Japan Loses Its Appetite for Whale Meat

Japan Loses Its Appetite for Whale Meat

The greatest threat to Japan's whaling industry may not be the environmentalists harassing its ships or the countries demanding its abolishment, but Japanese consumers. They've lost their appetite.

The amount of whale meat stockpiled for lack of buyers has nearly doubled over 10 years, even as anti-whaling protests helped drive catches to record lows. More than 2,300 minke whales worth of meat is sitting in freezers, while whalers still plan to catch another 1,300 whales per year.