Outside of some vocal extremists who prefer tradition, whaling fails to make sense in modern Japan. The ships are (rightly) harassed at sea, driving up costs for the hunts and people at home don't even want the whale meat. On top of that Japan has to bribe poor countries who participate in the IWC, so they can win their votes.
Japan needs to cut its losses and move on because the whale hunts make no sense from any perspective.
Japan's failing appetite for whale meat left three-quarters of meat from whales caught in the north-west Pacific last summer unsold, according to a report.Well done by the Sea Shepherd for speeding up the death of the ugly annual hunts.
Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist, said the body responsible for selling meat from Japan's controversial "scientific" whaling programme had failed to sell 908 tonnes of the 1,211-tonne catch, despite holding 13 public auctions since last October.
The report, published on the website of the Tokyo-based Dolphin and Whale Action Network, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body that oversees the hunts, had hoped to use sales from the meat to cover the costs of the whaling fleet's expeditions.
