# Did you donate to the relief effort in Japan? If so, some of your money is going towards whaling... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044 "2011-12-13T16:27:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/41 "2011-12-14T14:56:39Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Mistaken 2x post > > But since I’m here – how about some serious pitting of Japan’s whaling industries? You guys are mewling out there, if anything. What? You want us to have a cow over whales? ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/42 "2011-12-14T16:26:29Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Hey now! Jakamo-feeno-na-na-nay. . . ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/43 "2011-12-14T16:37:37Z")
Best pun thread ever ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/44 "2011-12-14T19:11:52Z")
I keep reading reading the title of this thread as “some of your money is going towards **whining**.” I have no strong opinion on whaling, but I strongly object to government subsidies of the whining industry. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/45 "2011-12-14T19:43:58Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > Actually re-reading the article, you are right. There is nothing there that says that the money that I personally donated will go towards that. I still don’t have to like the fact that they continue whaling. Ok, so change it, I pit that Japan continues whaling in spite of the fact that 95% of Japanese people don’t eat whale meat. So if they don’t eat very much, we’re not talking about a lot of dead whales either are we? > [@Jaledin](#): > > Color me surprised. I didn’t shed any tears about the recent “tragedy” for two reasons – mass uprisings in North Africa and the near East were of far greater interest, and mostly, fuck the Japs. Their leaders are the same as those found in commie North Korea, remorseless, and their culture is vapid and devoid of lasting art. Those gooks can go pound shit into sand. > > I pray every day Red China grows a pair and nukes the shit out of that little scab of a country into the ocean. At least PRC has a history of real language, real literature, just about anything besides their unfortunate mass-murdering communist tendencies. > [@Jaledin](#): > > Yeah, but I’m great with kids – especially if they’re Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, or tiny little reincarnated WWII veterans from any Allied country, who have whales as pets and don’t like reading comic books full of eight year old girls fingering their snatches or playing some idiotic (natch) video game about mass rape and wanton torture. > > Of course the Jap government was going to divert funds however they wanted. What happened when aid was sent to aid a truly desperate, catastrophic event, the tsunami whose impact was felt largely in Indonesia and neighboring countries? Or Haiti’s recent earthquake. I don’t know, but I do know the Jap government wasn’t involved parcelling out snippets to sailors like the sneaky little greasy sword-diddlers they are. Tell us how you really feel? If you point is that Japanese culture seems somewhat twisted and pedophilic, well its hard to argue otherwise. If your point is that the Japanese caused a mountain of suffering in Asia during their imperial phase, well its hard to argue otherwise. But to be fair most of the Japanese alive today have never engaged in genocide and if the cost of that is a twisted sexuality that encourages middle aged women to dress up as school girls, well its a small price to pay, no? ---
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/46 "2011-12-15T03:39:59Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > So if they don’t eat very much, we’re not talking about a lot of dead whales either are we? Actually from what I have read, they stockpile the whales because no-one wants to eat them. Supposedly the Japanese government subsidies the capture of the whales to the tune of some $33000US each just so that they can look at the rest of the world and thumb their noses at them. This thread is fun for the puns though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/47 "2011-12-15T03:50:36Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > Actually from what I have read, they stockpile the whales because no-one wants to eat them. Where did you read that? While I have no particular dislike of the Japanese whaling culture any more than I do of the Canadian, U. S., Greenlandic, Faroese, Icelandic, Indonesian, Norse, Russian, and Bequian cultures that also still hunt whales, if they’re wasting the harvest, I could think about it again. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/48 "2011-12-15T04:00:41Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > If you point is that Japanese culture seems somewhat twisted and pedophilic, well its hard to argue otherwise. If your point is that the Japanese caused a mountain of suffering in Asia during their imperial phase, well its hard to argue otherwise. I agree. I disagree that recompense (Anaximander?) shouldn’t be paid to the lords of the sea. Ditto honk American yanquis about whom I hope destruction from above, in person of Donald Pleasance as a mad sleeper activator. Genocidal much? Yeah, against my own “kind.” Germans, English, Axis, on one side, strong Irish, Jew, and French take arms. Vahn vill eet shtupp? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/49 "2011-12-15T05:49:15Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > 1. It runs at a loss and is therefore government subsidized to the tune of about 1,200,000,000 Yen per year. That’s my taxes at work at a truly useless industry. That’s about $15 million US per year. Big deal. That’s less than 0.04% of the total budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. And gov’t subsidies make up less than 10% of the cost of the whaling operation, which is more than you can say about rice farmers. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/50 "2011-12-15T06:07:58Z")
What’s all this wailing about, anyway? Americans and Japanese are like two peas in a pod. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/51 "2011-12-15T06:36:44Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > If it helps, OP, I think that’s pretty fucked up, too. With all the moves Japan has done to revitalize their tourism since the disasters, you’d think they’d have hidden this little bad PR gem. Friend, Japan and South Korea will be the last two countries on the planet to actually understand the concept of bad publicity caused by their own actions. On the other hand, they are pretty quick to take offense at portrayals by other countries’ media which show the aforementioned two clueless countries in a bad light. Never mind said media simply report the “pr gems.” Case in point: every year the Japanese prime minister goes and bows to the souls of major war criminals and yet Japan still hasn’t figured out that it’s not the rest of the world doing something wrong when the rest of the world reacts negatively. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/52 "2011-12-15T08:48:21Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Case in point: every year the Japanese prime minister goes and bows to the souls of major war criminals and yet Japan still hasn’t figured out that it’s not the rest of the world doing something wrong when the rest of the world reacts negatively. Actually, I’m pretty sure the last PM to visit Yasukuni was Koizumi. So it’s been 6 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/53 "2011-12-15T13:45:50Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Where did you read that? > > While I have no particular dislike of the Japanese whaling culture any more than I do of the Canadian, U. S., Greenlandic, Faroese, Icelandic, Indonesian, Norse, Russian, and Bequian cultures that also still hunt whales, if they’re wasting the harvest, I could think about it again. [Cite.](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-01-05/japans-whale-meat-stockpile-hits-record-level/1895756) About Bequia’s so called whaling culture, if you read up on it, it only started about a 100 years ago when a white guy from the US set up a whaling plant in Bequia. That’s not culture IMO. Edited to add, I can’t remember where I read the figure per whale though. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/54 "2011-12-15T17:08:26Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > About Bequia’s so called whaling culture, if you read up on it, it only started about a 100 years ago when a white guy from the US set up a whaling plant in Bequia. That’s not culture IMO. Culture doesn’t have to be ancient. Something that’s existed as long as nearly everyone who’s currently alive can remember probably qualifies. Something that was started 100 years ago can legitimately produce people who can say: “my father was a whaler, my grandfather was a whaler, and my great-grandfather was a whaler”. Hell, I don’t even know my ancestors’ names further back than that. I mean, look at all the shit-stirring in the US over cultural ideals that really only date back to the 1950s. That’s not to say that the cultural argument should prevail. But you can’t just dismiss it because it’s not as old as you want it to be. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/55 "2011-12-15T17:29:07Z")
And they’re not specifically “bowing to the souls of major war criminals”. They’re bowing to the souls of the Japanese war dead, some of whom are major war criminals. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/56 "2011-12-15T17:40:20Z")
Re: Bequia. [**Whale Boner Bar & Restaurant**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bequia) Guess it’s not just about fishing down there. ---
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044/57 "2011-12-15T21:08:10Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Re: Bequia. > > [**Whale Boner Bar & Restaurant**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bequia) > > Guess it’s not just about fishing down there. No it’s about boners 😃 LOL. Just kidding. Personally I don’t believe that something just over 100 years old can be considered ‘indigenous’ culture but that’s just me. YMMV. There was a lot of whaling done in the Caribbean including Trinidad and Tobago where I live now yet they don’t claim an indigenous right to harvest whales. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-donate-to-the-relief-effort-in-japan-if-so-some-of-your-money-is-going-towards-whaling/606044.md?page=2)