>bitter anko wrote:
_____________________________________________________________
"You eat cows and pigs, so why can't we eat whales? "

Next week Japan takes on the world to lift the ban on whaling.
Anthony Browne in Osaka meets the harpoon hunters who
demand the right to kill for profit and accuse the West of double
standards.


The largest animal in the world sank into the icy abyss, a harpoon
in her heart. Iwao Isone, the gunner, watched from the prow of the
whaling boat rolling in the Antarctic swell as the 28-metre blue
whale descended, taking with it all the rope he had.

Unlike many other whales, the blue sinks when it dies and its
immense weight tested the rope until Isone thought it would break.
"The rope went so thin as we tried to pull it back up that I thought
we were going to lose it, "  he said, recalling his proudest moment.
The whale, one of the largest ever caught, was raised and harvested
for its flesh, oil and wax.

A gunner for 44 years, Isone has killed 3,700 whales, including 20
blues,
of which only a few thousand remain of an original population of more
than 250,000. Now Isone, who advises Japanese authorities on whaling,
thinks commercial exploitation should resume as other species recover
since a ban was introduced. He and his government are confident it
will.

Last Friday night in the Tokuya restaurant in Osaka, the Asahi beer was
washing down raw minke whale heart and stewed whale tongue. Diners
chatted noisily as top whale chefs (wearing ties embossed with whale
outlines) went about their work.

Particularly popular is whale sashimi - chunks of raw meat topped with
a slice of raw blubber. A woman tucking into a whale burger said she
was
eating whale meat for the first time since she had left school.
"I was nostalgic for the taste,' she said. A middle-aged man, eating
whale stew, said:

"I like whale meat. That's why I'm here. It's my favourite meat - it's
between fish and beef. It's OK to eat whale so long as it doesn't
disrupt the ecosystem."

In Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the largest fish market in the world, there
is clearly more than fish for sale. As thousands of silver tuna are
lined up on the floor alongside buckets writhing with eels, Shitoshi
Ito stands proudly by his stall laden with chunks of minke meat.

Ito, who has been selling whale meat for 32 years, has packets of
'whale bacon' for sale and raw, diced blubber in plastic packs.
"Before the ban, I used to sell many types of whale meat but now
I just sell minke. We sell to supermarkets, restaurants and to bars,"
he said. In shops, you can buy products from whale ice cream, made
from the blubber, to whale 'crackling', deep-fried strips of skin.

The Japanese indulge their taste despite the global ban on
commercial whaling introduced as a temporary measure 15 years
ago. Under a government 'scientific whaling' programme, some
500 minke are killed a year for the market.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,511787,00.html