Japan backs down on controversial whale hunt
Japan decided to suspend humpback hunts at the request of the US, which is chair of the International Whaling Commission, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.
“The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalise IWC are taking place,” Mr Machimura said. “But there will be no changes to our stance on our research whaling itself.”
“The US asked Japan to freeze planned humpback hunts for one to two years to support its effort as the chairman to normalise the IWC,” Mr Machimura said.
Japan says the IWC has become a place for emotional fights rather than one for calm discussion, and has called for “normalising” reforms to return it to that function.
Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first big hunt of humpbacks since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism.
Commercial hunts of humpbacks have been banned worldwide since 1966.
Earlier yesterday, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters he hoped to discuss the hunt with his Australian counterpart soon.
“Given that in a sense this seems to be a problem of differences in national sentiment between Japanese and Australian culture, it’s not a matter that can be solved by appealing to one another through logic,” Mr Komura told reporters.
Australia announced this week it was launching a push to stop Japan’s annual whale hunt, including sending surveillance planes and a ship to gather evidence for a possible international legal challenge.
On Wednesday, Thomas Schieffer, the US ambassador to Japan, said a deal may have been struck to suspend Japan’s plans to hunt 50 humpback whales in Antarctic waters.
The mission also aims to take as many as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales.
Critics say the program is a shield for Japan to keep its whaling industry alive until it can overturn a 1986 ban on commercial whaling.
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