ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes the politics of whaling in Japan in three sections. First, I briefly outline the history of international regulation of whaling. Second, I examine Japan’s whaling diplomacy, with reference in particular to the period of the 1980s, when Japan ended its commercial whaling and began scientific whaling, as well as Japan’s reaction to the 2014 International Court of Justice ruling that held that Japan’s Antarctic whaling program was a violation of its obligations under the treaty that established the International Whaling Commission. Third, I consider both public and elite opinion regarding whaling in Japan. Here I show how support for whaling in Japan is in substantial part driven by concern with the scientific basis for criticisms of whaling (particularly whaling of species that are not endangered).