Perhaps not today, but just a few years back they were serving "Stir Fried Bengal Tiger: Cantonese Style."
From Japan network mauled over tiger-meat gourmet show
July 1998
In Thursday night's programme, three Japanese entertainment personalities shown dining on the tiger at a restaurant in Shanghai, described the meal as delicious and showed no remorse when they learned what they were eating. Newspaper television listings for the programme had said the featured dish would be "Stir Fried Bengal Tiger: Cantonese Style."
A spokesman for Fuji TV said the Bengal tiger used in the meal died a year ago in a fight with other tigers in a zoo in Shanghai. It had been been frozen since then, he said. After a first course of buffalo penis, which the entertainers said they also enjoyed, the two women and a man were given a blind tasting of a braised meat dish and asked to guess what it was. A live Bengal tiger, which is on the world's endangered species list, was led into the dining room by way of answer. "Today we partook of something really delicious," said one of the three entertainers, who gathered round the live tiger to pat it after their meal.
Fuji TV denied that eating the tiger meat violated a global treaty that protects endangered species. The Worldwide Fund for Nature said in a report earlier this year that there were only about 5,000 to 7,500 tigers left in the wild, mainly in national parks and protected areas. After the network was bombarded with viewer complaints and media inquiries and animal rights groups denounced the programme, Fuji TV issued a statement that fell short of a full apology.
"We don't believe this programme violated the Washington Treaty which prohibits international trade in endangered species," the statement said. "However, the programme was careless from the broader perspective of animal protection, and we will endeavour from here on to pay due attention to the prevention of cruelty to animals in our programming." Fuji TV public relations spokesman Hideaki Hirose told Reuters: "In ancient China, tiger meat was eaten as an elixir for longevity and we re-enacted that custom." He added: "I guess we were pushing the envelope on this."
The Worldwide Fund for Nature said there was no excuse. "Even if the tiger died in the zoo, this kind of programme shows a low awareness among Japanese of the plight of endangered species and sets a terrible example for viewers," a fund spokeswoman told Reuters. Japan's alleged lack of sensitivity over such issues is not new. Even though whaling is allowed under international agreement generally only for research purposes, whale meat can easily be found in Japanese restaurants. Raw fish, or sashimi, is also shown at some high-class restaurants to be absolutely fresh by virtue of the fact that it is carved up while still alive on the table. "This isn't just about tigers, it's about public awareness, and that's a real problem in Japan," the fund spokeswoman said. She said Japan often turned a blind eye to the import of rare animal products such as tiger bones and rhinoceros horns, which are ground into powder and sold as aphrodisiacs.
Fuji TV is Japan's leading network by revenue, taking in about $3 billion last year. Cuisine shows, including one called "Iron Chef", are also among its most-watched programmes. The three diners were Kenichi Mikawa, who frequently appears on gourmet travel shows, Tomomi Nishimura, a popular actress, and Midori Utsumi, a well-known TV personality.
That might be true, but the tiger meat must have been smuggled into China from other countries. I believe today you still can find tiger meat in Guangdong if you try really hard and are willing to take the risk of staying in jail for a few years and pay $5000 in fine.