Lawmakers across party lines Tuesday held an annual whale-meat cuisine event to celebrate the country's whaling culture in defiance of the International Court of Justice's decision at the end of March to ban Japan's whale hunt off Antarctica.
"Japan's whaling is based on scientific reasons, while counterarguments by anti-whaling groups are emotional, saying they are against the hunts because whales are cute or smart," said Shunichi Suzuki, a Lower House lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Suzuki, who heads an LDP whaling advocacy group, officially petitioned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to allow the hunts to continue despite the ICJ ruling.
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