The country's whaling fleet has sought to catch around 900 minke whales, and a much smaller number of fin and humpback whales, every winter after the International Whaling Commission IWCC) banned commercial whaling in 1986.
The whaling fleet would collect "data necessary to calculate the number of whale catch allowed" after the eventual resumption of commercial whaling and "construct a model of the Antarctic Ocean ecosystem," Agence France-Presse quoted an agency official as saying.
Having reduced the Japanese nation to submission, the occupying Allied powers turned decommissioned Japanese vessels into whaling ships, and – with western observers aboard – were sent out to kill whales and use their meat to feed a starving nation.
Meanwhile, here in the west, unchallenged by international courts, Norway, Iceland and Greenland continue whaling.
The court has voted 12 to 4 that Japan has not acted in conformity with several clauses of the international convention for the regulation of whaling.
The court finds the special permits issued by Japan are not for purposes of scientific research pursuant to article 8 of the international convention for the regulation of whaling (ICRW).
Greenpeace UK warned Japan against ignoring or circumventing the decision: "We welcome this verdict which will hopefully mark the end of whaling in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.
In response to Japan's justification for whaling, Tomka says: "The scientific output appears limited".
#icj #whaling — Tim (nice but dim) (@timbothetim) March 31 , 2014@GreenpeaceUK Great news.. Now to stop Japan whaling in North Pacific and the dolphin drives.
The non-Antarctic hunt, which takes place in spring and autumn in coastal waters and in the north-western Pacific, is also classified as "research" by Japan, but was not an issue in the ICJ case, which only addressed whaling in the Southern Ocean.
The country's fisheries minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, vowed last year that Japan would never stop its "long tradition and culture" of whaling.
