Japan's oldest whaling town battles for survival

Asguard · Jun 13, 2008

Japan's oldest whaling town battles for survival

ABC News
Posted 3 hours 30 minutes ago
Updated 3 hours 25 minutes ago

When Tameo Ryono first sailed about five decades ago from the remote Japanese village of Taiji to catch whales, he was filled with pride.

"Whalers were stars here in Taiji. I got what I had dreamed of since I was a little boy," he said at a community centre in Japan's oldest whaling village, nestled in a sprawling national park near the craggy Pacific coast.

"I'm proud of being able to do whaling throughout my life."

But Mr Ryono, 71, looks all but certain to be the last in his family to engage in whaling, as harsh criticism from conservationists and foreign countries and changing appetites at home threaten a way of life whalers say stretches back 400 years.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but is now bitterly divided between countries such as Australia that say all whales still need protection, and those such as Japan that argue some species are abundant enough for limited hunting. The group meets in Chile later this month.

Australia and Japan have agreed not to let the dispute hurt bilateral ties.

The two countries will also work to find a solution to the whaling controversy, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Japan conducts what it calls scientific research whaling in Antarctica. Critics say it is a cover for commercial whaling and that harpooning whales and cutting them up for processing on big factory ships is hardly traditional compared to the methods once used.

Mr Ryono joined the crew of a 490-tonne whaling ship on an Antarctic voyage at age 18, learning his skills from veterans for a decade before he was considered a full-fledged whaler.

His son, however, has not followed suit.

"Everybody of my generation wanted to become whalers," said 42-year-old Fumitoshi Ryono, who instead opted to become a local civil servant in Taiji, 420 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.

"I was hoping to become a whaler when I was a student, but whaling companies were going through restructuring and weren't recruiting whalers those days."

When Tokyo joined the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling in 1987, more than 50 Taiji whalers lost their jobs.

Now only 40 out of Taiji's population of 3,500 are whalers, contributing just a few percent of its tax revenues compared to over 70 per cent in 1966, when the industry was at its peak.

Mr Ryono has no plan to urge his son to take up the harpoon.

"I don't think I should tell my son to become a whaler. That's something he should decide," he said.

Mass ship wreck

For hundreds of years, coastal whaling in Taiji was done from colourful wooden boats using huge rope nets and hand harpoons.

Villagers still recount the mass shipwreck during a storm that killed more than 100 Taiji whalers in 1878, virtually destroying the traditional industry.

But it was revived in the early 1900s with modern whaling techniques from Norway. Today's coastal whaling now uses steam-powered vessels and gun harpoons.

When Japan began Antarctic whaling in the 1930s, many Taiji men joined the expeditions. These days, whalers in Taiji survive thanks to an annual local government quota that allows them to catch about 2,000 pilot whales and dolphins in coastal waters.

Such species do not fall under IWC restrictions.

But Taiji's bloody semi-annual dolphin "drives" are sometimes filmed surreptitiously and spark impassioned protests from animal rights activists.

Japan wants to expand coastal whaling. Last year, it threatened to quit the IWC after anti-whaling countries blocked its proposal to let four villages, including Taiji, kill minke whales similar to "community whaling" allowed for Alaska natives, who eat whale meat as a staple and use it for cultural practices.

Defiant

Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen has not lost hope of reviving the local whaling industry and keeping the tradition alive.

"Despite various tragedies and hardship, our ancestors did not cut their ties to whales," he said.

"It is Taiji's mission to pass on our whaling techniques and food culture to future generations."

But conservationists are not convinced.

"The people of Taiji argue that whaling is their culture and tradition. But there is a gap between whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and coastal whaling," Greenpeace Japan executive director Jun Hoshikawa said.

"I wonder how they see this gap. Is whaling in the Antarctic really Taiji's tradition?"

Mr Sangen is struggling to keep pride in whaling alive. The town has launched a program to teach young citizens about whaling.

The mayor also helped put whale meat back in school lunches, reviving a practice encouraged after World War II by US occupation forces to feed a hungry population.

"Unless we revive whale meat school lunches, we will lose our food culture," he said.

But even in Taiji, there are some dissenters. Last year, a local assembly man called for a halt to the school lunches over concerns about high mercury content in the meat.

Despite the criticism, Mr Sangen remains defiant.

"We and our successors will keep telling the world proudly and loudly that Taiji has its long history of whaling and the people of Taiji are catching whales," he said.

- Reuters

viewed 13/06/08 at 15:00
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I cant say im unhappy that waling has become a profession that fathers arnt recomending for there sons no matter how many generations back it goes. However im disapointed with Rudd and especially to Nelson for putting relationships above the international law. The ocianic viking was out filming the japanise actions but where is the stories on the case in the ICJ? or is this going to become another timor where we ignore the issue

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draqon · Jun 13, 2008

whales are fish...nothing wrong with hunting them.

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pjdude1219 · Jun 13, 2008

draqon said: ↑

whales are fish...nothing wrong with hunting them.
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? whales are mammals not fish

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Avatar · Jun 13, 2008

draqon said: ↑

whales are fish...nothing wrong with hunting them.
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Didn't you learn biology at school, ignorant one?

draqon · Jun 13, 2008

Avatar said: ↑

Didn't you learn biology at school, ignorant one?
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I forgat...forgive me people...whales are mammals.

Asguard · Jun 13, 2008

my partner and i were joking around when i first got my tank, she wanted me to buy her a purple minny wale
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draqon · Jun 13, 2008

Asguard said: ↑

my partner and i were joking around when i first got my tank, she wanted me to buy her a purple minny wale
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there are purple mini whales?!
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and instead you bought a tank? Should have went for a whale.

Asguard · Jun 13, 2008

well if there are i would love to find them
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But its my tank and SHE wanted the purple mini whale to put in it
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draqon · Jun 13, 2008

Asguard said: ↑

well if there are i would love to find them
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But its my tank and SHE wanted the purple mini whale to put in it
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...so the tank is sealed tight?!!!
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But the electronics would go haywire if you put water inside the tank!!!
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Asguard · Jun 13, 2008

please tell me your joking right?
i was talking about a 240L marine fish tank

draqon · Jun 13, 2008

Asguard said: ↑

please tell me your joking right?
i was talking about a 240L marine fish tank
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...

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I thought you meant you bought an actual war tank and...ummm
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Prince_James · Jun 13, 2008

Why would the cultural traditions of Japan kow-tow to other nation's standards of what to do and not do?

Spud Emperor · Jun 13, 2008

Prince_James said: ↑

Why would the cultural traditions of Japan kow-tow to other nation's standards of what to do and not do?
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Because it's the twenty first century and the Japanese can get all the brilliant Yellowfin and Bluefin Tuna and fresh ike jima'd snapper and rock lobster and abalone from the pristine waters of Australia that they want ( unlike ancient times) and would do well to respect the most peaceful, sentient and intelligent creatures who inhabit the ocean. i.e, not slaughter them using barbaric, inefficient methods.

lepustimidus · Jun 13, 2008

Prince_James said: ↑

Why would the cultural traditions of Japan kow-tow to other nation's standards of what to do and not do?
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They are welcome to practise whatever quaint little customs they want in their own country. But if they want to come whaling in Australian waters, our country should have every right to blow the sadistic fuckers right out of the water. Kaboom. No fucking around.

Spud Emperor · Jun 13, 2008

lepustimidus said: ↑

They are welcome to practise whatever quaint little customs they want in their own country. But if they want to come whaling in Australian waters, our country should have every right to blow the sadistic fuckers right out of the water. Kaboom. No fucking around.
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For once I almost agree with you formally banned ( talk about the long kiss goodnight!) one.

lepustimidus · Jun 13, 2008

Spud Emperor said: ↑

For once I almost agree with you formally banned ( talk about the long kiss goodnight!) one.
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Passive aggressive, somesuch?

Prince_James · Jun 13, 2008

Spud Emperor:

Because it's the twenty first century and the Japanese can get all the brilliant Yellowfin and Bluefin Tuna and fresh ike jima'd snapper and rock lobster and abalone from the pristine waters of Australia that they want ( unlike ancient times) and would do well to respect the most peaceful, sentient and intelligent creatures who inhabit the ocean. i.e, not slaughter them using barbaric, inefficient methods.
Click to expand...

Whales aren't peaceful in and of themselves. Sperm whales engage in vicious fighting with the giant squids which they hunt for sustenance. Some whales are filter eaters, but even they still fight fiercely.

Prince_James · Jun 13, 2008

Lepustimidus:

They are welcome to practise whatever quaint little customs they want in their own country. But if they want to come whaling in Australian waters, our country should have every right to blow the sadistic fuckers right out of the water. Kaboom. No fucking around.
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Is it your territorial waters? Or is it past those?

lepustimidus · Jun 13, 2008

Prince_James said: ↑

Lepustimidus:

Is it your territorial waters? Or is it past those?
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Depends which waters you are talking about, doesn't it?

Syzygys · Jun 13, 2008

draqon said: ↑

I forgat...forgive me people...whales are mammals.
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So did that change in classification change your opinion of hunting them? After all cows and pigs are mammals too...

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