Whaling in Japan

Japanese whaling, in terms of active hunting of whales, is estimated by the Japan Whaling Association to have begun around the 12th century. However, Japanese whaling on an industrial scale began around the 1890s when Japan started to participate in the modern whaling industry, at that time an industry in which many countries participated.

During the 20th century, Japan was heavily involved in commercial whaling. This continued until the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986. Japan continued to hunt whales using the scientific research provision in the agreement, and Japanese whaling was conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research. This was allowed under IWC rules, although most IWC members opposed it. However, in March 2014, the UN's International Court of Justice ruled that the Japanese whaling program called "JARPA II" in the Southern Ocean, including inside the Australian Whale Sanctuary, was not in accordance with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and was not for scientific purposes, as it had claimed. They ordered Japan to cease operations. In response to the ruling, Japan formulated a new Antarctic research whaling program, "NEWREP-A", to replace JARPAII. Under this program, 333 Antarctic minke whales were hunted each year from 2015 to 2018. On 1 July 2019, Japan withdrew from the IWC and resumed commercial whaling, claiming that the IWC's original goal of sustainable whaling had been lost. As a result, Japanese whaling will now only take place in Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, moving away from the high seas in order to avoid trade violations under CITES. In 2024, Japan hunted 179 Bryde's whales, 87 minke whales, 30 fin whales, and 25 sei whales.

Antarctic hunts were a source of conflict between pro- and anti-whaling countries and organizations. Antarctic minke whales abundance in the East Antarctic Ocean may have remained stable or declined slightly during JARPA, but this is thought to be due to a decline in krill as a result of the increase in humpback whales. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the other hand, listed it as Near Threatened (NT) in 2018. The UN's International Court of Justice, in addition to other countries, scientists, and environmental organizations, consider the Japanese research program to be unnecessary and lacking scientific merit, and describe it as a thinly disguised commercial whaling operation. Japan, echoing Norway's arguments on its own whaling activities, also argues it is entitled to continue whaling because of whaling's place in its cultural heritage. The whale meat from these hunts is sold in shops and restaurants, and is showcased at an annual food festival that, in some cases, features the butchering of a whale for onlookers. A poll in 2014 found that few Japanese people have been eating whale meat regularly since whale-based dishes disappeared from school lunches in 1987.