Whaling and Japan

The pressure on Japan to stop whaling has been persistent. Does she have to conform to it? This writer does not think so.
If you use the term 'culture' it is likely to give you the impression that something is immovable from the time immemorial. I do not like to say culture or civilization for this reason. However, whaling is, if anything, definitely a part of Japanese culture. There have been several hundred whaling villages in different parts of the country. The industry has created employment and developed skills. There have been customs and ceremonies associated with it. Many novels have been written, and are written even now, in which the whales are always treated with respect.
Whaling was once prospering in the US and European countries also. When they were putting pressure on Japan to open up in the middle of 19th Century, whaling interests were a very important factor. Those were the peak years of whaling in the Northern Pacific. The first US submarine was named 'the Intelligent Whale'. One Japanese historian dedicated his book on the modern Japanese diplomatic history to 'Captain Ahab of the Pequod'.
Why were they catching whales at that time? It was mostly for obtaining lubricating oil. Even now the whaling countries in Europe use only a small part of the meat for pet food and dispose of all the rest.
In Japan, to the contrary, the whale meat has been much appreciated. There are many ways of eating it. In a country where people did not take to beef or pork until fairly recently, whale has provided the main source of meat, and as such has been looked at as something of a fish. Not only the meat but almost every part of the whale is utilized in one way or other, with practically nothing to throw away.
Has the Japanese caught too many whales to make it an unsustainable industry? Many indicators seem to point to the opposite direction. C.W.Nicol, a writer with marine biological background, of Welsh origin now a naturalized Japanese, once spent a whole whaling season in the Antarctic with the Japanese whalers. He reported, among others, that out of the 728 whales marked in the previous season only 5 were caught in that season. This was in 1979/80. A bit too old? But there is no reason to believe that the tendency has changed.
Should the whaling be stopped at any cost? Let us agree to disagree for the moment. May I, however, ask the extremist group who have dared to attack whaling ships if they are equally against the killing of man by man in the name of a war?