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‘Killing the Practice of Whale Hunting is the same as Killing the Japanese People’: Identity, National Pride, and Nationalism in Japan's Resistance to International Pressure to Curb Whaling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Chris Burgess
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Abstract

In discussions on Japanese whaling, a common question is why Japan appears indifferent to international pressure (gaiatsu) on the issue, that is, why it continues to flout the international anti-whaling “norm” despite widespread criticism and condemnation. The key to answering this question is to examine why the anti-whaling “norm” resonates so poorly in the domestic sphere. This paper argues that the impotence of international pressure to curb Japanese whaling can only be understood by examining how whaling has come to be reactively defined in the domestic debate not as an issue of conservation and environmental protection but as a symbol of national identity and pride. The paper concludes that because whaling is framed as a key marker of “Japanese-ness”, international pressure is counter-productive as it merely serves to stoke the fires of nationalism, creating an atmosphere in which anti-whaling opinion is seen as “anti-Japanese”.

Keywords

WhalingJapannational identityinternational pressure (gaiatsu)nationalism
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 8 , April 2016 , e1
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2016

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Footnotes

Chris Burgess took his PhD at Monash University, Melbourne. Since April 2004, he has been a full-time lecturer at Tsuda Juku University (Tsuda College), Tokyo, where he teaches Japanese Studies and Australian Studies. His research focuses on migration and identity in Japan and includes papers on international marriage and ‘newcomer children’ in Yamagata Prefecture.

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