Whaling in Japan

Japanese whaling (Japanese: 日本の捕鯨, Hepburn: Nihon no hogei^?), in terms of active hunting of these large mammals, is estimated by the Japan Whaling Association to have begun around the 12th century. However, Japanese whaling on an industrial scale began around the 1890s when Japan began to participate in the modern whaling industry, at that time an industry in which many countries participated. Japanese whaling activities have historically extended far outside Japanese territorial waters.

During the 20th century, Japan was heavily involved in commercial whaling. This continued until the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986. Japan continued to hunt whales using the scientific research provision in the agreement, and Japanese whaling is currently conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research. This is allowed under IWC rules, although most IWC members oppose it. The whale meat from these scientific whale hunts is sold in shops, restaurants and also on a Japanese food festival where foreigners were introduced to whale meat dishes. The 2014 food festival attracted 13.4 million visitors.

These hunts are a source of conflict between pro- and anti-whaling countries and organizations. Nations, scientists and environmental organizations opposed to whaling consider the Japanese research program to be unnecessary, and describe it as a thinly disguised commercial whaling operation. Japan maintains that annual whaling is sustainable and necessary for scientific study and management of whale stocks. Japan also argues they should be able to continue whaling because they have killed whales in the past.

However, in March 2014 the International Court of Justice ruled that the then current Japanese whaling program in the Southern Ocean, called "JARPA II", was not in accordance with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and was not for scientific purposes. They ordered Japan to cease operations. In December 2015, Japan still went ahead with their whaling programme NEWREP-A. Their objective is to hunt 3,000 Antarctic minke whales over 10 years, starting with 330 whales during the 2015–16 season. Pending resolution of the uncertainties relating to the apparent decline in population, the Antarctic minke whale was listed as "data deficient".

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