Whaling Harpoon Gun

Came across this when out walking the dog this morning. Shimonoseki has a large fishing fleet and fish market, which includes part of the Japanese whaling fleet.

Despite the fact that the Japanese only catch whales for scientific purposes, there is always alot of whale meal for sale around here. The fish market has an area in it that just sells whale meal. When we visited Nagasaki the last time we visited, there was a shop which just sole whale meal products.

In the past I have had to be careful when walking around the fish harbour, even with my Japanese family. They see a Western with a camera and they are worried you are trying to find out information on the whaling fleet. They are worried about Greenpeace finding out when they will sail and they certainly don't want anyone from Sea Shepherd finding out anything. They have security guards around the area the ships are moored and we where encouraged to go away. Yet during a fisherman festival, they are quiet happy to let you see the ships, but that is during the summer when they are not going anywhere.

When my father in law was alive, he could never understand why I would not try to eat the whale meat. When I saw it cooking, it was almost all fat and did not smell good. It reminded me of the time my grandmother would be cooking tripe. I did not eat that either.

That also reminds me of when I started work at the end of the 70's. I worked at a factory that had a works canteen, that cooked meals fresh each day. There was always 2 or 3 main meals to choose from. It was good British grub and at least one a week would be some sort of steamed pudding. One day, they did stuffed hearts, which I think put in an appearance a couple of times a year. This day they came straight out the oven on to the hot plate. They were bubbling so much in the juices, it looked like they were still beating. They did not sell many that day.