20 February 2008 - International
— Every year the Japanese government spends
$US 4.7 million of taxpayers' money to subsidise
the whaling industry.
Yet a new, Greenpeace commissioned, opinion
poll reveals that 87 percent of the Japanese
public are unaware of that fact.
Furthermore the poll
reveals that 71 percent of Japanese people
don't support their country's whaling on
the high seas - an increase from 69 percent
in 2006.
The poll was conducted
by Nippon Research Centre, a member of Gallup
International Association and surveyed over
1,000 people aged 15 to 60, between January
18 and 23.
It found that in general
only 31 percent of people backed whaling,
25 percent opposed it and 44 percent had
no opinion.
The low levels of support
for whaling in principle and strong rejection
of whaling on high seas comes in stark contrast
to the claims from the Fisheries Agency
of Japan, which issues permits for the so-called
scientific whale hunt, that it's acting
in defence of Japan's cultural traditions.
It is clear that they
do not enjoy anything like majority support
for whaling and in fact are operating in
opposition to the general will of the Japanese
people.
Amazingly, 87 percent
of those surveyed didn't know that their
hard-earned yen is being squandered on subsidising
the Fisheries Agency of Japan's annual assault
on the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
They will also be blissfully
unaware of plans under consideration by
their Government to spend between 14 billion
and 21 billion yen (US$125 million to US$188
million) of tax payers money on building
a new factory whaling ship to replace the
ageing whaling fleet factory ship the Nissin
Maru.
Whaling takes a hit
in Japan
As our offices around
the world are lobbying their governments
to take a hard line on Japanese whaling
at the upcoming International Whaling Commission
meeting in Chile this June, our campaign
in Japan is growing.
Greenpeace Japan has
been urging supermarkets and restaurants
not to offer whale meat with three of the
top five supermarkets chains responding
positively. 'Watami', a famous pub chain,
with over 600 restaurants all over Japan,
has also confirmed that whale is off the
menu.
Fewer and fewer people
in Japan are eating whale meat, leading
to declining demand and an unsold stockpile
of nearly 4,000 tonnes of whale meat. In
a desperate attempt by the bureaucrats of
the Japanese Fisheries Agency to reverse
the trend and create artificial support
for their unpopular product, the whale meat
has been subsidised, pushed into school
lunches and used as dog food.
Media picture changing
When our ship, the Esperanza,
stopped the whaling fleet earlier this year
in the Southern Ocean for fourteen days
by chasing the fleet's factory ship, traffic
to our Japanese website grew to the point
that we were seeing more traffic in an hour
than is normally seen in a day. Helping
to fill the information void in Japan and
carrying our message about whaling to the
hearts and minds of Japanese people.
We are also witnessing
a changing media landscape in Japan. There
have been fewer references to Greenpeace
as "terrorists" and more newspapers
and television stations acknowledging our
commitment to non-violence.
Newspapers and magazines
in Japan which have in the past been silent
or pro whaling are also beginning to question
the wisdom of whaling in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary.
Diplomatic liability
Normally, the Fisheries
Agency of Japan tries to refrain of commenting
on the whale hunt - preferring to leave
that to their PR man based in New Zealand,
Glenn Ingwood.
This year however, we
have seen the results of increasing diplomatic
pressure with the Japanese Foreign Ministry
and Prime Minister both feeling compelled
to respond. "The whaling issue is a
matter of each country's circumstances,"
Prime Minister Fukuda said urging: "It's
important to address the whaling issue in
a calm manner.
Diplomatic embarrassment
runs deep, as a BBC correspondent in Tokyo
recently wrote:
"The unfortunate
bureaucrats in the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo
who are required to defend whaling on our
channels and those of other broadcasters
often admit quietly, once the camera is
switched off and the microphone unplugged,
that this is not a subject they warm too.
Their frustration is
not directed at the interviewers, who all
too often give them a roasting, demanding
they defend what to many is indefensible.
It is their fellow pen-pushers
at the Fisheries Ministry who are making
life difficult for them by continuing to
prop up a whaling industry that sullies
the reputation of Japan around the world."
A leading business magazine,
Shukan Toyo Keizai recently wrote, "The
stance of whaling hardliners could also
be a vent for narrow-minded nationalism.
In the end, that could easily be detrimental
to national interests. Perhaps the Japanese
people need to take this opportunity to
re-examine the whaling issue for themselves."
Canon can end whaling
It is not only the politicians
that are feeling the heat. As part of our
work in Japan, we are also calling on the
CEO of Canon, Fujio Mitarai, to use his
position as the head of the influential
Japanese Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren)
to call for an end to whaling on the high
seas.
Canon is famous for
using wildlife as a marketing tool for its
cameras for over 25 years. If Canon takes
the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
seriously, it shouldn't miss this chance
to use its corporate might to oppose lethal
research whaling.
With the decision to
back off on plans to kill humpback whales
this year, the whalers are on the defensive
for the first time in decades. Now is the
time for all of us to pressure Japanese
businesses and government officials to join
with Greenpeace, and 71 percent of the Japanese
public, and call for an end the research
whaling programme in the Southern Ocean.
