Taking the whaling debate to the Japanese people

January 27, 2009

Print
Send

A celebratory sake barrel-cracking ceremony kicks off the opening of
the Aomori Communications Centre. From left: Hirosumi Hamabata (head
of the Ohma Fishing Cooperative), Takumi Kobayashi (Fundraising
Director, Greenpeace Japan), Jun Hoshikawa (Executive Director,
Greenpeace Japan), Malcolm Wren (Communications Centre Project
Coordinator) and Shigenobu Araki (local Aomori farmer).

A traditional sake barrel-cracking ceremony kicks off the opening of the Aomori Communications Centre. The head of a local fishermen's union and a local farmer attended as guest speakers.

Enlarge image

Aomori, Japan — Greenpeace opened a new communications centre in Aomori, Japan’s northern fishing district. The centre will be a hub of information and discussion on the country’s whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

A recent opinion poll found that 71% of Japanese don’t support their government’s whaling program in the Southern Ocean, while 87% were unaware that the whaling program was subsidised with 500 million yen (AU$8.59 million) of taxpayer's money each year.

Many Japanese imagine modern whaling that involves small boats hunting individual whales along Japan’s coastline. It often comes as a shock when they see images of the massive factory vessel, the Nisshin Maru, which leads a highly industrialised fleet of whaling ships to the Antarctic annually.

Clearly, there is great need for Japanese people to be fully informed about their government's whaling program , which is one of our key intentions in setting up the Centre.

Building dialogue with the Japanese people

The Centre’s opening was marked by a traditional sake barrel-breaking ceremony. Hirosumi Hamata, head of a local fishermen’s union was a guest speaker at the opening. He expressed hope that the people of Aomori would take the time to listen and understand what Greenpeace has to say.

Aomori is one of Japan’s most important fishery and agriculture regions. As well as talking about whale conservation, the Centre will also increase awareness of the need for marine reserves and sustainable fisheries — something fishermen such as Mr Hamata are also very keen to see.

The opening marks 20 years of non-violent environmental campaigning by Greenpeace in Japan. We’ve campaigned on a range of issues in Japan including nuclear waste dumping in Japanese waters, nuclear energy and genetically engineered food.

The Communications Centre is open to the public, and is the perfect opportunity for Greenpeace to reach out to the whole community with our message of healthy oceans and the importance of marine researves. We will host a series of public events in the coming months, including a conference on sustainable fisheries.

The Tokyo Two trial

Aomori is also where the trial of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, the two Greenpeace activists who exposed corruption in the whaling industry, will take place later this year. The two activists face up to 10 years in prison for their role in defending whales.