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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010525b7.htm

Jusco's whale meat sales targeted by green groups

 

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Three U.S. environmentalist groups on Wednesday launched

a campaign against Japan's Jusco Co., alleging the supermarket chain assists

Japan's hunting of whales, dolphins and porpoises by selling their meat

across Japan.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, the Humane Society of the United

States and Greenpeace targeted Talbots, one of America's most popular retail

clothing chains, which is affiliated with the Japanese company.

 

The three groups said they are calling on Talbots to use its influence with

Jusco to persuade it to end the sale of all whale, dolphin and porpoise

products in Jusco's 625 supermarkets.

 

Jusco U.S.A. Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Jusco, currently owns a

majority stake in Talbots. Four Jusco executives sit on the Talbots board.

 

The EIA said 180 of 388 Jusco supermarkets surveyed by it sold whale meat.

 

Meat from two whale species that are protected by the International Whaling

Commission was found in Jusco supermarkets, the EIA said.

 

Patricia Forkan, executive vice president of the HSUS, said, " By selling

whale and dolphin meat in Japanese supermarkets, Jusco is helping to create

the market that fuels the Japanese government's commercial whaling

policies. "

 

 

The Japan Times: May 25, 2001

 

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http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View & c=Article & cid=FT3FZ4OC3NC & liv

e=true & tagid=ZZZ60A9VA0C & subheading=americas

 

Whaling groups lobby island

By Canute James in Kingston

Published: May 23 2001 20:00GMT | Last Updated: May 23 2001 20:10GMT

 

 

 

Selmon Walters is unapologetic about his country's position on a

particularly contentious issue: whaling.

 

" We cannot allow the anti-whaling lobby to hinder our people from gainful

employment and from carrying on with a part of their culture and their way

of living, " said Mr Walters, agriculture minister of St Vincent.

 

The eastern Caribbean country, and several of its neighbours, are being

actively courted by the anti-whaling and pro-whaling lobbies, to get votes

for next month's meeting in London of the International Whaling Commission.

 

The meeting will again consider a contentious proposal by Australia and New

Zealand to establish a whale sanctuary, a measure voted down at the IWC

meeting in Australia last year.

 

IWC members from the eastern Caribbean - Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St

Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent - voted against the sanctuary. They

have been criticised by international environmental lobbyists.

 

The eastern Caribbean votes are important in determining whether the whale

sanctuary is established. The islands are being lobbied by countries and

organisations in favour of the sanctuary, and by those opposed to it,

particularly Japan.

 

Australia said most of the populations of whales in the South Pacific are

" severely depleted " . Miranda Brown of Australia's Department of the

Environment said, at best, her country wanted at least three of the eastern

Caribbean countries to abstain from voting at the IWC meeting.

 

While St Vincent has taken a position, Antigua appears undecided. " I would

not say that we are against the establishment of the sanctuary, " said Colin

Murdoch, permanent secretary in Antigua's foreign ministry. " However, we

have some concerns about the matter which, if they are addressed, could lead

us to support the sanctuary. "

 

Dominica will not reveal its position until it has cast its vote, said

Pierre Charles, the island's prime minister.

 

Greenpeace, an environmental lobby, has been trying to get the eastern

Caribbean governments to vote for the sanctuary.

 

" What Japan does here is nothing short of extortion, " said Audrey Cardwell,

Greenpeace's oceans campaigner. " Japan gives millions of dollars in aid to

these islands each year, and the islands vote against whale sanctuaries. The

people of the eastern Caribbean support the creation of a whale sanctuary,

yet their governments oppose it. "

 

The Japan Whaling Association has accused Greenpeace of attacking Caribbean

islands that favour whale hunting. Greenpeace's aim is " to intimidate

governments into voting for a measure that would violate the provisions of

the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling " , JWA said.

 

" Ironically, most of the eastern Caribbean states now targeted by Greenpeace

were originally recruited into the IWC, along with 15 other countries, by

Greenpeace and other anti-whaling fundraising groups to vote for a

commercial whaling moratorium in 1982, against the advice of the IWC

scientific committee, " it said.

 

However, the region's governments have rejected charges that their votes

against the proposed sanctuary are influenced by substantial foreign aid

from Japan, which is mainly in the form of technical assistance, grants and

soft loans.

 

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http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/05/27/stifgnfar02001.html

Japan steps up killing power of whale boats

Jonathan Leake and Cherry Norton, Tokyo

 

 

 

 

 

MOBY DICK would not have stood a chance. The Japanese have re-equipped their

whaling fleet with grenade harpoon guns that can catch whales from further

away, and bigger barbs to stop them struggling free.

 

One hundred of the new weapons have been installed in the fleet, which was

steaming towards the north Pacific killing grounds this weekend in search of

its biggest catch since commercial whaling was banned in the 1980s.

 

This coincides with the publication of a cookbook - featuring such

delicacies as fried whale testicle and whale fat ice-cream - being promoted

by the Japanese government.

 

The government has told whalers they can take 100 minke whales, and 60

" great whales " . These include 10 sperm whales, the breed immortalised by

Herman Melville in the novel Moby Dick.

 

While commercial whaling remains banned, scientific research is still

permitted - a loophole exploited by Japan. Whale meat, the by-product of

scientific whaling, fetches high prices in markets where it is regarded as a

delicacy.

 

Until this year the harpoons used by the Japanese were similar to those

employed in the 19th century, from which some whales could still escape. The

new flat-headed harpoons will not give the animals a second chance: they

travel at almost 350ft per second - nearly twice as fast as their

predecessors - and, at 90lb, are twice as heavy and much thicker.

 

Snack: children eat whale fat ice-cream

 

" It was no longer acceptable to continue with harpoons that had not changed

for years, " said Hajime Ishikawa, chief veterinarian at Japan's Institute of

Cetacean Research (ICR).

 

" These new harpoons have packed grenade heads, more physical power and a

delayed timer trigger hook which allows the harpoon to penetrate further

into the whale before the grenade explodes. "

 

Japan faces renewed criticism when the International Whaling Commission

meets in London in July. It will demand an increase in the number of animals

it can kill and a return to commercial hunting. It will also oppose a whale

sanctuary in the south Pacific.

 

Richard Page, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said Japanese whaling provided

cover for pirate whalers killing protected or endangered species. " DNA tests

on different whale meats sold in Japan showed they included humpback whale

from Mexico and grey whale from an endangered population from the western

Pacific, " he said.

 

The Japanese government has promoted the Tokuya Hidden Whale-meat Cookery

Book by Mutsuko Onishi, who owns the Tokuya whale restaurant in Osaka. The

book includes recipes such as Hari Hari Nabe, which uses different parts of

the whale such as muscle, tongue, skin and blubber.

 

Specialities such as whale bacon - which is cut from the throat, salted and

served raw - are now commonly served in fashionable Tokyo restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gray Whales with Winston

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