Antiwhaling Groups in Japan: Their Historical Lack of Development and Relationship With National Identity

• Date: 01 June 2020
• Author: Ko Nomura
• DOI: 10.1177/1070496519878218
• Published date: 01 June 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Antiwhaling Groups in

Japan: Their Historical

Lack of Development

and Relationship With

National Identity

Ko Nomura

1

Abstract

This article reviews the history of antiwhaling groups in Japan from a politicocultural

perspective, examining how the connection between whaling and national identity

has significantly constrained their development. It is interesting to note that this

connection, or ‘‘framing,’’ in terms of social movement theory, was not an invention

of the prowhaling camp. It was rather induced and facilitated by Western activists’

protests, which have been unwelcome in Japanese political culture, making the anti-

whaling cause come across as ‘‘foreign.’’ In fact, Japanese antiwhaling groups have

attempted to counter-frame this by distinguishing themselves from Western activists,

emphasizing moderate strategies, limiting their opposition to large-scale modern

whaling, and allowing small-scale coastal whaling with a view to detaching the issue

from national claims. However, they have not been successful due to prominent

foreign protests. This study also suggests the key role of national identity in the

success or failure of environmental activism.

Keywords

framing, activism, political culture, nongovernmental organizations

While international controversy over whaling has grown, there has been less

attention on antiwhaling groups in Japan. This is not surprising, as the anti-

whaling movement is often less developed in whaling nations. However, this

does not imply that Japanese antiwhaling groups are not worth studying, as it

Journal of Environment &

Development

2020, Vol. 29(2) 223–244

!The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/1070496519878218

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1

Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan

Corresponding Author:

Ko Nomura, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.

Email: nomura.ko@a.mbox.nagoya-u.ac.jp

would provide insight into the political and cultural conditions constraining

these groups and illustrate the characteristics of environmental politics and

activism in Japan. In addition, the Japanese government’s decision in

December 2018 to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission

(IWC) and resume commercial whaling reveals the signif‌icance of whaling pol-

itics and related activism in Japan.

Research on the less-developed antiwhaling activism in another whaling

nation (Norway) provided some insight into that nation’s environmental politics

(Bailey, 2009; Strømsnes, Selle, & Grendstad, 2009). Those studies suggested two

primary constraints on antiwhaling groups. First, within the corporatist/consen-

sual Norwegian political culture, whalers were treated as stakeholders rather

than opponents. This limited the inf‌luence of antiwhaling groups, particularly

the radical ones (Bailey, 2009; Strømsnes et al., 2009), because involving whalers

as key participants in the policy process ef‌fectively excludes the possibility

of a whaling ban. Uncompromising and confrontational groups, such as

Greenpeace, were therefore marginalized because they attempted to block

consensus building (Bailey, 2009; Strømsnes et al., 2009). In contrast, it is inter-

esting to note that the U.S.’s adversarial/pluralist political culture has helped

antiwhaling activism f‌lourish (Bailey, 2009).

Second, because of the connection between national identity (NI) and rural

culture, antiwhaling activism has not gained signif‌icant support in Norway

(Strømsnes et al., 2009). Norwegians are proud of their society and of the envir-

onment in the countryside, which is considered the nation’s cultural cradle. This

is further reinforced by the belief that merchant and administrative urban

centers have been contaminated by 500 years of foreign rule. For example, in

contrast to the f‌lat topography of Denmark (the former rulers of Norway), the

Norwegian landscape is composed of mountains and fjords in rural areas.

Norwegian NI revolves around these rural areas and the environment and is

considered so important that it requires protection: Predators such as wolves are

culled to protect farming, while local community-based whaling is endorsed.

These practices have eliminated animal protectionism from the national envir-

onmental ideology and, along with the prevailing political culture, the conf‌lu-

ence of animal protectionists and antiwhaling activists has been prevented in this

context (Bailey, 2009). This is in contrast to the United States, the United

Kingdom, and Australia, where antiwhaling groups are more active.

These perspectives are relevant to the Japanese case. Elements related to NI,

such as tradition and nationhood, cannot be disregarded because of Japanese

whaling’s extensive history. Japan is perceived as a country ‘‘where consensual

relationships among key actors prevail’’; therefore, in contrast with the United

Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, adversarial

policy-making is avoided (Dryzek, 2005, p. 166). However, the Japanese political

culture is not as state-friendly and corporatist as that of Norway. For example,

including environmental groups in policy-making has not been institutionalized,

224 Journal of Environment & Development 29(2)