For the main part, the dolphin hunting and whale issue are, although at heart very much inter-connected, quite different issues.

Living in Japan for 3 years, being Australian, having a Japanese husband, being a surfer, and being dragged into the middle of the first ever peaceful communications between the 'outside' western influence and local Japanese dolphin and small whale hunters and local surfers (due to there being no other person who could translate both languages), I think I have been given enough information to be able to come to a reasonable opinion on the issue. But, I don't think I have really come to that yet...

Here's my bit-groups such as Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, etc, have up until now only come at the Japanese on this issue at full-speed ahead, without any attempts at real peaceful communication with the real people who are effected by this issue (i mean the actual dolphin hunters as opposed to the ruling ministry of fishing) instead rallying around Taiji with signs saying 'No Whaling', 'Killing Dolphins is Cruel', and demanding for the conclusion of the activities.

On the other hand, the killing of dolphins in Taiji is undergone by a small percentage of the community, a handful of families that know only this way of life, who pray both before and after every kill to pay their respects to the animals that are about to be sacrificed for the livelihood of humans, and who argue that westerners kills animals for food and profit every day-so why is that ok but dolphins are bad, because they are cuter than cows?? This is the real opinions of the real people involved, who I have met with and talked to and even formed bonds with some. They argue 'how am I supposed to feed my family if I stop killing the dolphins', and they also point out, as I will now, that profit from dead dolphin meat is very slim compared to an alive Dolphin that is then sold off to Aquariums, not just in Japan, but globally also......In fact, the aquarium trade is almost to blame, take away the demand for captive dolphins and you pretty much take away the reason for the fishermen to continue these hunts....

The group I went to Taiji with, a representation of the international surfing community, went with peaceful intentions, and were able to carry out some of the most progressive communications with the locals-more so than other groups have ever been able to do so before. The head of this group, professional Billabong Free-surfer and dear friend of mine Dave 'Rasta' Rastovich, even proposed to fishermen that if they decided to quit hunting dolphins, and instead start a new life revolving around conservations-for e.g dolphin/whale watching-he would, through the international media, assist with all the raising of funds necessary for that particular family to start out their new life-new boats, training, etc. What the international media didn't see, but I did, were the very surprised and interested locals faces...
In fact, one man has converted to conservation side, Mr Ishii, from another dolphin-hunting part of Japan, and he said although at first condemned by long-life friends and his local fishing community, he now has many elderly dolphin-killers who are training with him on his whale watching boat-because as he says, they are getting old and captaining a whale watching boat is a hell of a lot easier of the body than the dolphin hunts.

When talking with other Japanese friends, surfers and members of the more metropolitan community often are shocked that dolphins are killed for their meat-they say they have never eaten it, don't want to eat it, and didn't even know it existed (until I ask them if they realize what whale-bacon is...)
But they also understand that whaling is a age-old Japanese tradition, and they are also the first to argue that foreigners should take care of problems in their own countries first, before barging into Japan with their japan-bashing banners...(americans are at war, africans are killing each other in mass genocide, and everyone is still eating a shit load of meat...)

There is so much more to it, and everyone's story deserves to be told and heard. I'm on deadline for a surfing magazine in Japan, and haven't had much sleep, and could go on about the issue for ages, but I just wanted to get across more of my personal account of what I have seen here in Japan, with my own eyes. I think foreigners have done too much Japan-bashing, causing the Japanese to neither trust us or want to listen let alone communicate on the issue. However, the recent peaceful actions have led to further developments, opened lines of communication, etc, and so I think we can all take a lesson from that-peace is the only road.

Also the mercury issue is worth looking into-local Taiji councilmen were alarmed at the dangerous level of mercury found in dolphin meat and pilot whale meat, both of which were served up on the local school's lunch menus and in the local supermarkets, until recent studies were personally undergone by those worried councilmen, and the mercury riddled meat was promptly banned from the schools and supermarkets alike. (mind you the majority of the town's councilmen voted for the issue to be hushed, and have been pushing for a new multi-million dollar dolphin slaughter house)

So yeah, the government obviously plays one of the biggest roles (until now having given numerous interest-free loans to the local dolphin hunt industry, thus ending the tradition would result in those loans remaining unpaid).

And now I am really tired and can't write another word. But I do encourage an open discussion about this, and really emphasize that the peaceful way is the only way.

If you read this far, cheers. Thanks for listening!

Definitely a controversial issue. Here's a short documentary on the subject (though from the Faroe Islands, not Japan) that I found really interesting:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/faroe605/video_index.html

The whales turn and glisten, plunge
and sound and rise again,
Hanging over subtly darkening deeps
Flowing like breathing
planets in the sparkling whorls
of living light -

And Japan quibbles for words on
what kinds of whales they can kill?
A once-great Buddhist nation
dribbles methyl mercury like gonorrhea
in the sea.

(Gary Snyder, From the poem "Mother Earth: Her Whales")

This is a tough issue for me, one I've spent a long time grappling with. I try to minimize eating meat of any sort, especially now that I've left Argentina. I don't think whales should be hunted. But I do think that there is a big difference between locally scaled, traditional hunts and Antarctic factory ships - not to mention the wholesale massacre of whales by Western nations for oil, not food, which was what drove so many species to the brink of extinction in the first place.

Many Japanese live very close to the land and sea, and the best of the nation is still grounded in the Shinto tradition of respect for nature and the Buddhist doctrine of compassion. I welcome a full discussion, and thank you for the blog and links Angie, but don't totally agree with your stance.