Japan Uses Disaster Budget to Fund Whaling Hunt

Of Japan's $230 billion in supplementary budgets meant for tsunami reconstruction, $29 million will be used for … a whaling hunt. An official confirmed the move today, and simultaneously defended it, noting that some whaling towns were hit badly by the March 11 tsunami, and the funding will help to support the country's whaling industry. The money will increase security and maintain operations for the annual Antarctic Ocean hunt, as whaling boats have been increasingly interfered with by conservationists.

Greenpeace, of course, is not happy, and says the whaling funding is taking money away from victims of the tsunami. Most of the rest of the money in the supplementary budgets is going toward rebuilding projects, but the AP notes that some other projects—like this one—"appear less directly related." This year's expedition reportedly left Tuesday, and a Coast Guard spokesperson says a number of Coast Guard officers accompanied it. (More Japan stories.)