Why Japan hunts whales

69% of people in Japan don't support their own government whaling in “high seas areas” like the Southern Ocean, so it is those people, those 69% who don't support it. We are trying to help them to have their voices heard and to help them get their message out there. Young people, especially in Japan, don't want to eat whale meat and there is around 5000 tonnes of frozen whale meat stock piled in Japan because it is just not selling. Less and less people want to eat it.

So why does Japan hunt whales if no one is eating it. The reason is because after World War II there were a lot of people in Japan who were starving and they needed protein. Japan was being occupied by the US and General Douglas McArthur, who I have a picture of here (this is General Douglas McArthur) and he was in charge of occupying forces in Japan, and there were a lot of people who were starving and needed protein, so the US Government instructed Japan to refit their whaling fleet and go to the Southern Ocean and hunt whale meat for food. And that is why it’s mainly the older people in Japan who eat whale meat and less and less young people, because older people have that nostalgia of during that time whale meat was really important in their diet, and saved them. But today young people would rather go to McDonald's. We are also working with one of the top, a really top Japanese animator who is creating a cartoon which says in 1945 the whales saved us, but now it’s our turn to save the whales.
(website: http://www.whalelove.org/en)