Greenpeace New Zealand Weblog

To the quarter of a million people who sent messages asking for the release of Junichi and Toru the Greenpeace japan office says thank you!

But now we need your help again! When appealing against the release of our scandal-busting activists, Junichi and Toru, the public prosecutor argued that the more than 250,000 people who sent emails to the Japanese government was “questionable” - this despite the fact that every single email was double-checked by you. In other words, the Japanese Government doesn’t believe all of you exist! We need you to give them unquestionable proof of support for Junichi and Toru. The quarter of million emails you sent to get them released worked like a dream - after 26 days in custody, they were released - Junichi and Toru have now been reunited with their families and are now awaiting trial.

So, what would happen now if Japan’s Supreme Public Prosecutor’s office was inundated by actual, physical letters calling for the whale meat investigation to be re-opened? On this page we’ve prepared a card you can print, stick and post yourself, and a list of talking points you could use if you prefer to write a personal letter instead. Be creative!

Download the letter here (PDF) »

More updates on Whale meat scandal and freeing the Tokyo Two »

Whale meat scandal: Many questions »

Raech wrote a great blog last week about a nail-biting Saturday, wetsuit clad and on stand by to save a whale from beaching. helping with whale rescue. It’s serious business. A lot of whales die after stranding but this little video takes a look at the lighter side of whales on beaches …

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 »

After 26 days in custody, Junichi and Toru are out on bail and finally get to go home to be with their families.

Still, justice will not be done until a proper investigation of the whale meat scandal happens. The unanswered question remains - Why did the Japanese prosecutor suddenly drop his investigation into the stolen whale meat allegations, despite Greenpeace directly handing him the solid and compelling evidence?

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 »

Greenpeace Japan says thank you!

Our activist friends Junichi and Toru are still behind bars. It’s been 13 days since they were arrested after exposing a whale meat smuggling scandal. Yeah, feel free to read that sentence again if you need to. It’s as crazy as it sounded the first time.

The Greenpeace Japan staff are hugely thankful to everyone who’s supported Junichi and Toru. Over 200,000 people have already written to Japan’s prime minister calling for the release of their co-workers. On the walls you can see photos of protests at Japanese embassies around the world supporting.

Help us get to our goal of a quarter million emails. Write to free Junichi and Toru. Help bring justice in Japan!

Whalebreak the game.

Two Greenpeace activists expose an embezzlement scandal involving whale meat which is costing Japanese taxpayers millions of yen. Forty cops swoop down on the Greenpeace offices to arrest the Greenpeace activists instead of the criminals.

A global storm follows: hundreds of thousand of supporters write to the Japanese government. Diplomatic protests are lodged by whale-friendly governments. Vigils and demonstrations are held outside Japanese embassies worldwide.

You can free them in whale break!

The last post from Dave at the IWC meeting…

At last… IWC60, also known as the 60th International Whaling Commission meeting, is now over.

I started writing blog in the press room yesterday, while listening to the incredible (and often entertaining) rhetoric emanating from the pro-whaling nations, especially those whose votes have been “purchased” by Japan. The matter at stake today was a proposed expansion of Greenland’s quota, to add 10 humpback whales to the quota of 200 minke, 19 fin and 2 bowhead whales already hunted annually. Alas, while Greenland’s hunt supposedly falls under the definition of aboriginal subsistence whaling, it’s becoming clear to Greenpeace - as well as other organisations like WSPA - that it’s anything but; Greenland clearly doesn’t need the whale meat it demands for local, subsistence use - much of it ends up in Greenland’s supermarkets, for commercial sale, which means it’s not fulfilling the IWC definition of “subsistence”.

Read more »

IWC Chairman William Hogarth opens the Whale Kingdom for the Greenpeace Ocean Defenders
© Greenpeace/Christian Varas Kallens.

This is from our man Dave Walsh at the IWC meeting in Chile …

 This is my first blog from the International Whaling Commission - as I write, we’re into the third day of the five-day meeting, at the Sheraton Hotel, in Santiago, Chile. Without trying to justify why it’s taken me so long to write something, I would like to explain - despite the fact that not much has happened here so far, it’s still been a pretty busy few days.

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