Japan makes everyone angry by deciding to hunt whales again this year
Japan has announced plans to catch 4,000 minke whales over the next 12 years for scientific research, despite the International Whaling Commission denying that Tokyo has proven the necessity of lethal sampling. Earlier in the year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's revised Antarctic whaling plans were not truly for science.
Japan killed 6,500 Antarctic minke whales between 1987 and 2005, after the IWC banned commercial whaling. Prior to the ban, Japan had killed 840 whales for research in 31 years. It is now up to individual nations to issue permits for the lethal sampling of whales.
"We have not changed any policies and our goal," Joji Morishita, Japan's representative to the IWC, said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The whale meat market in Japan has declined in recent years, both due to decreasing demand and to the efforts of high-profile anti-whaling activists, such as Whale Wars' Sea Shepherd crew.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
AI and the 'cocktail party problem'
Under The Radar The human ear can naturally filter out background noise. Now technology has been developed to do the same
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
The government's growing concern over a potential US Steel takeover
In the Spotlight Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel, is attempting to buy the company
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Finger-prickin' good: Are simpler blood tests seeing new life years after Theranos' demise?
Today's Big Question One Texas company is working to bring these tests back into the mainstream
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published