The article I am writing about is concerning how the Japanese government used 2.28 billion Yen from their tsunami relief funds to upgrade their whaling fleet of ships. The Japanese government lied about where the money was going, also what it was being used for. I also think that it is inhumane to hunt and kill whales in a wasteful way. Thirdly almost every country in the world has outlawed whaling as a whole, yet Japan still practices such a vulgar and distasteful annual hunt.
The use of tsunami relief funds to upgrade whaling ships is wrong, yet Japan did not even hide the fact they had used almost 2.28 billion Yen from the tsunami fund. It was all over the news and in papers; it was also made very public online as well. The government also took the liberty to decorate the lead harpoon ship the Yushin Maru #2 as a government of Japan Vessel. This would allow the Harpoon ship access to ports in countries that have banned whaling all together and do not allow whaling ships to dock on their ports. Some of these countries do include Australia. I feel that this money was given to the country of Japan to help those who were affected by the flood, not to disguise whaling ships. To do such a thing is a blatant slap in the face to the countries who gave that money over to help the citizens of Japan who were left homeless, with no food or protection from the elements.
Inhumanity is the act being committed every year by the people who serve on those whaling ships. The act of whaling has been made an illegal act and is looked down upon by most of the world’s countries. Whale numbers in some oceans are classed as endangered or even already extinct. The slaughtered whales are used in upper class and rich styled restaurants’ in Japan. Back in the days of World War 1 and 2 Whale meat was used as a cheap protein source, however since those times eating whale meat has since been on the decline except for those in the higher up society of Japan’s upper class. There have been claims by a great many including that of green peace that there are huge amounts of whale meat rotting within warehouses because of the lack of sales, since most Japanese are realizing it is wrong to do so.
Global impacts of whaling of this nature is hard to prove when the Japanese government states that their whaling is used for scientific research as is stated on the beginning of the show Whale Wars on TLC and National Geographic. If the whaling is used for such purposes then where is the research results from all the testing, and how come
