At least in the U.S. there is discussion on this sort of thing. Try to bring up anything of the sort in Japan and your words (no matter what you support) will be laughed at. Endangered species? Who cares as long as it's tasty! Ruining ecosystems by clearing out key species? Pfffft. Like that matters as long as I gets me my shark fin soup!
Being a vegetarian over here is nearly impossible and being a vegan...damn I can't even imagine how difficult that must be here. I have a hard time considering the Japanese omnivores. Luckily I'm neither, however, I didn't eat beef for years before coming to Japan but that ended relatively quickly after arriving here. I've brought up such things to Japanese people before and they meet the very idea of vegetarianism with outright derision.
As far as pets go, just an example: Japan has more dogs with genetic defects due to inbreeding than any other country. It's fucking disgusting. Many breeders are lucky to get a single pup in a litter that's not a freak and can live long enough to be sold. Not that the owners really care if their new dog doesn't live long. The thing is just a fashion accessory meant to be cute for a while. Dogs are trends over here. Most people buy them for a short while and then just drive out and dump them on a street. Knowing this, pounds here almost always immediately euthanize animals.