So those wacky little guys who brought you Pearl Harbor are at it again with their Antarctic whale hunt (too lazy to post a link, but they’re out there and clashing with Greenpeace et al. as usual).
I had always assumed their dogged insistence on defying the international consensus and pursuing their laughable “research” hunts was because they really liked whale meat (as with their complete disregard for any attempts to protect tuna stocks). But then I read/heard that (confirming what I experienced the one time I was served blubber), no, most Japanese don’t really like whale meat that much, certainly not the younger generation, and that historic demand was as much as anything less an ancient custom than a post-war necessity/stop-gap protein source.
So then I assumed it was some protectionist thing where they defend an outdated or inefficient industry to buy votes, as in subsidizing/protectionism for the dwindling but politically-valuable rural farm lobby, rice tariffs, etc.
But recently I talked to a Japanese guy who claimed – nah, not really – the government’s certainly pandering, but not to the fishing/whaling industry or coastal prefecture voters, rather to the right wing nationalist faction (the guys who drive around Tokyo with their loudspeaker trucks blaring Imperial-era war songs). He said they’ve chosen whaling as one of their symbolic issues and insist that the government, in exchange for their support, back whaling solely and precisely as a big F-you to the Western governments whom the nationalists hate Japan taking orders from.
Anyone who understands Japanese domestic politics – which is closer to the real motivation?
I’ve always assumed it was somewhat of a nationalistic pasttime ever since I found out that Japanese people didn’t really eat much whale meat. I have no cite, but given that anytime anyone mentions foreigners or foreign anything in America, there’s a vocal minority that just has to get up off its ass and shout that America is the greatest, blah blah blah, I can understand another country protecting some archaic but symbolic ritual
While the Japanese government is theoretically a group of the representatives of the people, the Japanese people never got into the whole “the government is the enemy, we have to watch everything they do and distrust everything they tell us” thing. They never even really got into the “this is MY representative who’s supposed to do what I want him to do” thing. Generally, they feel like they have no business in governance. The whole voting thing is there more like an emergency brake than it’s a way to select who leads the nation. Overall, the only two political issues where the Japanese would stand up and tell their government to back down are on the issues of the development of nuclear weapons or allowing the Japanese military the right to go on the strike. Whaling, they couldn’t give a darn about. It’s just a really big fish and (surprise) the Japanese are pretty used to killing and eating fish.
Within the government itself though, there is a strong Nationalistic trend. If the Japanese government had its way, the nation probably would have nuclear weapons and the military would be allowed to go on the offence. The populace is holding them in check on those two. But, the government has had its way on things like whaling, distrust and antagonism towards foreigners living in the country, and other Nationalistic platforms.
I don’t think they need their votes so much as that the government is, itself, fairly Nationalistic. There’s only been one party to vote for since WWII for the most part, after all (the LDP). Of course that may change since they’ve gone out of power. I haven’t been keeping up.
The Japanese can be very nationalistic also. I believe it is true that anytime anyone mentions foreigners or foreign anything in Japan, there’s a vocal minority that just has to get up off its ass and shout that Japan is the greatest, blah blah blah.
Y’know, this kind of political commentary is inappropriate for GQ and pretty much poisons the well from the start if you really want straight factual answers. In the future, let’s avoid this if you are just looking for GQ responses.
In any case, since this is essentially both a political question and a matter of opinion, it’s better off in GD than GQ.
That’s not “finding a way to make money”. It’s being handed money to sustain a failing industry. One which kills endangered animals for meat that no one actually wants, apparently. Destructive futility.
Political commentary? That they are little and that they brought us Pearl Harbor are lead pipe cinches factually.
That they are wacky? Well, perhaps someone will undertake the tentacle porn defense brief, or the Love Plus/DS Girlfriend defense brief. That’s hardly political, though, even assuming someone chose to defend the little fellas against “wacky” as they jerk their way into bukkake heaven.
That said, you may arrive at the right result the wrong way, as the nationalist vs. pacifist elements of domestic JP politics may end up being political in chartacter.
But my OP expressed no view on which of those was right (hint – I’ve never visited the Yasukani Shrine). Your reflexive reaction to my joking characterization of the Yellow Peril (another joke?) was unhelpful to the discussion.
