A minke whale is lifted from a ship at Kushiro port, Hokkaido. Japan has announced it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and resuming commercial whaling. Photo: EPA

Jeff Kingston

How Japan’s return to commercial whaling could actually kill the industry and save whales

Jeff Kingston says Japan’s defiance of an international ban on commercial whaling could yield positive results. Tokyo can raise a nationalist banner over its exit from the agreement, but also pull the plug on a heavily subsidised industry

Jeff Kingston

Published: 10:30am, 1 Jan, 2019

Updated: 4:32am, 2 Jan, 2019

Why you can trust SCMP

A minke whale is lifted from a ship at Kushiro port, Hokkaido. Japan has announced it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and resuming commercial whaling. Photo: EPA

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Jeff Kingston

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Jeff Kingston is director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan. Most recently, he co-edited "Japan’s Foreign Relations with Asia" (2018) and edited "Press Freedom in Contemporary Japan" (2017). His latest monograph is "Nationalism in Asia: A History Since 1945".