Japanese current affairs

Today was a big news day in Japan. April 1st marks the start of both the financial and educational year here so any policy changes (tax increases, new curriculum, teacher numbers, etc.,) relating to them are implemented from today. The biggie this year is the rise in consumption tax (sales tax or v.a.t.) from 5% to 8%. This has been greeted like the financial apocalypse. For the past month the media have been running daily stories on how this is going to adversely impact on people's lives. They have a point: there are 2.2 million people on welfare (a record high), with 63.8 million people receiving some form of pension, and as they are on fixed incomes the 3% hike in the tax represents a 3% reduction in the money they receive. This against the back drop of higher food and electricity prices due to the deliberately weak yen - 'deliberately' in order to boost the profits of Japan's large export manufacturers, which in turn raises share prices and dividends, and hence benefiting the better off who can easily absorb the 3% tax hike.
They don't call it a regressive tax for nothing.
It should also be pointed that the likes of Toyota and Sony, the export poster boys of the Japanese economy, by some estimates only account for 10% or so of total GDP. Any policies, such as a weaker yen, that favor them do so at the expense of the rest of the country, particularly ordinary Joe Watanabe.
While the rise in sales tax had been an ongoing story, the other big news arrived suddenly yesterday evening with the announcement from the International Court of Justice that Japan's whale hunting was illegal and had to stop.
Now.
Since 1988 Japan had been hunting whales in the name of 'scientific research', killing approximately 10,000 whales each year. The Court, albeit in polite legalese, termed this explanation "a crock of shit". Again in polite legalese, they pointed out that "feck all scientific findings had come out of the whale slaughter", and most of the 'research' was on how best to serve and eat whale meat. Not that it is even all that popular over here any way. But whale hunting is regarded as a 'traditional way of life' and traditions rather than cetaceans tend to be uncritically upheld in Japan.
Mind you, there is a not terribly subtle reek of hypocrisy to the whole thing. If you ban killing whales, then why not tuna fish too, or cows or pigs? Is it because eating beef and pork is culturally acceptable to 'western' nations, but orientals eating whale meat is regarded as barbaric?