David @ Tokyo

Tokyo Marathon 2010

2009-11-28T13:45:00.003+09:00

Found out this week that I won the raffle to run in the 2010 Tokyo Marathon.This is going to keep me busy until March!

South Park mocks Paul Watson

2009-10-30T22:46:00.004+09:00

South Park always was my favourite TV show...I've never seen an episode of Whale Wars but South Park's makers have made Paul Watson's reality TV show the butt of the joke in episode 11 of South Park's 13th season. You can watch the episode online here at South Park Studios.Warning: if you aren't familiar with South Park and are easily offended, best not to watch! Paul Watson fans also will not be

Iceland economy and whaling

2009-10-26T21:44:00.000+09:00

Iceland's is an interesting situation, with the majority of Iceland's populace supporting whaling, whereas their new government seems to be of the "anti-trade" persuasion (at least with respect to whale products), yet not exactly "anti-whaling" per se.Nonetheless, as this Bloomberg article indicates (without getting into any of the typical western culture cringe) whaling is providing some jobs

Whale meat inventory update - August 2009

2009-10-26T21:24:00.001+09:00

Another delay on my part, but once again here's your monthly (August 2009) update for whale meat inventory statistics from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries.As I alluded to last time, I was unable to put these up sooner as I took a jaunt down to the Philippines. It was smashing - did some snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, plus enjoyed some local cuisine. Best mangoes I've

Whale meat inventory update - July 2009

2009-10-03T17:57:00.009+09:00

Hi everyone, here's your July update on Japanese whale meat inventory statistics, data as usual pulled from the homepage of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries.These stats came out last month actually, and indeed the August stats are due for release next Friday (October 9th) but I'm not likely to be able to publish those here until some time after that (will be enjoying a long

Fresh whale products in Kushiro

2009-09-13T11:46:00.002+09:00

The Hokkaido Shimbun online newspaper has an article about special permit whale meat by-products lining the shops in Kushiro, with prices pretty much in line with those from last year.Fresh meat from the minke whales caught under special permit in the waters off Kushiro is the source. The first whale was caught and landed on the 6th of September, and after biological samples such as stomach

Iceland fin whale catches

2009-09-05T11:55:00.006+09:00

Sounds like the whaling in Iceland is going well.We can tell, because WDCS is "outraged" and making assertions about the economics of the situation, as is prominent Icelandic anti-whaling voice Arni Finnsson, who also claims "damage to Iceland’s international reputation is huge" (by some undescribed measure).Assuming the reports about the catches are accurate, this will amount to a significant

Democratic Party of Japan's whaling policy

2009-08-27T22:54:00.003+09:00

Those of you who follow the shambles that is Japanese politics will be aware that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is looking likely to take power in this weekend's national elections here. The incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in office for decades, and looks to be on the way out.So, will there be any change in whaling policy?The DPJ's whaling policy from their election

Whale meat inventory update - June 2009

2009-08-14T20:22:00.009+09:00

Hi all,Well just after my previous update for the May inventory statistics, I loaded up some prehistoric email software on my 7 year old Fujitsu laptop (upon which the anti-virus software expired 6 years ago) and I suspect I downloaded a virus infected email, as the poor thing would no longer boot up, afterwards. I reckon it's fixable (just need time and the right gears), but I needed a working

Whale meat inventory update - May 2009

2009-07-11T01:08:00.004+09:00

The May inventory stats were released yesterday, from the usual source at the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries.Through the first 4 months of 2009, outgoing inventory volumes were the lowest they have been in some years. Although inventory was at relatively low levels, things were looking distinctively sluggish with just 1287 tons recorded leaving storage facilities up until the end

Only half of Americans against whaling?

2009-06-22T23:14:00.003+09:00

Poll result:Animal Planet today released the results of a national Online Zogby Interactive poll of 3,412 Americans ... ... Slightly more than half (53%) said it is not ethically or morally right to kill whales, with 20% disagreeing and 27% unsure.Interesting. I would have thought that the numbers would be more heavily against whaling (by default), however generally speaking I believe that most

First Iceland fin whale catches in 2009

2009-06-22T23:07:00.005+09:00

Interesting story from IcelandReview: Representatives of Japanese companies who plan to import the Icelandic fin whale meat were present during the processing; carrying their own knives to taste the meat and to grade the different cuts. “They were always with us in the old days and will probably stay for the summer,” Loftsson said. Commercial anti-whaling industry groups have been constantly

Whale meat inventory update - April 2009

2009-06-21T09:41:00.007+09:00

Here's the April inventory statistics update from the usual source.Not much time again at the moment, will maybe add more commentary later.April 2009 outgoing stock: 369 tonsApril 2009 incoming stock: 767 tonsApril 2009 end-of-month inventories: 4,800 tonsApril 2009 top inventory regionsRegionStockpile size at month endStockpile size atprevious month endMovementTokyo city wards3,0232,912+

By-caught minke goes for 5 million

2009-06-05T22:11:00.004+09:00

A local Japanese newspaper has a report of another by-caught minke whale.My summary translation is below.On the 2nd of June, a minke whale exceeding 7 metres in length, which had been caught in a fixed fishing net, was landed at the Kesennuma city fish market. People gathered around the whale that was laid across a pier to touch and take photographs with it.The 7.35 metre bull whale weighing 4.7

Noge "Whale Row" in Asahi news

2009-05-31T18:15:00.004+09:00

Tena koutou again,Isanatori let me know about this article here in the Asahi's Kanagawa edition, covering latest developments with regard to this project. (I wrote a bit about it before here.)Visit the original page to check out the picture of the juicy whale cutlets, but here's a summary of the story:- A group of shops situated in the Noge area in Yokohama city is working on a project to promote

Foreign students eat whole whale

2009-05-31T11:49:00.003+09:00

Four students from abroad were in Japan recently, according to this Mainichi article.Apparently they are studying at a Copenhagen business university, and in Japan were focusing on whale consumption here.A 25-year old German student joked:"I had never eaten whale back in Germany, but the 4 of us have eaten as much as a whole whale while we've been in Japan"That's the spirit :)

Whale meat inventory update - March 2009

2009-05-31T11:30:00.000+09:00

*** UPDATED 2009/05/31*** Tena koe everyone, again struggling to make time at the moment but here's a brief update for the March figures that were released last Friday.March was again not a good month if you are looking for big decreases in existing inventory, but if you are an anti-whaling propaganda merchant then it's time to put your hat on and go to town as the inventory volumes will be

IWC 61 Scientific Committee docs

2009-05-13T20:47:00.002+09:00

For those interested in the IWC Scientific Committee advice for IWC 61 (which is much more interesting than the IWC meeting itself), you can find docs here:http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/sci_com/SC61docs/sc61docs.htmNote that the page is being updated every couple of days, so it's worth checking back frequently if you are into this stuff.Drop a comment if you see anything there of interest.

Whale meat inventory update - February 2009

2009-04-18T12:32:00.011+09:00

Took some time to get to this, but here's your February whale meat inventory update, based on the recent February release of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Statistics on Distribution of Frozen Fishery Products".February 2009 outgoing stock: 249 tonsAnother measly month on the outgoing stock front, just 249 tons leaving storage. We have to go back to 2004 or thereabouts to

Whale meat inventory update - January 2009

2009-03-15T18:37:00.004+09:00

Here's your update on whale meat inventories with the latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for January 2009.Just the basics for starters, and I'll try to catch up with graphs later when time presents itself, but there isn't much to illustrate with only figures for the first month of the year anyway.January 2009 outgoing stock: 391 tonsAnother slow month in the

2009-03-01T21:12:00.003+09:00

More news from Japan, this time from Yokohama, in Kanagawa prefecture just south of Tokyo. This story again from Tokyo Shimbun.Bring back vigor to "Whale Row"Restaurants in Noge district, Yokohama city aim to create a speciality with new menu developmentThis is how the headline from the article dated 2009/02/05 reads.In Noge district of Yokohama city's Naka ward, there is an area lined with

USA on Iceland's increased whaling quotas

2009-03-01T18:21:00.005+09:00

I haven't been keeping up with posts regarding movements in Iceland as much as I would like, but suffice it to say that this year it's been decided that Iceland's whalers will be able to catch up to 150 fin whales and 100 minke whales.Most of this is expected to be exported, to Japan.But the USA is not happy about it.U.S. Opposes Iceland's Decision To Establish Large Commercial Whaling Quota