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As the Esperanza continues to shadow the Nisshin Maru, the whaling fleet’s factory ship - preventing any whaling - our crew is sending a message direct from the Southern Ocean linking the scandal of whaling to a host of other scandals plaguing the government in Tokyo.
On board an inflatable boat running parallel to the giant factory ship, Greenpeace Japan whales campaigner Sakyo Noda held the Japanese kanji symbol "偽" (“nise”), meaning “fake”, next to the word “RESEARCH” which has been painted by the Japanese Fisheries Agency on the Nishim Maru’s hull. Reflecting a growing disquiet in Japanese society, "偽" was voted the best kanji symbol of the year for 2008. Its choice reflects recent food mislabeling scandals, problems over political funds and faulty pension records. Greenpeace Japan is now using it to show that the use of taxpayers money to fund “scientific” whaling is yet another government scandal.
Due to self-censorship, until recently the whaling issue has not been given much attention in the Japanese news media. Being against whaling was thought to be against Japanese culture. This created a "whalers' sanctuary" inside Japanese society that protected a small number of bureaucrats, whalers and politicians who have vested interests in whaling -- all at the expense of the taxpayer. But finally things are changing, as the truth is beginning to hit home.
Today, one of Japan's leading newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun, called into question the validity of the whaling program by asking "Why is the Japanese government so insistent on engaging in whaling?" The report cited concerns about the use of taxpayers’ money, dubious science, the lack of interest from the fishing industry in supporting the whaling program and the fact that former employees of the Japanese government Fisheries Agency were "parachuted" into key (and well paid) roles in the supposedly independent Institute of Cetacean Research – the agency which commissions the whaling fleet.
For many years the Japan Fisheries Agency has claimed that whaling is integral to Japanese culture. Yet when shown pictures of modern whaling in the Southern Ocean, complete with factory ships and grenade tipped harpoons, Japanese people don’t recognise anything traditional about it. In fact, modern whaling methods were introduced by the U.S. after World War II as a means of addressing food shortages.
Further, a survey conducted by the Nippon Research Center, in 2006, showed that over 95 percent of the public had never or very rarely eaten whale meat. It also found that 90 percent of Japanese people had no idea their government hunted whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and once they were aware of it, 69 percent disagreed with it.
Today, Japan has over 4000 tons of frozen whale meat in storage, and despite the government's attempts to make eating it part of Japanese culture, the public just aren't interested.
Due to self-censorship, until recently the whaling issue has not been given much attention in the Japanese news media. Being against whaling was thought to be against Japanese culture. This created a "whalers' sanctuary" inside Japanese society that protected a small number of bureaucrats, whalers and politicians who have vested interests in whaling -- all at the expense of the taxpayer. But finally things are changing, as the truth is beginning to hit home.
Today, one of Japan's leading newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun, called into question the validity of the whaling program by asking "Why is the Japanese government so insistent on engaging in whaling?" The report cited concerns about the use of taxpayers’ money, dubious science, the lack of interest from the fishing industry in supporting the whaling program and the fact that former employees of the Japanese government Fisheries Agency were "parachuted" into key (and well paid) roles in the supposedly independent Institute of Cetacean Research – the agency which commissions the whaling fleet.
For many years the Japan Fisheries Agency has claimed that whaling is integral to Japanese culture. Yet when shown pictures of modern whaling in the Southern Ocean, complete with factory ships and grenade tipped harpoons, Japanese people don’t recognise anything traditional about it. In fact, modern whaling methods were introduced by the U.S. after World War II as a means of addressing food shortages.
Further, a survey conducted by the Nippon Research Center, in 2006, showed that over 95 percent of the public had never or very rarely eaten whale meat. It also found that 90 percent of Japanese people had no idea their government hunted whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and once they were aware of it, 69 percent disagreed with it.
Today, Japan has over 4000 tons of frozen whale meat in storage, and despite the government's attempts to make eating it part of Japanese culture, the public just aren't interested.
Take Action: Urge President Bush to tell Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda to put away Japan’s harpoons.
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