Why do Japanese people go on catching whales to eat?

Recently, a video posted by the Australian government has shocked many readers. The video was collected from 2008 to 2012, with the scene of a Japanese research ship entering the South Australian waters and gray.

Gray whales up to 10 meters long were casually attached explosives to their backs, dragged on a long road and hoisted on the boat, cutting flesh into pieces. For a long time, Japanese whale-eating culture has existed and is growing strongly.

Workers cut the whale meat in place.

During the whale meat festival in the middle of October every year, 30 restaurants in Ebisu district, Tokyo, Japan, are always packed with guests. They come here to enjoy the delicious, fat whale meat processed by the excellent chefs.

The whale is associated with a cultural symbol that accompanies Ebisu . This is the god who brings luck and blessing to fishermen. It is for this reason that the festival in Ebisu district must have a whale meat dish with the meaning of 'bringing good luck to faraway guests'.

Whale meat in a supermarket.

Whales are endangered animals and for many countries catching this fish is illegal. However, in Iceland, Norway and Japan, boats still get commercial fishing paper with this great value fish.

In the past, Japanese people used the reason for catching dead whales only for scientific research purposes. Despite videos proving the opposite, the Tokyo government still seems to ignore this cruel act.

Wada fishing port, one of the famous whale meat sale places.

At the end of August 2015, a ship carrying more than 1,800 tons of rare whales came to Osaka. This ship departs from Iceland and carries a huge whale after several days of sea fishing.

In Japanese culture, whales are species that have been caught for centuries. Taiji fishing village in Wakayama Prefecture is considered the most famous place for whaling. Currently, Japan has built a large whale processing factory near Antarctica to prepare hundreds of whales at once.

Whale meat is chopped and sold at the supermarket.

One of the other explanations for Japan's whale eating habit is when World War 2 ended. As a loser, N Japan was forced to source food for tens of millions of people in the country. At this time, they converted two American tankers into 'whale processing factories' at sea and went fishing all over the oceans.

From the end of 1940 to the mid-1960s, Japanese people ate more whale meat than any other food. The peak was in 1964, they killed up to 24,000 whales, mostly sperm whales and large fin whales.

Demonstration against whaling.

Today, Japan often imports whales from Australia, the US or Iceland. Japanese people often pay for fishing vessels indigenous, or science ships pretending to catch whales.