[Skybird]

The irony is that I know for a certain that it is a cliché that all Japanese eat whale meat, like all Germans eating Sauerkraut. Most Germans do not like Sauerkraut and could not care less for it (this food is an improvised necessity from times of emergency and suffering, not a delicatesse) , and something similar is true for whale meat and Japanese - for especially younger Japanese, it means little. Most do not like the taste (it tastes awful, by the way, I once got a bite of it), and it is private nationalist lobbies and conservative politicians even spending money on keeping a propaganda machinery spinning in advocating that it is so vital for Japanese interest to have access to whale hunting. This is about nationalist pride and stupid stubborness (they think they would lose their face if giving up whaling), and a bit about a few - a very few - jobs a in the whaling industry - a small group, but being incredibly loud.