Rakuten to stop selling whale meat

Japan’s Rakuten to halt whale meat sales after ruling

The International Court of Justice said Japan had killed around 3,600 minke whales since 2005. Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten says it has told its online retailers to stop selling whale meat. Japan called off the whale hunt after the ruling. A report by an environmental group last month exposed Rakuten as the world’s biggest online retailer of whale meat and elephant ivory. Rakuten’s latest announcement also includes a ban on dolphin meat sales. (read more on bbc.com)

Apparently just because UN court ordered Japan to stop hunting whales, it does not Japanese companies cannot sell whale meat and dolphin products in the country as it is legal there. The interesting thing is that Rakuten is using this opportunity to improve its damaged due to increased media coverage their sales of whale meat.

The UN Ban on Japanese Whaling is already having positive effects

The move which also includes a ban on dolphin meat sales comes as Japan said Thursday it was canceling this year’s hunt for the first time in more than a quarterly of a century to abide by the decision of the United Nations’ Hague-based International Court of Justice this week. Australia, backed by New Zealand, hauled Japan before the International court in 2010 in a bid to stop the yearly campaign, which has attracted widespread condemnation outside Japan. Public consumption of whale meat in Japan has steadily and significantly fallen in recent years and there is little support for whaling itself. (read more on business inside.in)

I am so excited about the recent news on whaling. Finally United Nations court ordered Japan to halt whaling program in Antarctic. Japan had continued to hunt whales for the scientific purposes but it was simply a cover-up for commercial whaling. Australia took Japan to court and they won the whaling case against Japan and I really hope that there will be no more whale hunting and hopefully dolphin hunting in the near future. There are many Japanese who claim that international animal activists are attacking Japanese traditional food culture. At least Japanese people appreciates and respects the animals they hunt and cows are killed everyday so why does Japan have to be attacked for protecting its food culture and why is it not ok to hunt whales and dolphins? Well, it is not ok because it is not ok. I am an advocate for the protection of marine animals which include whales and dolphins. There is no point arguing with these people who insist that this is about protecting food culture because Japanese people do not eat whale or dolphin meat. It is not common and people might have eaten the meat to survive during the war but it is important for the international community to reassess the values and morales. Japan should have taken a leadership role against the whaling but instead Japanese government had supported the controversial whaling operation. Reasons why hunting whales is unethical are plain and simple because it contradicts the consensus on whaling among the international community. Most countries agree with the perception that whaling should be banned therefore Japan must comply with the policy. And it is not necessary to eat the whale or dolphin meat for survival. Sure. We kill cows and other animals for food but let’s just not go there. This whole issue has damaged the reputation of Japan pretty badly and it is not worth it.