In early March, Japan was ravaged by a devastating 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami. In the following months, the island nation dealt with death, disease, destruction and an ever increasingly serious nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The country struggled to rebuild after the earthquake, and with 15,840 deaths and 3,611 still missing (NOAA/National Police Agency of Japan), Japan and its people were hurting as one. Calling for aid from the International Community, it seemed as if every country from each corner of the world sent whatever they could to help out the people of Japan.
Currently, the areas hit the hardest are rebuilding little by little, but the signs of the tsunami and earthquake are very much still visible. As mentioned before, the international community rushed to the aid of Japan, not just with food and medicine but with BILLIONS of dollars. The money came from governments, non-profit organizations, corporations and individual donators.
In this specific article from TIME magazine, "Blood Money: Tsunami Recovery Funds Go to Japan’s Whaling Industry", Krista Mahr displays the intentions of the Japanese government that horrifies me, as well as many other people. The main point of this article, and the statistic that is causing international controversy, is that Japan is using US$29 Million dollars of relief aid funds to fund the country's whaling industry. Japan's whaling industry has received harsh criticism from many organizations around the world and has even drawn the attention of the Animal Planet channel by starting the show "Whale Wars", which shows the infamous Sea Shepherd "battling" the Japanese whaling vessels. Recent polls show that 95% of Japanese people rarely eat whale meat, if at all (TIME) and 69% of the Japanese do not support whaling practices in the Southern Oceans of Antarctica (Greenpeace). This statistic makes it hard to argue that the whaling industry is imperative to Japan, as some Japanese officials claim. Even though it is a tradition that goes deep into Japanese history, which is the idea that Japan is using to defend whaling of the shores of Japan and Antarctica, whaling has been banned in almost every country by the International Whaling Commission or IWC. Japan is only one of a few countries that are still permitted to practice whaling for scientific reasons...
Scientific reasons? Seems like a bunch of BS to me, excuse the expression. While some of the whales MAY be used for research, over 1000 whales are killed by Japanese whalers each winter in the Southern Oceans. Japan's whaling quota is 935 Minke whales, 50 Fin whales and 50 Humpback whales each year. According to Greenpeace, the whaling industry makes around US$64,000,000 from the sales of whale meat. The whaling industry has also lead to an underground black market for the sale of the whale meat; a 50lb box of meat, which is what most of the sellers distribute, goes for close to US$3,000.
I understand and respect national traditions that go back into the country's history, each country has them and some are frowned upon by other nations. But the fact of the matter here is that Japan has used relief fund money intended for the people of Japan and the rebuilding of its nation after a natural disaster. Instead, they go ahead and use almost 30 million dollars to fund a practice that most of its citizens are against and a practice that draws harsh criticism from most nations around the world. To me, Japan is basically saying "thanks for the money, now we're going to use it to kill whales for meat no one really eats in our country and you all are paying for it!" - a slap in the face to the international community. There is not much that can be done, we can't take the money back, we can only watch as the fisherman of Japan take the annual trip to Antarctica to kill whales for profit.
One way we can help is to join organizations that are against this practice. Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Surfers for Cetaceans (founded by Dave Rastovich, a professional free-surfer sponsored by Billabong), are all great organizations to be a part of. Each contribute and continue to fight for the animals that have no voice.
As the Head of Greenpeace Japan, Junichi Sato, said in the TIME article, "Japan cannot afford to waste money on whaling in the Antarctic when its people are suffering at home."
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsunami/pdf/2011_0311.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/12/12/blood-money-tsunami-recovery-funds-go-to-japans-whaling-industry/?hpt=hp_c2
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/ending-japanese-whaling/whaling-is-bad-business/
Get involved here!
Surfers for Cetaceans
Greenpeace
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Scientific reasons? Seems like a bunch of BS to me, excuse the expression. While some of the whales MAY be used for research, over 1000 whales are killed by Japanese whalers each winter in the Southern Oceans. Japan's whaling quota is 935 Minke whales, 50 Fin whales and 50 Humpback whales each year. According to Greenpeace, the whaling industry makes around US$64,000,000 from the sales of whale meat. The whaling industry has also lead to an underground black market for the sale of the whale meat; a 50lb box of meat, which is what most of the sellers distribute, goes for close to US$3,000.
I understand and respect national traditions that go back into the country's history, each country has them and some are frowned upon by other nations. But the fact of the matter here is that Japan has used relief fund money intended for the people of Japan and the rebuilding of its nation after a natural disaster. Instead, they go ahead and use almost 30 million dollars to fund a practice that most of its citizens are against and a practice that draws harsh criticism from most nations around the world. To me, Japan is basically saying "thanks for the money, now we're going to use it to kill whales for meat no one really eats in our country and you all are paying for it!" - a slap in the face to the international community. There is not much that can be done, we can't take the money back, we can only watch as the fisherman of Japan take the annual trip to Antarctica to kill whales for profit.
One way we can help is to join organizations that are against this practice. Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Surfers for Cetaceans (founded by Dave Rastovich, a professional free-surfer sponsored by Billabong), are all great organizations to be a part of. Each contribute and continue to fight for the animals that have no voice.
As the Head of Greenpeace Japan, Junichi Sato, said in the TIME article, "Japan cannot afford to waste money on whaling in the Antarctic when its people are suffering at home."
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsunami/pdf/2011_0311.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/12/12/blood-money-tsunami-recovery-funds-go-to-japans-whaling-industry/?hpt=hp_c2
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/ending-japanese-whaling/whaling-is-bad-business/
Get involved here!
Surfers for Cetaceans
Greenpeace
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
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