Japan Defends Whaling Program During Second Week of International Hearings

Public hearings in The Hague continue this week as Japan takes its turn in defending itself against Australian charges that the nation's scientific whaling research program is really commercial whaling in disguise.

Japan told the International Court of Justice that its whaling program is indeed scientific and that data gathered from it could lead the way to a future of sustainable whaling practices. The Asian nation, which has a long and controversial history regarding its annual whale hunts, told the world's highest court that it is not in violation of international law and that Australia has no grounds for its case because of its own history of opposition against the court's jurisdiction in maritime cases.

"It is true that Japan takes and kills whales," Koji Tsuruoka, the country's deputy foreign minister, said to the court, according to the Associated Press. "Should we be ashamed of it? Even if some people believe we should, that does not mean we are in breach of international law."

Tsuruoka said Australia cannot impose its will onto other nations and that "Men and their cultures perceive animals in different ways."

"Japan is conducting a comprehensive scientific research program because Japan wishes to resume commercial whaling based on science in a sustainable manner," Tsuruoka said.

Japan argues its research may eventually lead to scientific evidence that commercial whaling can be resumed around Antarctica, where a ban on commercial whaling has been in place for 30 years.

Japan's whaling fleet leaves for the Southern Ocean each November or December and catches fin whales and minke whales for what it says are scientific purposes. Meat from the whales ultimately winds up in kitchens around Japan, where it is considered a delicacy.

Last week Australia argued that Japan's JARPA and JARPA II research programs, which have killed more than 10,000 whales since 1988, are not science and that whaling operations in the Southern Ocean are stressing Australia's otherwise "excellent" relationship with Japan.

"Australia's views on whaling are well established. We strongly oppose all commercial whaling, including so-called 'scientific' whale hunting by Japan," Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is also representing Australia at the ICJ, argued in the first round of the hearings last week.

Hearings in The Hague are expected to finish July 16 and the 16-judge world court will take several months to make a judgment.