I could believe that to keep up the ruse, they "donate" the whale parts to people who use the parts for "nutrition" studies. In return, the study recipients donate monies for furtherance of the research, ie, killing more whales...
...but as I said, they need to kill each other to end this "standoff"...
I realize the Japanese are not Americans and thus may not in the minds of some be accorded the same assumption of innocence we enjoy here in America. So in your mind are they guilty before until proven innocent? You sure make it sound that way.
The ICRW makes an exception that whales can be taken for scientific purposes and that is what Japan claims it is doing. Until it is proven otherwise in a court of law they have not broken any laws. Conversely, the lawless band of hippie pirates have been found guilty on several counts; heck, they even brag about it. They risk peoples' lives. To my knowledge the Japanese whalers actions do not come close to doing that, unless, of course, you want to blame them for the hippies steering their boat in front of the larger ship. I don't.