Chi-matsuri

I recently got a mail (f0rwarded) urging mass actions and protest against a Faroese tradition that I found hard to comprehend (and stomach, literally), perhaps because Filipinos generally limit their meat consumption to certain species of mammals. I learned that the inhabitants of Faroe Islands, which lie between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, have an annual tradition of herding hundreds of pilot whales on summer and killing them near the beach, using crude weapons and with such brutality that the sea would literally turn red with the blood of these hapless sea creatures. 

It is a tradition, hence, despite international protests, Faroese authorities maintain they cannot be compelled to desist from what has been a practice for centuries. At first glance, the geography of these territories–rugged terrain, freezing climate, barren land–would make one think the Faroese are justified in committing such cruelty since they depend on the whales for food. It was revealed, however, that since the inhabitants are not so populous they have more than enough food and very little need for these whales. In fact, there were reports that whale carcasses would be left lying on the beach to rot because nobody wants them.  Personally, I think hunting for food is okay. But if they just kill and left their victims like that, I don’t think food is still their main motivation. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_the_Faroe_Islands

The Japanese, if I remember correctly, would find themselves entangled in a similar embroglio once in a while for insisting on their right to catch whales “for research purpose.”  Anti whale advocates have criticized Japan because while it claims whaling as part of its tradition it cannot justify why tons and tons of frozen whale meat are wasted, disposed unconsumed every year. In short, according to animal welfare activists, food-wise, Japan does not need to hunt whales.

Recently, authorities reported that the meat of pilot whales contain large amounts of mercury which slowly poison the Faroese, causing birth defects and mild mental retardation. If this is true, it is hard to tell whether brain damage is causing them to kill more whales, or if this national curse is brought by centuries of engaging in such dastardly practice.

The images in the link are quite graphic.

If any, it only proves that humans are the most beastly of all animals.

Biological warfare

Tests conducted by Guangdong Entry-Exit inspection and quarantine institution, China’s quality watchdog, reported that it found Japan-produced soy sauce and mustard sauce contaminated by toluene and acetic ester. The revelation was well disseminated in global media and posted in the agency’s website.

Maximal toluene content was 0.0053 mg per kg, while acetic ester content was 0.537 mg per kg, said the quality watchdog. This would risk people’s health, said the agency, but did not elaborate how, except that the chemicals are supposedly used in paint and solvents and are obviously toxic.

Interestingly, the accusation came just a week after China accused Japan of exporting tainted frozen beans and dumplings. Of course, we know that China has been swept by a series of food- and product-safety scandals in recent months involving goods as diverse as toys, biscuits, toothpaste, pet food, and cosmetic products, on top of an urgent need to diffuse a global scare over milk and dairy exports supposedly tainted with melamine. 

Unlike China’s recent accusation, however, the controversy over the melamine-tainted products is global. More interestingly, it began, not in Japan or anywhere else, but in China after hundreds of infants suddenly fell ill and the issue became  a national health crisis in China. 

Of course, it is hardly surprising if there is something fishy or malicious about China’s accusation against Japan. The two countries do not exactly constitute a paradigm of amicable foreign relations. And it is doubtful if China have forgiven Japan’s war atrocities.

China is currently emerging as a regional superpower, thanks in part to Japan’s economic slump. China is also the world’s biggest supplier of food and agricultural products.

China, in other words, could easily launch an attack against Japan–or any country for that matter–using these products as biological weapons. This is farfetched, of course, but that in a sense, is how significant China has become in current geopolitics.

Japan used to be food self sufficient but nowadays imports most of its food to keep itself fed. Experts cite many factors that have contributed to this predicament, including the growing Westernization of the Japanese people’s eating habits. Meat, for instance, was not a staple food commodity half a century ago but now Japan imports half of its meat supply to meet local demands. Japanese companies also keep offshore offices in China and other neighboring countries where labor is cheap. Tokyo-based Lotte Group, for instance, was caught in the melamine storm last year after its popular chocolate-filled Koala cookies made in China were recalled in Hong Kong and Macau because of melamine contamination.

If any, all these show that food safety is a particularly sensitive issue in Japan, which depend on imports from countries such as China for 60 percent of its food supply. 

China’s own allegation of chemical contamination of Japan-made food products appears to be largely a political knee-jerk reaction.

An old Chinese proverb says, 以毒攻毒、or literally, fight poison with poison. But that’s just me.