Australian anti-whaling activists call for boycott of Japanese firms

Not going to have much luck with this one, I'm afraid. Japanese food is among the top ethnic foods eaten in Australia (whale aside... which probably cannot be found there -- at least I don't know of any), and I don't think your average restaurant goer is going to decline based on this issue.

Any pressure is good pressure, however.

 

These anti whalers are driven more by hate of Japan than the love of whales.

 

move back home and watch it all die down. good to see the whaling being attacked at the source i.e tax paying corporations. hope this movement gains momentum.

 

...or by hate of what whales eat.

 

Will Australian "Tuna Wranglers" stop selling their catch to Japan?

 

in a restaurant last week but declined. ;-)

 

"These anti whalers are driven more by hate of Japan than the love of whales."

Speaking from personal experience? Can't think of what else would drive you to that conclusion so easily. I love whales -- they are magnificent creatures, and the world would be at a loss, not to mention the eco-system, when they become extinct. I do hate the Japanese in their PUSH for whaling as a 'right', despite them doing it NOWHERE near Japan, but I love Japan in many respects aside from the general populace's stance on whaling (that is, the elderly, since most young people have never willingly tried whale), and my standing behind anti-whaling on this issue is because of my love for whales, etc.

 

The right whale is the first whale spiecies wchich faces extinction. You never hear about the tragic faith of the right whale in Australian media only Japans hunt of whales which BTW is sustainable because eventhough Japan hunts whales the whales which Japan hunts grow in numbers year after year.

 

That Canon won't stick its neck out is a no-brainer since Mitarai represents J-businesses nationally. But Oz need not capitulate preemptively to kiss up to J-money.

 

Are they as sustainable as the tuna that is dying off because of Japanese overfishing? 'Sustainable' will be Japan's excuse until the last whale is dead, when they'll say, "Shouganai, ne!" and then make a whale museum to pretend they were compassionate.

The idea that Japan is carrying out 'science' in the name of slaughter is a joke. Japan hunted whale in the past (very little compared to now, when it is strictly commercial!) because there was a general lack of nutrition; particularly after WWII when all the dying old men who are for whaling now used to eat it with their school lunches, and are now wishing for those 'good old days'. It is entirely unnecessary in this day and age and the pretension that it is a 'way of life' is bogus. You don't want to lose Japanese tradition? Fine! Stick to trying to make Japanese sumo wrestlers that can actually beat foreign ones (the top three are Mongolian, after all), keep brushing that beautiful calligraphy, and arranging flowers -- these are all beautiful and wonderful expressions of Japan and its culture. Whaling, on the other hand, should well die out... long before the whales. No one needs whaling, and no one needs whale meat, either, as much as the old men might cry out.

 

Yea, I saw that on my Toshiba laptop.

The Oz groups need to be careful over this one - it could backfire horribly if they continue to tar all things Nippon with the same brush as they are blatantly doing.

Only a matter of time 'till the first J-tourists get lynched on the Gold Coast by some ignoramus swept along by this tide of anti-Japan sentiment - then the Ozzies will see the real effects a consumer boycott can have on a nation's economy, just not in the way they had intended.

 

Countries are now voting in favour of Japans very modest request for a whale hunt to protect their tuna stocks. Whales eat fish. Some of the fish the whales eat are baby tuna. This we know due to Japans scientific research programme which has been hailed by the IWC Scientific Committee which consits of leading maritime scientists from around the world. Japan does not want to do reseacrh any more only a commcercial hunt. As of environmental reasons there are no reasons for opposing Japan.

Since the hunt is sustainable. The use of selective cathing of marine fish and mammals is the most environmental sound way of producing food for humans today. The natural habitat does not have to be destroyed and turned into agricultural land. There is no pollution from fertilizers and pesticides. It is energy efficient.

So...Australia fish more tuna than Japan and is against Japan hunting a non endangered whale spiecies? Not to mention that these people who rally so hard against Japanese whaling are completely unaware of the right whale.


No one needs whaling, and no one needs whale meat, either, as much as the old men might cry out.

It should not be up to you to decide what other people want to eat.

Environmentalist and Australian of the Year 2007, Tim Flannery said the harvest of 935 Minke whales for scientific purposes won't threaten the species, and we should be concentrating on other more pressing issues.

http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2007/12/31/Aus...

In other words a non event is becoming politicalised due to close mindedness by people who has no tradition eating whale meat.

 

I will boycott eating Natto

 

"Countries are now voting in favour of Japans very modest request for a whale hunt to protect their tuna stocks. Whales eat fish. Some of the fish the whales eat are baby tuna. This we know due to Japans scientific research programme which has been hailed by the IWC Scientific Committee which consits of leading maritime scientists from around the world."

Yes, according to 'Japanese Scientific Research' HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha!!! The Japanese have admitted themselves that all of their scientific research ends up on the dinner plate, when it comes to whaling, and has thanked the loop-hole in the illegal culling of whales. What's more, if they are so much for saving the tuna, tell me AGAIN why the Japanese OVER-FISH them as well? They were WELL over the quota last year, and admitted it after being caught doing so, then blame the losses on the whales in order to wipe them out too.

"It should not be up to you to decide what other people want to eat."

I'm not telling people what they should or shouldn't eat -- if you want to pay an arm and a leg for over priced fat when you could just go to a butcher shop and ask for the throw-aways of cow fat for free, go ahead! Just because they are on the verge of extinction doesn't make them more 'delicious' (then again, the Japanese are well-known for paying THOUSANDS of dollars when someone else says something is rare; ex. Yubari melons, beer fed beef, a single fish sashimied up so it is still alive when you eat it, etc.). But hey, stuff a little more blubber in your mouth, and when your kids cry about the whales being dead, you can remember how 'delicious' they were.

Again, though, I'm not deciding what people want to eat, but it's a FACT that when young people have been polled, nearly 100% said they preferred the taste of beef to whale, and those are only with the number who had even TASTED whale... the rest simply had no interest. So again, if that's also a FACT (and there have been plenty of articles even on JT about it in even a couple of years ago), why keep going? as I said, as such, it's unnecessary.

So, since your points have been proven moot, what else do you have to offer?

I agree with other posters that Australia is overstepping their bounds by trying to ban all things Japanese, and if you read my first post -- which is the first post on this thread and completely objective -- you'll see I said I don't think such ways of fighting the issue are going to work at all, and won't turn people from eating Japanese food.

And then again... go to any other country that serves Japanese food (outside of Norway and Iceland, which actually whale in their own waters!) and tell me where they serve whale. My guess is that if a Japanese restaurant in Oz or in other Western countries served whale (aside from underground and very expensive places, where again eating something 'rare' is 'delicious'), they would be shunned and effectively shut down pretty quickly.

"In other words a non event is becoming politicalised due to close mindedness by people who has no tradition eating whale meat."

Hey, Canadians DO have a tradition of eating such sea creatures... namely the Innuit (albeit, they were around far longer than your European-descent Canadians), but you go and tell me where they went to another country's sanctuary to slaughter way more than they needed to sell for massive profits (while much of it rotted in storage)!

And again, if it's such a part of your 'tradition' and 'heritage', then I strongly encourage you to press the Japanese government to fish for whales in Japanese waters! C'mon, man! Do it! Go for the sustainable whale population in Japan!!! Or wait... did you already kill them all off?

Finally, as I stated before, it is a DYING tradition. My only hope is that all the whales aren't dead before the old men who insist on killing them off and trying to force them down the throats of children who don't want to eat them.

I'm eagerly waiting for your response, but my guess is you'll spew up the same old 'it's our tradition' arguments before closing your eyes and answering my arguments against such a 'tradition', so I won't hold my breath (I am a mammal, but can't live underwater, after all).

 

Yes, according to 'Japanese Scientific Research' HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha!!! The Japanese have admitted themselves that all of their scientific research ends up on the dinner plate

I assume you do not know the objectives of the Scientific Research programme. The objective of this research is to be able to calculate how many whales one can hunt withouth making a negative impact on the stock estimates. Well all hunt does make a negative impact on the stock estimates but to make sure that despite the hunt the stock estimates do not decrease in numbers. In other words to make sure the hunt is SUSTAINABLE. Other objectives of the reseacrh is to see what effect hunting whales will have for the eco system.

For instance whales eat krill and fish. Whales eat atelast 5 times as much fish as humans do globally. While one should not blame whales for the over exploitation of the oceans one should not ignore ecological realities either

I'm not telling people what they should or shouldn't eat --

Technically speaking you are not. But the AUstralian government is trying to tell Japan what to eat and what not to eat and basically every country in IWC who oppose Japans ecological sound scientific research programme is and they base their opinion on irrational emotions while not backing up their claims with scientific justifications.

Just because they are on the verge of extinction doesn't make them more 'delicious'

I repeat. The whales Japan wants to hunt is not on the verge of extinction. Thats the whole point.

Protecting a non endangered spiecies in a multi spiecies eco system is not a very smart way to be protecting the eco system. The eco system gets out of balance.

Killing whales for foor is less cruel than raising cows then killing them. Not to mention much worse for the global environment.

 

Damn... I said 'one more thing' in my last post, but I guess I have yet one more.

"Countries are now voting in favour of Japans very modest request for a whale hunt to protect their tuna stocks."

Name ONE country that isn't asking for a Japanese bid to join the UN (of which Japan has yet to get a permanent seat... and partly due to their stance on whaling... hahahaha!), aside from Norway and Iceland -- which fish in their own waters.

Still waiting...

 

IWC stands for International Whaling Committee. States which become members sign a declaration which states they will work in the best interest of the whaling industry. Which basically means. Countries who oppose Japanese whaling are not doing their jobs in IWC. No one forced countries to join. If you dont agree on the contract you dont sign the contract. For instance USA did not sign the Kyoto protocol. They chose not to sign it.

Australia is now working against a contract which the government has signed under. They are not honouring their contract. In a court. Australia would not stand a chance against Japan.

Back to your question. You sasked. Name 1 country. Denmark.

 

"I assume you do not know the objectives of the Scientific Research programme. The objective of this research is to be able to calculate how many whales one can hunt withouth making a negative impact on the stock estimates."

So when they are extinct the scientists will say, "oops. I guess that was too much." That's not science, my friend. How does the Japanese government say it's sustainable when other governments have proven it is not? Take the humpback, for example... I'll even admit hunting a few mink whales may not kill them off, but the humpbacks are INDEED endangered, but when the izakaya demanded more variation the 'scientists' decided to go into the endangered list, declare themselves that said whales are NOT endangered, and hunt them too. Fortunately, the actions of the Aussies made said 'scientists' (again, a laughable title) forego their hunt on the humpbacks. So...... if it was so critical for Japanese science to suddenly kill humpbacks (which they love to view at tourist destinations in package tours, I might add), why did they suddenly give up their lunch plates?

I must admit your last post was far more objective (I mean the answer to my last to last, not the one asking you 'which country') than your previous ones, and I respect and appreciate that, but still.

"Protecting a non endangered spiecies in a multi spiecies eco system is not a very smart way to be protecting the eco system. The eco system gets out of balance."

Give me a break. Are you saying that before steam ships and rigs could go out and mass whale hunt there weren't whales eating fish? Since industrialization the stocks of both have increased exponentially. If the tuna stocks are threatened, it's because we have overfished, and in particular the Japanese who admit to it. If they then go and blame it on the whales, it's no justification for over-hunting whales, too! It'll go like this if it's justified.

J-government: We've (admittedly) over-fished tuna, and those few that remain are being eaten in abundance by the remaining whales in this planet. We must therefore kill many of them (and, snicker snicker, fill our plates and pockets as well) to save the tuna.

"Killing whales for foor is less cruel than raising cows then killing them. Not to mention much worse for the global environment."

Despite this making no sense, I think I know what you are trying to say. The issue of killing cattle is neither here nor there; if you want to talk about the cruelty of killing cattle, I'll gladly join you on another thread. However, unlike most of your ilk who try to deflect to the VERY cruel 2 hours or so it may take to kill a large mammal like a whale (as opposed to the instant death of a cow by electric shock or nail to the head, though still incredibly cruel), this has nothing to do with cows, pigs, monkeys brained in third-world countries, or snakes put in alcohol. It's about the slaughter of whales, bottom line.

"Back to your question. You sasked. Name 1 country. Denmark."

Doh! You got me! Damn... I should have said, 'name a non-whaling country or a country that whales outside of its waters'. Try again, after I admit my lack of definition.

 

We know no such thing. According to a Japanese paper submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee in 1990, in the minke whales Japan is now slaughtering by the hundreds in the Southern Ocean, Krill (Euphausia superba) were the dominant food species comprising 100% and 94% by weight of stomach contents
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w21002485n656054/
Same goes for the fin whale, 50 of which are in the firing line this year - Antarctic fin whales don't eat fish
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archiv...

Since they don't eat fish, it stands to reason they don't eat baby tuna. QED

 

Whale meat was never a regular part of 'traditional' Japanese diet until after World War Two when commercial whaling became possible on an unprecedented scale because of modern harpoons and other hunting technology. There was a temporary, unsustainable glut of whale meat on the market to the point where it was so cheap it was being served in kids school lunches.

Does anybody seriously think that it would be possible for Japan's population of 127 million to regularly eat whale meat without driving them to extinction?

We have given up many other ancient traditions, like imperial government rule, farming lifestyles and kimonos; so why not whale meat? The answer is MONEY. Now that whale meat has become a scarce commodity, there is a lot of money to be made from it. There is a very careful marketing strategy to promote whale meat as a 'distinctly traditional Japanese' delicacy which is 'healthier than other kinds of meat'. This is merely an advertising ploy.

If we are serious about continuing whale hunting as an ancient Japanese tradition we should hunt whales in the traditional way: in wooden boats with spears. There is nothing traditional about the mass slaughter of thousands of whales in giant ships with steel harpoons.

 

'And again, if it's such a part of your 'tradition' and 'heritage', then I strongly encourage you to press the Japanese government to fish for whales in Japanese waters! C'mon, man! Do it! Go for the sustainable whale population in Japan!!! Or wait... did you already kill them all off?'

Good point MittoNatto. A huge part of the current controversy is that we are whaling in Australian waters. What happened to the Japanese whales...?
How would we feel if Australian's were doing 'scientific hunting' of tuna in our waters? We wouldn't be very happy.

 

"Good point MittoNatto. A huge part of the current controversy is that we are whaling in Australian waters. What happened to the Japanese whales...?
How would we feel if Australian's were doing 'scientific hunting' of tuna in our waters? We wouldn't be very happy."

Ummm... that was MY point, against MittoNatto.

 

My mistake! Good point smithinjapan. Where is MitoNatto? Let the debate continue :)

 

Umm, except they aren't in Australian waters, they're in international waters. If they were in Australian waters, believe me, you would be reading a different story now.

Personally, I couldn't care less about whaling. As long as the animals aren't being driven extinct, let em take a few a year. Oh, boo hoo, the majestic whale is being "slaughtered" Go watch Free Willy a few dozen more times and feel better about yourself.

 

"Umm, except they aren't in Australian waters, they're in international waters. If they were in Australian waters, believe me, you would be reading a different story now."

Umm... News flash Molenir

"Japanese whaling within Australian waters in Antarctica is illegal and should be stopped, the Australin Court ruled on Tuesday." - You should really keep up to date. They are whaling in Australian Antarctic Waters: hence the Court ruling and outrage in Australia.

 

If you want to find out a bit more, read this....

"The Australian Whale Sanctuary, which protects all whales and dolphins in Australian waters, was proclaimed in 2000. These waters include a 200-mile wide stretch adjacent to Australia’s Antarctic territory, in which more than 1300 whales were killed by Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha between 2000 and 2006, estimates the Humane Society International.

Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha has a permit to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales in Antarctica this season, and the Humane Society International estimates that 90% of these would be killed within the Australian Whale Sanctuary. “We are now calling upon the government to enforce the injunction immediately,” says HSI spokeswoman Nicola Beynon in Sydney."

Did you think that Australian's were just a weird bunch of whale hugging hippies?

 

"The Australian Whale Sanctuary, which protects all whales and dolphins in Australian waters, was proclaimed in 2000. These waters include a 200-mile wide stretch adjacent to Australia’s Antarctic territory, in which more than 1300 whales were killed by Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha between 2000 and 2006, estimates the Humane Society International.

I hereby declare a 200-cm whale sanctuary in my bathtub. So don't even think about it. Capiche?

 

I'm afraid I don't recognise your bathtub as being a whale sanctuary as you didn't "proclaim" it so.

A mere declaration simply won't do you see. Either proclaim it or my rubber ducks are coming in.

 

This is much more sensible than playing cat and mouse games on the high seas. It may not get as much front page press and it will take more effort but it will probably be more effective in the long run as well.

This also avoids all the discussion about whose waters, whose sanctuary, Oz courts vs. the Japanese, etc. etc. Much more cut a dried.

No more arguements, put your money where your mouth is. If you're against killing whales don't buy Japanese products.

 

I hereby declare a 200-cm whale sanctuary in my bathtub. So don't even think about it. Capiche?

200cm is a bit long would you not agree?