If you're traveling in the Okinawa area of Japan between now and March, you're in prime position to go on a whale-watching tour - if you can handle the rough weather that is. Many private companies offers trips to view the humpback whales who pass through the area this time of year, however several of the tours have been cancelled due to stormy weather conditions.

Apparently the whales didn't get the memo and have been showing up despite their lack of an audience. Hirokazu Otsubo, a representative for the Zamami Whale Watching Association said 38 whales have been spotted near the island already and more are expected to follow.

Association members monitor the whales from two observations points jutting out from Okinawa’s main island. They track the whales’ travels and identify each one based on the color patterns and shapes of their tails.

Twenty years ago, the association counted 50 whales. Last year, the count was up to 220, Otsubo said.

Otsubo said he thinks similar numbers will pass by this year. On Jan. 20 alone, the association saw 16 whales, he said.

Despite the obvious question as to whether this means the population of humpback whales is increasing, I'm actually completely stumped by something else. I'm no whale-hunting expert, so please forgive me for my confusion. A population of humpback whales travels through an area in Japan each year, yet Japanese whalers originally had plans to hunt humpback whales in Australia (they only agreed to leave the humpbacks alone after caving to pressure from the International Whaling Commission).  Why travel to Australia to do the dirty work their when they could have done so on their own turf? Especially baffling is another claim in this article:

To protect whales, the association has set rules about whale watching. They ask boats to steer away from mothers and their calves and limit the number of whale-watching boats in the water each day.

You don't say. Japan takes measures to protect the whales they're killing on Australian territory. I think the word we're looking for here is "irony."

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