the hunting and slaughtering of whales for food and other produce. Japan can trace their whaling history back hundreds of years, to when whales were driven into nets, harpooned repeatedly and then dispatched with either a long sword or a wooden plug driven into the blowhole. Dating as far back as 10,000 B.C. indicate that even hand held harpoons were used for whaling in Japan. Japans Methods were not as humane as they are today, technology has come a far way over the centuries so the slaughtering of whales is up to fishery standards. Whales are not hunted for only there meat, but also lamp oil, soap, fertilizer, folding fans and more. These products have been utilized within Japans culture for centuries, with no wastage of any stock they produce. At the turn of the 20th century, Japanese whaling got a slight boost with the introduction of steam ships and grenade-tipped harpoons. However, it wasn't until 1934 that Japan expanded its whaling to Antarctica that the boost really started to show light. Whales helped keep Japanese citizens fed both during and after World War 2. In 1947 whale meat made up almost half of all animal protein consumed by the country. Nearly 20 years later, whales continued to make up nearly one-quarter of the Japanese diet. The Meiji era, 1868-1912, saw the introduction of power-driven vessels with guns designed after the Norwegian style of whaling. However, Japanese fishermen opposed this practice, as they believed it promoted indiscriminate killing of whales. The early Japanese viewed whales as deities of the sea as well as being useful for corralling fish. Many whaling villages built Whale Shrines, or Kujira Jinja, to worship the whales they hunted as gods. Whaling in Japan aimed to provide the Japanese people with as many resources, not just oil and animal protein, as possible. A famous proverb in Japan says, "There's nothing to throw away from a whale