US Whaling Connection

Japan and Australia are fighting a diplomatic blame game over Japanese whaling in the Antarctic waters. While Australia views whales as irreplaceable giants of the sea whose vitality reflects the health of the oceans, many Japanese consider the large mammals as simply a source of food and a continuation of tradition. Australia is accusing Japan of carrying out commercial whaling in the guise of scientific research.

While there is evidence of Japan's involvement in whaling since the 12th century, it is only in early 1900s that it became a modern whaling superpower.

Norway, Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany were the largest whaling nations prior to World War II and they pursued the killing without regard to conservation. The 1930's was the greatest decade of whale slaughter in history. In 1931, 37,438 blue whales were massacred in the Southern Oceans. Japan sent its first ships to Antarctica in 1935. The sale of whale oil helped to finance the invasion of Manchuria and China. In 1937 alone, more than 55,000 whales were slaughtered yielding 3 million tons of animals.

Proceeds from the whale oil sale helped Japan to finance the invasion of Manchuria and China in the 1930s. However Japanese whaling operation was almost wiped out during World War II when most of its fleet was destroyed.

And here comes the American connection. In 1946 the American Shogun of Japan, General Douglas MacArthur was responsible for reviving the Japanese whaling industry. He proposed the creation of a Japanese whaling fleet to secure protein for the conquered Japanese people. He did so in order to cut down on the United States' costs of transporting food to post war Japan. The deal was that Japan would get the meat and the oil would be turned over to the United States. The United States provided $800,000 in fuel for the whaling ships and received over 4 million dollars in whale oil in return.

I do not think General MacArthur could foresee the impact of $3.2 million profit.