Race, whales, and anti-Japanese propaganda

Ukonkivi said:

There's quite a lot of things I think are Japanophobia. Anti-whaling is not one of them.
Whaling is something we in the West have not liked in a long time.

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The West/USA has a long history of whaling .... until "petroleum for energy".
Home - New Bedford Whaling Museum

Plus some 150 years ago, they forced Japan to open the ports for supplies to their whaling ships in the sea near Japan.

Two things:

1. Does Greenpeace treat Norway the same way as it does Japan? If not, there is a strong racist factor involved.

2. Since Japan is part of the International Whaling Commission, which bans commercial whaling, it should abide by that ruling or quit the Commission. Hiding it under the pretense of research is "wormy" and disgusting and shows lack of leadership by the government (whoever is responsible for it should commit seppuku, imo). OTOH, if it is truly research, then disclose the research. I would like to know what kind of researh requires such large samples year after year.

Dogen Z said:

Two things:

1. Does Greenpeace treat Norway the same way as it does Japan? If not, there is a strong racist factor involved.

2. Since Japan is part of the International Whaling Commission, which bans commercial whaling, it should abide by that ruling or quit the Commission. Hiding it under the pretense of research is "wormy" and disgusting and shows lack of leadership by the government (whoever is responsible for it should commit seppuku, imo). OTOH, if it is truly research, then disclose the research. I would like to know what kind of researh requires such large samples year after year.

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1. The race does not matter much, but a mystery. For some, whaling by Japanese is barbaric, but I've never heard that the activists throw lactic acid to boats of American whalers in Alaska.

2. The reason why Japan and the US (Alaska) whalers do not have the same attitude is...
the research shows the Alaskan whale is more endangered species, therefore Japan opposes hunting it. The IWC itself was founded for sustainability.

Ukonkivi said:

There's quite a lot of things I think are Japanophobia. Anti-whaling is not one of them.
Whaling is something we in the West have not liked in a long time.

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True, it's the fact that we want Japan to stop whaling that brought the whole race issue to the front.

Many countries have asked Australia to stop killing kangaroos or Canada to stop killing seals and this was realized as being asked purely for the sake of stopping what many view as unnecessary cruelty to animals. But you ask Japan to stop whaling and suddenly your a 'racist' and are 'attacking another countries culture'.

What I find interesting is that when western countries get involved with tiger, elephant or gorilla killings nobody cries racist.

Probably because pretty much everyone agrees those are 'sexy' animals, but to many other cultures whales are an 'unsexy' animal and so they don't get why we care so much about them.

If it was the annual Japanese Panda Hunt I wonder if it would be as widely defended.

MadamePapillon said:

True, it's the fact that we want Japan to stop whaling that brought the whole race issue to the front.
Many countries have asked Australia to stop killing kangaroos or Canada to stop killing seals and this was realized as being asked purely for the sake of stopping what many view as unnecessary cruelty to animals. But you ask Japan to stop whaling and suddenly your a 'racist' and are 'attacking another countries culture'.
What I find interesting is that when western countries get involved with tiger, elephant or gorilla killings nobody cries racist.
Probably because pretty much everyone agrees those are 'sexy' animals, but to many other cultures whales are an 'unsexy' animal and so they don't get why we care so much about them.
If it was the annual Japanese Panda Hunt I wonder if it would be as widely defended.

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As far as I know, the Japanese are not angry about ordinary anti-whaling protest, but really fury about eco-terrorist "Seashepard", which focus only on the Japanese Whaling with their selfish ideology, while Iceland, Norway, others are openly whaling. In addition, Seashepard is supported by Australian government.

Their logic is very clear ..... because of Japan.

Plus, the Japanese whaling is 100% following the international rule, agreed at IWC.

MadamePapillon said:

Many countries have asked Australia to stop killing kangaroos or Canada to stop killing seals and this was realized as being asked purely for the sake of stopping what many view as unnecessary cruelty to animals.

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I realize this has nothing to do with Japan, but I think I remember being told by at least one Australian that there are just too many kangaroos in Australia. To stop killing them would be to let them take over.

In other words, with no actual knowledge to go by, it seems to me to be a population management issue, much like white-tailed deer in the northern United States. Population management can be debated, of course, but I know that some advocates say that it is more humane to kill off a certain percentage of the population to keep a viable population than to allow the population to explode and starve slowly when food runs out.

Mikawa Ossan said:

I realize this has nothing to do with Japan, but I think I remember being told by at least one Australian that there are just too many kangaroos in Australia. To stop killing them would be to let them take over.
In other words, with no actual knowledge to go by, it seems to me to be a population management issue, much like white-tailed deer in the northern United States. Population management can be debated, of course, but I know that some advocates say that it is more humane to kill off a certain percentage of the population to keep a viable population than to allow the population to explode and starve slowly when food runs out.

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I think that's true. The kangaroo doesn't seem to have any natural predators. Possibly because as with the white tailed deer humans reduced the population of natural predators so severely the herbivores took over and started to decimate all the plant life so humans were almost forced to step in and 'restore balance', as it were.

But, back on topic, this isn't really an issue with whales. Their biggest predators are us, and not just with whales either but with their food source as well. Don't quote me on this but I read somewhere that since commercial whaling first began whale populations had been reduced to about 90% of their original numbers. And since they are slow breeders, are being commercially hunted (excuse me, scientifically hunted), and their food supplies are slowly but surely being dwindled down (not to mention the sound and environmental pollution of the oceans they live in), well, the future doesn't look to bright for the whales.

I really don't believe that Australians who oppose whaling do so because Japan is one of the participating nations. Speaking on behalf of the millions of Australians (potentially) who do not support whaling (and I have spoken to at least 20 of them personally), I believe that Australia's opposition to whaling is largely based on the perception that whaling appears to be a cruel and excruciatingly painful way for an animal to die, and that this opinion is not just a consequence of any supposed anti-Japanese sentiment. However, I have also spoken to people who assume that all Japanese people support whaling and are derogatory towards them as a result. In conclusion, it seems that there are people who have developed negative opinions of Japan due to the country's involvement in whaling however I'm sure many Australians would agree that it is the practice of whaling itself, not the race of those employed in the industry, that they are opposed to.