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The Japanese are indigenous to Japan and have been hunting whales for a thousand years and maybe over ten thousand[1] so I guess we don’t get to tell them what they can and can’t eat either.

[1] https://japanwhaling.weebly.com/history.html

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Aside from the difference in population between the Japanese and the Inuit, the Japanese are also increasingly disinterested in eating whale meat [1][2]. It appears to be an aspect of their culture which is on the wane (in effect they're telling themselves what to eat), so international pressure on them to stop doesn't strike me as outrageously insensitive.

1: https://www.wired.com/2015/12/japanese-barely-eat-whale-whal...

2: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/11/business/future...

And its actually very high in mercury and cannot be eaten often by young people and women of childbearing age, like other high mercury fish.

Of course, the Ainu are indigenous to Hokkaido https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people

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