Ten Thousand Things
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"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

GREENPEACE: 69% Japanese Against Whaling

I can't figure out why the Japanese government continues to kill whales. Few eat the meat. Most of it sits in storage, wasting energy to keep it frozen, after the wasteful expense of killing and slaughtering the whales in the first place. Most Japanese (69%) are against this practice and even more (95%) don't eat whale meat.

I am reminded of how governments around the world constantly defy the wishes of most of their population – Burma and Pakistan when it comes to democratic practice – the U.S. and UK when it comes to war and torture.

Why can't governments listen to their citizens and world opinion? Only a few want to kill whales. Why should they control the world the rest of us live in, making it a worse place?

Greenpeace has listed 3 action requests to help stop the cruel and wasteful killing of whales, including email messages to Denmark and Poland, and a request for ideas on how to make this happen more quickly.

"We Love Japan, but Whaling Breaks Our Hearts! 69 percent of your fellow Japanese do not support what you are doing in the Sanctuary and there is virtually no market for what you are producing. The "research" you have been ordered to carry out is not wanted by scientists and the meat is not wanted by the Japanese people. On this Valentine's Day, a day for spreading love we ask once again that you leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and return to port."

This was Greenpeace's campaign message in February 2007 when Greenpeace volunteers in Tokyo carried a giant Valentine's card, on which this message was written, addressed to pro-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Junichi Sato, whales campaign leader of Greenpeace Japan, said "This is not just frivolous fun. We want to send a clear message that we are not anti Japanese, we simply oppose whaling," said Junichi Sato, whales campaign leader in Greenpeace Japan. "We know that 69 percent of Japanese do not support what their government is doing in the Southern Ocean and 95 percent never or rarely eat whale meat. Whaling does not belong in the 21st century and the only way forward for the IWC is to start working for the whales and not the whalers."

This month, the Japanese whaling fleet is hiding, fearing American reaction, according to Greenpeace's November 16 report:

"International — The Japanese whaling fleet has delayed its departure to the Southern Ocean for its annual whale hunt to avoid political embarrassment when Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda meets with US President George W. Bush.

"Japan's annual Southern Ocean whale hunt is conducted under the guise of science but has been condemned internationally. This season, Japan aims to kill more than 1,000 whales, including 50 endangered fin whales and, for the first time in 20 years, 50 threatened humpback whales will also be harpooned.
"The International Whaling Commission has called for an end to the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary under Japan's whaling programme.

"Our ship the Esperanza is currently positioned just outside Japanese territorial waters and will be following the Japanese whaling fleet after it leaves the port of Shimonseki for its passage towards the Antarctic.

"'The Japanese government's 'scientific' whaling programme is a sham and a source of diplomatic tension between Japan and countries that support whale conservation, like the United States. Whaling has no place in Antarctica - it's a place of peace and science, and this is not science,' said Karli Thomas, expedition leader aboard the Esperanza.

"An opinion poll carried out in Japan by the Nippon Research Centre, in June 2006, showed that 95 per cent of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat. More than two-thirds of Japanese do not support whaling on the high seas...

Japan's whalers are deceiving the Japanese public by painting the word 'research' on their ships,' said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan Whales Project leader. "Real scientists don't need to kill whales to study them. This is commercial whaling poorly dressed up as science.'

"'The Japanese Government should already know that information about whales can be gained without killing them. The Antarctic whale hunt is an expensive waste of Japanese taxpayers' money and goes against public opinion in Japan and overseas. The time has come for the Japanese government to end this hunt.'

"Japan has close to 4,000 tons of whale meat from its 'scientific' whaling programme in cold storage - uneaten, unsold, and unwanted..."

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