It is no secret that Japan continues to send whaling expeditions to Antarctica despite international criticism.

As reported by Tech Times, Japan on Thursday confirmed the killing of more than 300 minke whales — 200 of which were pregnant.

Ships from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research returned from an almost four month-long hunting mission under the guise of scientific research.

The expeditions, however, are considered defiance of the International Court of Justice ruling which declared that whaling in Antarctica is illegal.

Japan's decision to send whaling expeditions has received criticism from different countries. Greg Hunt, Environment Minister in Australia, said the country condemns the act.

"We do not accept in any way, shape or form the concept of killing whales for so-called 'scientific research,'" said Hunt.

United Kingdom's ministry for environment Defra also expressed its disappointment with Japan's decision.

"This undermines the global ban on commercial whaling which the UK strongly supports," the ministry said.

But why does Japan do it, anyway?

Japan has not ignored the IC Justice ruling, but that doesn't mean it completely followed it either. In November 2015, the country said its "scientific" whaling program will only take 333 minke whales.

BBC news reported that the whale meat from the expedition "ends up on the plate."

And yet other reports say that Japanese consumers are not really clamoring for it. A Wired report said that the consumption of whale meat in Japan stands at 4,000 to 5,000 tons every year.

Consider the fact that Japan consumes about 600 million tons of seafood annually, indicating that meat from the sea mammals occupy "small" place on the country's dinner plate.

The nation's whaling program is also quite miniscule. The American Cetacean Society said that the global population of minke whales is currently at more than 1 million.

Japan has taken 3,600 minke whales since the launch of its scientific research program. Some experts believe that the 333 minke whales that Japan takes every year is not likely to impact the population of the sea mammals.

The Japanese aren't the only ones hunting whales. Norwegian whalers are also hunting minke whales, and their quota is a whopping 1,000 every year. The same goes for Icelandic whalers.

According to a paper [pdf] by Keiko Hirata, a political scientist from California State University Northridge, there are two factors as to why Japan's is still pushing through its whaling missions: cultural and political.

First, the Japanese do not see minke whales as charismatic sea mammals in need of protection from consumption.

Hirata said that in Japanese, the symbol for whale — which is pronounced as kujira — includes within it a component that means fish.

"Most Japanese lack any special love of whales and disagree with Western animal rights activists who insist on whales' rights," said Hirata, adding that most of them consider it hypocritical that Westerners kill kangaroos and baby cattle while saying that it is morally wrong to kill whales.

Second, maintaining Japan's whaling efforts is an act of maintaining political turf. The expeditions are overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and Hirata said if the program is ended, the officials will be out of work.

Hirata concluded that Japan is not likely to change its stance in the near future. As of today, minke whales are not endangered.

In December 2015, Australia and other countries have challenged Japan over its whaling program, threatening to pursue legal action.

Photo : Martin Cathrae | Flickr