Whaling as a Clue to Resolving the Globalization vs. Anti-Globalization Issue

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The project involved a survey of historical sites and source materials in Japan and abroad related to whaling and joint research conducted between the members of the project team and local informants. The results may be summarized as follows.1. Attainment of a broader understanding of whaling as an interrelationship between humans and whales and the viewpoint that the history of whaling is an indispensable link in the study of human history.2. A reconsideration of the existing opinions about whaling.For example concerning the argument that traditional Japanese whaling practices developed indigenously within Japan, a reinvestigation of the related sources indicates that 1) large amounts of whale oil were exported from Japan to the East India Trading Companies of both the Netherlands and Great Britain during the 17^<th> century, and 2) Japan introduced various aspects of Dutch whaling technology into its own industry.In addition, the research to date on whaling has been limited exclusively to Japan, Europe and the United States as a specialized field of study.What this indicates is that whaling in countries other than Japan, like Korea and Vietnam, requires much better coverage that it has been given in the past.3. It is now clear that whaling is not only a topic of economics and commerce, but also has deep social and cultural roots influencing daily life and consciousness, as shown by whale-related wall paintings, mythology, literature and illustrated scrolls.4. Through the compilation of source materials related to whaling, a research infrastructure has been prepared which includes not only the conventional Japanese local sources, but also other materials which heretofore had been easily overlooked. For example, a comprehensive catalog and reproductions have been made available of sources held by the Iki Folklore Museum, Geihinkan Museum (Eguchi Collection), Tsushima History and Folklore Archives (Korikata Mainikki) and the Taiji Whale Museum.