Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior once said

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”

After acting on this fundamental principle, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, now known as the Tokyo 2, currently risk their freedom for simply having acted in the interest of the Japanese people by exposing an embezzlement scandal in the whaling industry, and calling on the government to investigate it.

Take action to support the Junichi and Toru here

As the trial date of February 15, 2010 approaches, a recent report of the Working group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) of the of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has concluded that the Japanese government breached a series of internationally guaranteed human rights by detaining Junichi and Toru, who had uncovered major corruption in the whaling programme. In observing that the rights of the two men have been breached by the justice system, the Tokyo Two and Greenpeace’s position on this issue has now been vindicated and corroborated by the competent United Nations body through its report. With this, we hope that the court takes due care to judge the case fairly.

The Working Group noted that the principal and only motivation behind their actions was the greater public interest, as they sought to expose criminal embezzlement. It recognises that they willingly cooperated with the police and the Public Prosecutor, that this cooperation was not acknowledged, and that the Government did not itself submit any essential information, such as details of their activities as environmental activists, the investigation they carried out, the evidence they gathered or the help they gave to authorities to formally investigate their allegations. Read more »

Sake Barrel Smashing in Aomori

We recently opened a new Communications Centre in the northern fishing district of Aomori, Japan. As we mark 20 years of non-violent environmental campaigning in Japan this year, we’re bringing our message of healthy oceans, whale protection, and sustainable fisheries direct to the people of this port city. New Zealander, Mal Wren is there as the Project Coordinator and he writes this about his time in Aomori…

It’s certainly been a period of contrast since I arrived in Japan a couple of months ago. During the planning and development period for establishing the Aomori Communications Centre i was based in Shinjuku, Toyko, where our local train station has the best part of NZ’s population passing through – every day!

It’s far cry from home in Muriwai on the west coast of Auckland… Read more »

   – Originally posted by Brian over at Greenpeace International

So, Japan has a new government. For all of us who have been single-mindedly pursuing a complete end to whaling for decades now, there’s only one question that matters: what does this mean for the country’s whaling policy?

I suspect the bureaucrats responsible for whaling have gotten a little fed up of questions in the press about the cost of the programme to taxpayers (about 60 million US a year), the continuing decline in sales, the continuing increase in unsold whale meat, and the mounting foreign relations disasters the “scientific research programme” trails in its wake. The whaling industry in Japan right now is a wounded beast, and like any wounded beast it’s lashing back with abandon — as evidenced by the arrest of our activists, Junichi and Toru, for daring to expose corruption in the whaling industry.

Today a new bit of evidence of a bunkering down by the industry comes in. Read more »

After 26 days in custody, Greenpeace Japan anti-whaling activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki have been released on bail and are back home with their families.

There was significant international outcry over the arrests, and around the world upwards of 250,000 people wrote letters to the Japanese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister calling for Junichi and Toru’s release.

Here in New Zealand, Greenpeace activists delivered a crate containing 1,700 letters from New Zealanders to the Japanese Embassy in Wellington.

Only 10 per cent of bail applications are successful in Japan, so it is a relief that Junichi and Toru were part of this 10 per cent. Read more »

Junichi and Toru, our two activists who exposed the Japanese whale meat scandal and have been held in detention for the last three weeks, have been charged with theft and trespass. This is despite pressure from more than 30 international organisations, including Amnesty International, the Lawyers Network for Human Rights Observation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, InArticle 19, Transparency International, Oceana, Ubuntu, and Oxfam, and almost a quarter of a million emails to Prime Minister Fukuda.

For now, they’re still in custody – stay tuned for updates on this.
Read more »

The dodgy whale meat. © Greenpeace

According to some juicy information received by our team in Japan, the crew members of the Nisshin Maru and the rest of the whaling fleet, who would by now have already left port for the annual North Pacific whale hunt, have been ordered to stay at home. Bummer for them – but it gives the whales a reprieve, for now.

The information came to us just two weeks after we revealed a major scandal of stolen whale meat from the Southern Ocean hunt – allegations which are now being fully investigated by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor. Read more »

Greenpeace Japan whale campaign coordinator Junichi Sato weighs 23.5 kilograms of whale meat stolen by crewmembers of the Nisshin Maru whaling ship. The contents of the box were listed as “cardboard.” © Greenpeace No archiving. No resale. See Copyright policy for more information.

Stake outs, testimony from informers, hidden cameras and tailing trucks full of stolen goods – it reads like a Hollywood movie, but it was an every day experience for Greenpeace activists in Japan, who have spent four months cracking open a major conspiracy of corruption at the heart of Japan’s government-backed, sham scientific whaling operation.

Today we displayed a cardboard box filled with the best cuts of whale meat, smuggled ashore by the crew of the Japanese whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for illegal trade and personal gain, at the Japanese taxpayer’s expense. The box, along with videotaped testimony and other evidence, suggest widespread embezzelment of whale meat has been occuring for decades under the noses of the public officials who run the whaling programme, and are allowing it to happen.

Bureaucrats ignore theft from taxpayers

Our activists delivered the evidence, including the whale meat, to the Public Prosecutor’s office in Tokyo, calling on it to make a full public enquiry into how deep the corruption runs with the whaling programme. We’re also calling for an end to the USD$4.7 million taxpayer subsidies for the programme, and for the license of the company operating the whale hunt, Kyodo Senpaku, to be withdrawn.

The four-month Greenpeace investigation employed undercover tactics to reveal dramatic evidence of an embezzlement ring involving crewmembers on board the Nisshin Maru. Informers who spoke to the activists claim that senior crew and officials from Kyodo Senpaku turned a blind eye to the whale meat theft, allowing it to continue for decades. One informer associated with Kyodo Senpaku told Greenpeace that officials from the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) – the agency that carries out the so-called “scientific research” work on board the Nisshin Maru – are most likely aware of the thefts as well.

Read more »

Research Failed (C) GREENPEACE

Japan’s factory whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru was “welcomed” into Tokyo earlier today, by Junichi and our team from Greenpeace Japan, along with the word “failed” to accompany the ubiquitous and Orwellian “RESEARCH” painted on its hull.

During its five months at sea, the Nisshin Maruwas responsible for taking 551 minke whales from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary – far less than the 1035 whales planned, but more than a hundred than were killed three years ago. Our ship, the Esperanza, shutdown Japan’s entire whaling operation for 15 days, during a 4300-mile chase of the Nisshin Maru across the Southern Ocean. The whalers are blaming the protestors (that’d be us then) for missing their target. Read more »