Commercial whaling off the coast of Japan is continuing

Some well meaning landlubbers are not familiar, nor do they perhaps know, that whale hunting is still thriving in many parts of our modernized world.  Unlike whale hunting for subsistence living by the native tribes in Canada and Alaska, the Japan Times for instant, reported recently that whaling off Hokkaido began as usual when three boats left the port of Kushiro, Hokkaido, for what the government calls, whaling research missions.
Usually, the hunt is conducted off Ayukawa port in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, but it has been switched to Kushiro, due to the base port having been recently damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.
The crew, including around 30 members from Ayukawa, will catch up to 60 minke whales to study their ecology.
Ryoetsu Okumi, a 69-year-old whaler who has been in the business for more than 50 years, said, "I'm happy to be able to work this time as I grew up in a whaling town," expressing hope that the hunt will contribute to reconstructing the livelihoods of the Ayukawa people.
Critics call Japan's whaling research a cover for commercial whaling.
Japan's factory whaling ships -- Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) -- the Nisshin Maru was "welcomed" into Tokyo, by Junichi and a team from Greenpeace Japan, along with the word "failed" to accompany the ubiquitous and Orwellian "RESEARCH" painted on its hull.
During its five months at sea, the Nisshin Maru was responsible for taking 551 minke whales from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - far less than the 1035 whales planned, but more than a hundred than were killed three years ago. Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, shutdown Japan's entire whaling operation for 15 days, during a 4300-mile chase of the Nisshin Maru across the Southern Ocean. The whalers are blaming the protesters for missing their target.
Nisshin Maru has arrives in Tokyo after failed "research" in the Southern Ocean.
For those who have never seen or let alone experienced, what happens during a commercial whale hunt, these next sets of pictures should suffice to give reason to stop this archaic practice . . .  The pictures are self explanatory.

READY FOR ANOTHER KILL!