Echoing a series of scandals which
have beset the Japanese government over the past twelve months,
Greenpeace activists today sent a message direct from the Southern Ocean
back to Tokyo, as pressure mounts inside Japan to end its controversial
whaling programme.
Holding the kanji symbol of the year [1], nise, meaning FAKE - against
the hull of the Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship Nisshin Maru,
Japan whales campaigner Sakyo Noda sent a message to the people of Japan
that this is yet another in a series of scandals that their government
is trying to cover up by claiming that its whaling programme is
legitimate research.
Today, one of the leading newspapers in Japan, Asahi Shimbun, also
called into question the validity of the whaling programme, by
asking "Why is the Japanese government so insistent on engaging in
whaling?". The article cites concerns about the use of taxpayer's money,
dubious science, the lack of interest from the fishing industry in
supporting the whaling programme, and the fact that former employees of
the Japanese government Fisheries Agency were "parachuted" into key
roles in the supposedly independent Institute of Cetacean Research - the
agency which commissions the whaling fleet.
"For the past week we have stopped the whaling programme here in the
Southern Ocean", said Japan whales campaigner Sakyo Noda. "In Japan
there is now growing concern about this fake science, giving new
opportunities to show how scandalous it is, in order to close it down
for good," said Noda.
In addition, Tokyo's comments on the whaling programme are now usually
handled by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cabinet Office, a
clear indication that the government is losing confidence in its own
Fisheries Agency, the ministry that normally deals with whaling issues.
Earlier today, the Yushin Maru No.2, one of the harpoon-carrying
"catcher boats" joined with the Nisshin Maru hundreds of miles north of
the whale hunting grounds, where the Greenpeace ship Esperanza continues
to keep the fleet's mother ship out of action.
The Esperanza has been chasing the Nisshin Maru since it discovered the
whaling fleet in the early hours of January 12th - the factory ship then
fled from the whaling grounds. Without the Nisshin Maru, the rest of the
fleet cannot hunt, because the whales must be transferred to the factory
vessel, cut up and frozen immediately after being harpooned. The
whalers plan to kill 935 minke whales this season, as well as 50
endangered fin whales.
"We have kept the factory ship and the rest of the fleet out of action
for six days now" said expedition leader Karli Thomas. "No whales have
been killed in that time. Now we've got two whalers out of the hunting
grounds. If they try to return and begin hunting, we'll be launching our
boats and carrying out peaceful, direct action, by putting ourselves in
front of the harpoons to defend the whales".
Japan's so-called scientific research programme has been dismissed as
useless by the International Whaling Commission, of which Japan is a
member, and in 2007 the organisation passed a resolution calling for an
end to Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean Whaling Sanctuary.
1. In 2007, 90,816 people voted for the Kanji of the Year by
internet, postcard and by attending the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, for
the nise or gi kanji symbol, following numerous consumer scandals
involving the false labeling of food and recycled paper and political
funding and faulty pension records in Japan.
