The assignment for this week is for you to find a phot opportunity and take the picture. Blog the picture with a coupe of sentences discribing it. Good Luck. You can download BlogBot for windows or Flicker for Macs for free at the Blogger web site. The item I would like to discuss with you next week is the "Culture Defense" which is always very weak. Because it is part of thier culture is it OK for people in the South Pacific to eat other people? As it was part of the culture of the American South to have slaves it that OK? So what do you think about the following story?
Two research whale burgers to go, please

The Associated Press
A Hokkaido fast food joint began offering whale burgers Thursday as antiwhaling nations urged Japan to cut back on its catch at an international whaling conference.

Restaurant chain Lucky Pierrot serves a deep-fried minke whale meat burger, served with lettuce and mayonnaise, for 380 yen at its 10 joints in Hakodate.

Japan is facing mounting criticism over its research whaling program, which sees whales killed for study purposes before their meat is then sold. Critics say this is commercial hunting in disguise.

Miku Oh, a Lucky Pierrot official, said the chain is only utilizing stock already obtained from research whaling and it wants to preserve the culture of eating whale meat.

"People in other countries may think (eating whale) is strange, but it is our culture," she said, adding the whale for the burgers is cooked in such a way that "it tastes like beef and tuna, and since it is deep fried, it has no odor."

Annually, Japan kills about 400 minke whales in the Antarctic and another 210 whales -- 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales -- in the Northwestern Pacific.

At an annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission currently being held in Ulsan, South Korea, antiwhaling countries passed a resolution Wednesday urging Japan to drop plans to more than double the number of whales it hunts each year for research.

The commission has also rejected a proposal earlier to end its almost two-decade ban on commercial whaling. Another proposal by Japan to allow its northern coastal communities to resume limited hunts of minke whales was turned down Thursday.

Japan says it must kill whales to properly study them, including their stomach contents to glean details of their diets.

Environmental groups and antiwhaling countries, including the U.S. and Britain, say Japan's research whaling is a thinly disguised commercial whaling venture, stressing that meat is sold to Japanese supermarkets and restaurants to help fund the program.

The Japan Times: June 24, 2005
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