hi everyone welcome to another exciting episode of our series on all things Japan today we'll
be taking a look at the largest animal on the planet whose sheer size and Majesty hasn't
been able to prevent it from landing on the Japanese plate so get ready take a sip of
your Mountain Dew and enjoy [Music] the story of the Japanese fascination with whales can
be traced back to 1846 when whaling was one of the largest and most profitable Industries
on the planet as a matter of fact it was the fifth most profitable sector of the U.S economy
and brought in a whopping 10 million US dollars now I know that doesn't sound like that much
now but back then it was serious buck anyway whales were prized because all their different
parts could be used for something the meat could be used as food the oil is lubricant
in Heating and strangely enough their poop is used to make perfume yeah I don't get it
either
anyway since whales are the largest animals on the planet catching one meant that a whole
lot of people could make a whole lot of money but that all came to an end in 1986 when whaling
was banned
doing this
as you may have guessed a lot of people were upset and a lot of politicians made up a whole
lot of lies including the notable Whopper that claimed that whaling is good for humans
however Japan's basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources
based on scientific evidence has not changed and under that policy we have decided to resume
commercial whaling anyway the international court of justice wasn't hearing it and by
2014 Japan was ordered to shut down its whaling industry by the icj but somehow whales are
still on the menu in some parts of Japan to understand why I'll need to show you just
how whale me became so popular in Japan in the first place [Music] it was during World
War II and Japan surrender to the United States meant that it was basically on the brink of
starvation the Japanese had no choice but to turn to Wales as a source of much needed
protein so most Japanese people who grew up in the 1950s developed a mandatory taste for
whale meat that persisted through the years
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[Music] ly this dependence on whale meat meant that overfishing would inevitably occur and
by 1986 whales were dangerously close to extinction
in recognition of the danger this pose to the ecosystem a bunch of countries came together
to stop wailing for profit
but you know we wouldn't have made this video If whaling still existed and the reason for
that was Japan insisted they had to hunt whales for scientific purposes anyway they used pretty
much the same vessels they had used for commercial whaling and somehow Wales kept ending up on
the plate until a United Nations Court finally had enough and ordered Japan to stop hunting
whales in the Antarctic region in 2014.
which has fought many battles with Japanese hunting fleets says Japan's decision to abandon
whaling around Antarctica is a victory this wasn't as much of a win as you think because
it meant that they could keep hunting whales in other oceans foreign to make this an even
bigger problem the Japanese government has stated that whaling has long been a part of
their culture and acknowledged that they would likely continue despite the controversy they
also left the international whaling commission an institution meant to regulate whaling across
the world's Waters
so what does all this mean
first of all it means that Japan can hunt as many whales as they like wherever they
would like essentially making it possible that whales May someday make it back on the
endangered species list or Worse go extinct [Music] in their defense the Japanese government
states that the mink whale the species they hunt the most is not endangered and that they
will only hunt in their territorial Waters and economic zone around the country which
means Japan will stop whaling around Antarctica
they also claim they have enough scientific evidence that some species of whales have
recovered enough to be commercially hunted again which is a bad idea for several reasons
first off the demand for whale meat in Japan only comes from a few people who wanted for
nostalgic reasons Most Japanese people don't actually eat whale meat I've never eaten whale
before I don't know if it tastes good so I'm wondering if I should buy them or not secondly
whales are an essential part of the world's largest ecosystem and removing any big predators
from an ecosystem can be disastrous Wales enable populations of krill and fish to thrive
as their poop releases essential nutrients like iron and nitrogen into the surface waters
which fertilizes plant Plankton which in turn feeds fish in krill if your eyes are only
on the money then consider this sperm whale poop is the most expensive poop in the world
just one pound costs 7 000 US Dollars this poo is used in the perfume industry and you
can't get it if they're all dead
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if you need another reason to convince you that the way whales are hunted and killed
is extremely inhumane and cruel and this is even more horrifying when you consider that
whales are extremely intelligent and able to process complex emotions like us they love
singing many complex songs and a single song can last for 25 minutes
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[Applause]
[Music] in Tokyo the sentiment is split about whaling some people enjoy whale meat and fail
to understand why whaling is so controversial While others just don't like the fact that
Outsiders are telling them what to do others don't care so much about the subject while
the rest insists that is tradition regardless of traditions and personal opinions though
we should all aim to preserve our planet and prevent unnecessary harm to innocent animals
and I think that stopping whale hunting is a small price to pay for that [Music]
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