Most Japanese Back Antarctic `Research Whaling' in Asahi Survey

By Stuart Biggs
Bloomberg
Feb 8, 2008

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Most Japanese people support Japan's ``research whaling'' expedition in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica in the face of mounting international opposition, an Asahi newspaper survey shows.

A total of 65 percent of respondents supported Japan's whale hunt in the survey, which the Asahi conducted by telephone on Feb. 2 and 3 among 2,082 registered voters. In the survey, 56 percent supported eating whale meat, with the number rising to 80 percent among men in their 40s, 50s and 60s, the newspaper said.

Opposition to eating whale meat was stronger among younger women, with 58 percent of women in their 20s objecting to the practice, the Asahi said. Overall opposition to Japan's research whaling was 21 percent, according to the survey. The newspaper did not publish the list of questions.

Japan's whaling fleet heads to Antarctica in November each year to kill as many as 1,000 minke and fin whales for what it says is ``scientific research.'' Australia's government is considering international legal action against Japan to stop the hunts, risking antagonizing relations with the world's second- largest economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net