1. Atsuko Ichijo Kingston University
Is eating whale meat barbaric?: The whaling/whale meat problem and competing normative frameworks
Atsuko Ichijo
Kingston University

2. Context
Part of the investigation undertook for Food, National Identity and Nationalism (2016, Palgrave) co-written with Ronald Ranta

3. The aims of the book
To explore an under-researched area in the study of nationalism – food and nationalism
To highlight the usefulness of the ‘food-and-nationalism’ angle in the study of politics

4. From the ‘whaling problem’ to ‘whale meat eating problem’

5. On 31 March 2014 Judgement by the International Court of Justice;
Japan's whaling programme in the Antarctic (JARPA II) was not in accordance with three provisions of the Schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling;
The Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government: confirming to abide by the judgement as a state ‘that places a great importance on the international legal order and the rule of law as a basis of the international community’.

6. The ruling
The ruling was about the legality of whaling, an issue of international law and, not about whale meat eating;
By the time the ruling was delivered, the whaling problem had become deeply entangled with the issue of culture -> the 186th Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee meeting of the Japanese Diet on 16 April 2014 : ‘Given that whaling is part of Japan’s unique tradition and culture’.

7. The ‘whaling problem’
The postwar recovery in whale catch -> concern over whale resource management;
1946: drafting of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) ;
1948: establishment of the International Whaling Committee (IWC) -> scaling down of commercial whaling: the UK (1963), the Netherlands (1964) and Norway (1968) stopped whaling in the Antarctic.

8. In the meantime…. In the 1970s
The rise of environmental / conservationist movements;
The US’s change of faith to whale protection;
-> A moratorium on commercial whaling was adopted by the IWC in 1982 (coming into effect in 1986) on the basis of concern over a possible extinction of whales.

9. Emerging concerns (Morishima 2006)
Science (whether the whale population is on the decline or on the increase);
Cultural/ethical collision (whether it is right to kill whales);
Political (Western politicians appealing to anti-whaling constituencies);
Economics

10. No longer a resource management issue but a normative issue
‘Not killing whales’ becoming the default option by the end of the 1980s -> whaling becoming a binary good over which compromise is difficult to reach;
The emergence of the global anti-whaling norm transforming ‘whales into rights-bearing persons, sacred human-like creatures, whose killing is immoral and uncivilized’ (Blok 2008: 39) -> a taboo on killing whales becoming a taboo on eating whale meat.

11. In response in Japan….
Mobilisation of the discourse of cultural rights -> repositioning whale meat in Japanese history;
-> emphasis on the Japanese perception of whales as a kind of fish (鯨)
Changes in popular perception -> acceptance of official narrative; as a high end food item; whaling = whale meat eating.

12. ‘Whales and whaling’ by Japan Fisheries Agency (2012)
The long history of whaling in Japan, from prehistoric times to the present, gave rise to the worship of whales and bore fruit in the culture witnessed today in whaling songs, dances and the various traditional handicrafts that have been handed down from generation to generation. They are historical evidence that the Japanese people have lived in close association with whales. Now is the time to acknowledge the importance of our whaling tradition and food culture. Japanese are and should be proud of this .

13. Intensification of normative conflict
In Japan: whale meat representing Japanese uniqueness and its long tradition and culture;
In the anti-whaling countries: the whales have become the ‘totem animal’ talked about in an anthropomorphic language, to be approached with affection, respect and awe (Blok 2008). Eating whale meat has become associated with being uncivilised, barbaric and cruel, and belonging to the ‘Japanese tribe’.

14. So it is now the question of rights
Animal rights or cultural rights?
Mobilisation of western-centric universalistic idea on the both sides;
A ‘dry’ resource management question has turned into a clash of values.
A similar pattern – the clash between animal rights and cultural rights – is found in dog meat eating, too.