Have you heard about the new vending machines in Japan offering whale meat?
Yes, it’s true. There are currently three vending machines -- and more on the way -- delivering whale meat and blubber — uh, ya know — whale fat.
Does this sound yummy to you? Me neither.
But I’ve never been a big fan of seafood anyway.
Now let’s be culturally sensitive here: Japanese have enjoyed whale meat for thousands of years, and if it tastes good to them, shouldn’t they be allowed to eat it?
But let’s also look at the Bigger Picture: The eating of whale meat in Japan peaked in the 1960s and has been steadily decreasing since then. It’s estimated that whale meat consumption in Japan — which eats the most whale of any other country — accounts for less than 1 percent of meat consumed in the nation.
Whale meat consumption in Japan totaled 1,000 tons in 2021. At its peak in 1962, annual whale meat consumption was 233,000 tons.
That’s partly because younger Japanese have a declining interest in whale — and because the practice of whale hunting has been increasingly condemned.
Ecological conservationists say moves to promote whale meat through sidewalk vending machines are desperate attempts to revive interest in a struggling, distasteful business.
“Most Japanese people have never ever tried it. So how can it be something you call a nationwide culture if nobody’s really participating in it?” said Katrin Matthes, head of Japan policy for Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), a global charity.
The International Whaling Commission –- a global body that oversees whale conservation –- banned commercial whaling in 1986 after some species came close to extinction. Feeling the era's growing ecological pressure, Japan signed up as a non-whaling member.
But Japan continued hunting whales for what it said were "research purposes" before eventually pulling out of the IWC and resuming commercial whaling in 2019.
Setting up the whale-stocked vending machines in and around Tokyo is seen as a way for die-hard whale lovers to get their fix — away from supermarkets where they could face anti-whaling activists.
The vending machines are stocked with whale sashimi (raw whale), whale bacon, whale steak, canned whale meat and — perhaps best of all — whale skin.
A rare delicacy I am sure.
No, really. And I’m not belittling anyone’s culture.
Whale’s just not for me.
But can't we humans just leave these majestic, endangered and mostly peaceful creatures alone? Did we learn nothing from Avatar 2?
Besides, I just can’t picture myself chowing down on a hunk of blubber…
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