ABSTRACT
The island nations of Japan and Iceland are among the world’s most accomplished fishing nations. Both countries have a long and deep history of involvement in the sea. Their fishermen are celebrated for their contributions to the nations’ unique cultures, and both countries also owe part of their postwar fishing success to the United States and its foreign policy objective of defeating the expansion of Communism. For both Japan and Iceland, fish was the vehicle to tilt from Asian and European influence toward the United States during the Cold War. 1 Fishing has always been about much more than just catching fish.
