The vast majority of Australians I have talked to about Japanese whaling agree with me that it is unnecessary and barbaric. Japanese “scientific” whaling missions in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary are illegally harvesting these creatures. Japan has attempted on numerous unsuccessful occasions to have this Sanctuary abolished. Some evidence of bribery and junkets offered to small South Pacific island nations to influence their votes on whaling agreements has also surfaced.

It seems to be the case that although we can all understand the emotional sensitivity which Japan attaches to its traditional hunting and culinary tastes, whales have long since outstripped the notion that they are simply giant floating sushi-bar reservoirs. We can (quite rightly) attribute language and empathy to these mammals. It is such a tragedy that the Japanese must cloak their activities with pseudo-scientific rhetoric in the search for the perfect whaleburger.

Defining their activities with whales in the Southern Ocean as “scientific” is laughable. It would not be dissimilar to the Chinese government declaring that it is merely “testing bullets and batons” on Tibetans to see if they work effectively and that these dead bodies which are piling up are totally unrelated to their repressive activities. Yet again, language and miscommunication between nations strikes a blow for cruelty and oppression and while your average whale probably does not resemble HH the Dalai Llama in the slightest, we can draw unfortunate parallels between the cruelty and oppression of one murderous regime and another.

I think Japanese (and for that matter - Chinese) culture is beautiful. When someone we admire makes a terrible blunder, as in the case of Japanese illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, we would do well to “hate the sin but love the sinner“.