Whales, dolphins, tuna exhaust: what is wrong with Japan's taste?

OK, there was first of all that sushi cop campaign that might embarrass the world's gourmets as Japan launched a campaign Tuesday to certify authentic Japanese food overseas, but insisted it was only promoting its cuisine rather than setting up a "sushi police" and where sushi inspectors and promoters indeed unveiled a logo that will identify "real" Japanese restaurants overseas, a pair of chopsticks holding a cherry petal set in front of a red rising-sun flag.



I knew that The Guide Michelin awards would generate passions in the archipelago.

But now, this is not just a matter of French autocratic gastronomy's views in this case, it is not just a matter of taste, it is a matter of "kuuki", of "atmosphere" in the way passions are enflamed with Japan's taste for marine creatures and islanders voracious appetite. Japan among sea nations as Norway, Greece, France or Pacific nations is always a target. Is it that one does not easily understand what Japan means and wants?

Can't ear Japan since pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki wrote on her fan club website early January that she would continue singing despite losing her hearing in her left ear?!?



No, serious, one example. We 'll talk soon about the "whaling complex" of Japanese authority. I 'll therefore stick to what seems to me as the loveliest creature in the sea: the dolphins.



Twice every year, up to 1.500 to 3.000 dolphins are killed in these so-called ‘drive hunts’. In these hunts, large groups of dolphins are rounded up by speedboats at sea and herded into a bay or harbor, where they are surrounded by nets and then slaughtered, or selected alive for trade in the lucrative aquarium industry.



Taiji is one of several Japanese villages where dolphins are hunted. The town this season has a nationally set quota of 3,015, of a total national quota of nearly 21,000. The actual take tends to be about 30 per cent lower than the quota, depending on demand for the meat. While other villages usually harpoon their quarry out at sea, the particularly bloody killing methods in Taiji have made the town a focal point of animal rights activists worldwide.



In addition to the fishmonger hook there is now a new threat: mercury poison. A series of scientific studies in recent years in Japan have documented high levels of the toxic heavy metal in dolphin meat, and a group of city councilmen in Taiji launched an unprecedented campaign against the hunt several months ago after doing their own tests.

Quote :
"Tetsuya Endo, a researcher at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, in northern Japan, has co-authored numerous studies showing dolphin meat can contain mercury at concentrations many times higher than the 0.4 parts per million allowed by the Japanese government for many types of fish. The highest concentration he has found so far was 100 parts per million from a bottle-nose dolphin, a species whose meat is butchered in Taiji. "This ought to be investigated," Endo said, calling for a government probe into the dangers of eating dolphin. "There are people who eat it a lot, and those people could be suffering health effects."

Well... All tastes are in my nature (Tous les goûts sont dans ma nature"***) Jacques Dutronc said in his famous song of his album: "Brèves rencontres".

Certains l'aiment tôt
Certains l'aiment tard
Certains l'aiment chaud
D'autres tartare

Le plaisir n'a pas de mesure
Tous les goûts sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Certains recto
D'autres pétards
Certains verseau
D'autres s'agitent tard

Le plaisir n'a pas de censure
Toutes les tendances sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Certains l'aiment haut
Avec Icare
Certains plumeau
D'autres océdar

Faut pas faire de littérature
Tout est écrit dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Certains auto
Certains motards
Certains métro
D'autres moutard

Le plaisir n'a pas de figure
Toutes les formes sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Certains l'aiment faux
D'autres sans fard
Certains bravo
D'autres bavards

Le plaisir n'est pas la luxure
Tous les goûts sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Certains l'aiment tôt
Certains l'aiment tard
Certains l'aiment chaud
D'autres tartare

Le plaisir n'a pas de mesure
Tous les goûts sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature

Le plaisir n'a pas de mesure
Tous les goûts sont dans ma nature
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature"

*** Courtoisie des Karaoke de Tokyo
私の性格は、すべての人の好み
(Text and agency)