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 ampai!" yelled the crowd as a fleet of ships pulled into port in Tokyo, Japan, last September. Government officials and fishermen shouted the Japanese word for "cheers" as they began a festive ceremony to welcome back one of Japan's largest whaling missions. During their seven-week trip in the Pacific Ocean, hunters caught and killed 88 whales.
But not everyone was celebrating. This year's whale hunt was one of the most controversial ever. Of the 88 whales killed, 43 were Bryde's whales and five were large sperm whales. Both species are on the verge of extinction. In the past, the Japanese hunted only Minke whales, which are not endangered.
All over the world, politicians and activists are criticizing the Japanese government for allowing the whale hunt. In September, President Clinton banned Japanese fishermen from U.S. waters in protest.
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Japanese fisherman captured this large sperm whale in September. The species is on the verge of extinction.
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A Taste For Whale Meat
Japan officially gave up commercial whaling after an international ban in 1986. In 1987, the Japanese began hunting whales again for what they call "scientific research." The International Whaling Commission rule is that whales may be killed only if they are being used for research. The Japanese claim they kill the whales to learn more about their eating habits. Once the research is done, the meat is sold for food. Activists say the research is just an excuse to kill whales for meat.
"If you need to research African elephants, for example," says Sanae Shida of Greenpeace, an environmental group, "that doesn't mean you need to kill and eat them."
Whaling is a part of Japanese culture that goes back many centuries. It became especially common during World War II, when food was in short supply. People ate whale meat instead of beef or chicken.
Blocking the Harpoons
Growing up in Japan, Naoko Funahashi, 40, never actually saw a whale. She remembers only the deep-fried version she had been served in her school lunches. "Every time it was served, all the kids booed and said, 'Not again!'" remembers Funahashi.
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Three sperm whales swim together. Whalers are supposed to catch them for research purposes only, but they also earn money from whale meat.
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While on a voyage to the South Pole in 1988, Funahashi crossed paths with a Japanese whaling ship. She was disgusted by what she saw-hunters harpooning whales with sharp spears and lifting the bloody, squirming bodies out of the water. "I got angry, and then was in despair because we couldn't do anything to help the whales," she says.
Funahashi decided to take action. She learned that whales reproduce slowly, giving birth only once in two years. "Once the number of whales decreases, it's very hard for the population to recover," she says.
For the next six years, she went back to the Antarctic annually to work with Greenpeace. Funahashi would take a small rubber boat and get between a Japanese catcher ship and the whales to block harpooners. This dangerous work paid off. The activists were able to slow down the ships and limit their catches.
Funahashi is now with the International Fund for Animal Welfare. She works in markets where whale meat is sold. Posing as a customer, she buys whale meat and sends it to a lab to make sure it is not from an endangered species.
Funahashi says the antiwhaling campaign is moving slowly. Few people know sperm and Bryde's whales are endangered, and the government supports the whalers. But she refuses to give up. "They are wild animals, and they just shouldn't be controlled by humans."
By Ritu Upadhyay, with reporting by Hiroko Tashiro/Tokyo
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