Warming waters and the whims of the Kuroshio Current bring new fish and whales to the fishermen at the heart of Japan’s centuries-old whaling culture, and sometimes they turn out to be quite popular.
Warming waters and the whims of the Kuroshio Current bring new fish and whales to the fishermen at the heart of Japan’s centuries-old whaling culture, and sometimes they turn out to be quite popular.
Behind the clump of panicked dolphins, a row of Japanese fishing boats and skiffs appeared, the low thump of their engines rolling in on the sea breeze.
The town I was supposed to cover was called Taiji. It was the subject of a documentary called The Cove, which was up for an Academy Award. My bosses wanted someone to be there in case it won, to get the town’s side of the story.
It might sound like a regular scene in a normal fishing village, but it wasn’t. The boat was setting off to hunt whales destined for scientific research, and this was the last time it would do so.
After the announcement of Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, the media in Europe, the United States, and Oceania all criticized Japan with emotion-based arguments presented in the editorials of internationally-renowned newspapers.