Views from the street: Whaling

[Hachiko]

Long acting in defiance of criticism from abroad, Japan's stance on whaling has once again come under fire. Melanie Burton hit the streets to find out who had tasted the world's largest mammal.

Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040831vf.htm)

[King of Tokyo]

*cough* Hachiko's at it again..

I wouldn't eat whale.. Sounds pretty nasty to me..

[Hachiko]

(You'd better believe it! :smug:)

I've never really tasted whale, to be honest, so I can't say whether I like it or not. But the consensus in this article seem to say "no" on this one.

[Foxtrot Uniform]

They used to serve it for lunch in Japanese schools, but maybe they still do. I haven't tried any, although the local fish shop right down the street sells some. Mabye its time for me to try somethig new...

[PaulTB]

They used to serve it for lunch in Japanese schools, but maybe they still do. I haven't tried any, although the local fish shop right down the street sells some. Mabye its time for me to try somethig new...
Forcasts call for 70% dolphin with high likelihood of mercury. :D

[isanatori]

this article would be more representative of the japanese opinion on this issue if it had been done in Sahara... there are only 6 persons' opinion, of which 3 are foreigners and 5 are 30 years old or under.

PaulTB wrote : "Forcasts call for 70% dolphin with high likelihood of mercury."

well, it's mostly in dolphins livers that the mercury is present, so flesh is actually ok.
there is an interesting paper by Milton Freeman on this issue. it can be read in english on this webpage (http://luna.pos.to/whale/), or in japanese here (http://www.whaling.jp/isana/isana22.html).

[PaulTB]

well, it's mostly in dolphins livers that the mercury is present, so flesh is actually ok.

For sufficiently low values of 'OK'.

"While levels were lower in muscle, Endo told New Scientist that on average it still contained 2.5 to 25 times the limit."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992362 (A little bit on the old side now).

there is an interesting paper by Milton Freeman on this issue. it can be read in english on this webpage (http://luna.pos.to/whale/)
Well I guess it could when you last went there - but it's a DNS error now.
or in japanese here (http://www.whaling.jp/isana/isana22.html).
The second half of http://www.whaling.jp/isana/isana22.html#04 doesn't seem to be that relevant. The first half while clearly (correctly) pointing out where the main problems are doesn't seem to address the actual levels in muscle meat.