Environmentalists pursue Japan's whalers

[IparryU]

. . . or after their ship has sunk because of some dumb-ass maneuver and they are huddled in an Avon life-raft bobbing in 30-foot seas begging the whalers to rescue them.

add the killer whales in the picture and it would be perfect...

[Greji]

add the killer whales in the picture and it would be perfect...

White pointers are more fun for them to play with. Think the kids raft in Jaws 2!

[IparryU]

White pointers are more fun for them to play with. Think the kids raft in Jaws 2!

ok... a school of White Pointers for 'em!

[Mike Oxlong]

[2triky]

^ No shortage of irony, methinks.

[Yokohammer]

[Coligny]

[Yokohammer]

You are really assuming a lot aboot the linguistical knowledge of those guys...

Them are corsairs, not pussy academics that read buks or other gay sh1ts...

I can't believe they didn't get "divine wind" from "kamikaze" in the first place. I assumed it was their own attempt at irony. As I remember they even have Japanese members, so it's not like they don't have access to some basic kanji.

Maybe I'm overestimating their capacity for cleverness.

[Coligny]

I can't believe they didn't get "divine wind" from "kamikaze" in the first place.

Yes, this part is sure, but you get that knowlegde from any Clint Eastwood movie

I assumed it was their own attempt at irony. As I remember they even have Japanese members, so it's not like they don't have access to some basic kanji.

You are assuming those people can read... Most Japanese I saw (outside home where a trip to the local library require camping equipment for me and a trailer for the car) only look at picture on badly drawn naruto comics or other facepalmingly miserable shit.

Maybe I'm overestimating their capacity for cleverness.

(...)

[matsuki]

I still want to see the J-Military get involved....and show em what happens to the "devine wind" when there is nobody else around.

[Mike Oxlong]

[Yokohammer]

At the same time that I wish the Sea Shepherd nitwits would just grow the fuck up and get proper jobs, I also wish that the Japan Whaling Association would drop their laughably bogus "for research" bullshit. It really makes them look like arrogant fucks. Unfortunately, they won't because then they'd have to leave the IWC, and that would mean they'd lose the "right" to whale in the southern ocean, which they technically don't actually have anyway because, as everyone knows, what they're doing isn't research. The whole damn thing is just a farcical infinite loop of technicalities and loopholes that are being taken advantage of to provide a huge network of semi-government organizations for "amakudari," which is costing the people of Japan money that would be far better spent on something else. They're sure as heck not making any money on the whaling. It is such a waste.

I keep waiting for the whaling association to go under the "jigyo shiwake" hammer, but so far it hasn't even come up.

[matsuki]

I'm waiting for someone (either side) to start using torpedoes and/or other serious tactics. Sink each other in the middle of nowhere and everybody wins!

[Yokohammer]

I'm waiting for someone (either side) to start using torpedoes and/or other serious tactics. Sink each other in the middle of nowhere and everybody wins!

Best way I can think of to make the situation even worse.

I appreciate the spirit of what you're saying, but there are people around who will take it literally (er ... like the Sea Shepherd halfwits). Let's not suggest killing people as a solution.

[Mike Oxlong]

[SIZE="4"]Japan whaling fleet accused of using tsunami disaster funds[/SIZE]

Japan's whaling fleet left port on Tuesday under heavy guard as it prepared to kill almost 1,000 whales in the Antarctic, where more clashes are expected with members of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group.

Three ships, led by the 720-tonne Yushin Maru and accompanied by a fisheries agency guard vessel, left Shimonoseki port in south-western Japan amid accusations that the fleet was taking cash intended for fishing communities hit by the March earthquake and tsunami.

According to campaigners, the government used 2.28 billion yen [US$30 million] from the earthquake recovery fund, on top of its existing US$10 million annual subsidy, to pay for this year's hunt.

"It is absolutely disgraceful for the Japanese government to pump yet more taxpayer money on an unneeded, unwanted and economically unviable whaling programme, when funds are desperately needed for recovery efforts," said Junichi Sato, executive director of Greenpeace Japan.

"The whaling programme is a black mark on Japan's international reputation, and a black hole for taxpayer money. Pouring billions of yen into Antarctic whaling during this time of crisis is downright shameful. Japan cannot afford to waste money on whaling in the Antarctic when its people are suffering at home."

The fisheries agency said the use of the fund was justified, because one the towns destroyed by the tsunami was a whaling port...

More via The Guardian

Looks like that undistributed Red Cross donation money finally made its way to the "victims"... </snark>

[IparryU]

[SIZE="4"]Japan whaling fleet accused of using tsunami disaster funds[/SIZE]

More via The Guardian

Looks like that undistributed Red Cross donation money finally made its way to the "victims"... </snark>

... TIJ

[Coligny]

... TIJ

I think I already dun telling ya that the japanese red cross was not something to mingle with i you want to keep clean hands...

[dimwit]

[SIZE="4"]Looks like that undistributed Red Cross donation money finally made its way to the "victims"... </snark>

Hey, having been a past beneficiary of fisheries Agency whaling operations largese, all I can say is 'Kill dem Whales'.

I'm sure all the Europeans and Americans who raised money for the disaster will be glad to see the way it has been spent.

[Russell]

Hey, having been a past beneficiary of fisheries Agency whaling operations largese, all I can say is 'Kill dem Whales'.

I'm sure all the Europeans and Americans who raised money for the disaster will be glad to see the way it has been spent.

There are some quotes from Greenpeace saying that this is Tax payers money, which implies it is not from the Red Cross or so. Can anyone back this up?

[Mike Oxlong]

There are some quotes from Greenpeace saying that this is Tax payers money, which implies it is not from the Red Cross or so. Can anyone back this up?

It seems that the government has confirmed that quake aid is being used to fund whaling, despite what the apologists at Japan[color="Silver"]al[/color] Probe might whine:

Japan on Wednesday confirmed it planned to use some of the public funds earmarked for quake and tsunami reconstruction to boost security for its controversial annual whaling hunt.

Greenpeace charged that Tokyo was siphoning money from disaster victims by spending an extra 2.28 billion yen ($30 million) on beefed up security amid looming battles between the whaling fleet and environmental groups...

[Yokohammer]

It seems that the government has confirmed that quake aid is being used to fund whaling, despite what the apologists at Japan[color="Silver"]al[/color] Probe might whine:

This is just unforgivable.

But as I've said before, Sea Shepherd and their asshat antics make it easier for the whalers to get away with this type of blatant fraud by providing a heel to Japan's "heroism," turning it into an emotional "us vs. them" type issue rather than the straight-out deception that it really is.

It's really not about the whales at all, but by repeatedly dragging it back into the "save the whales" vs. "Japanese tradition" arena those fucking SS idiots just make the problem harder to solve.

I'm quite sure the whalers are actually delighted to have Sea Shepherd on their side.

What a fucking mess. And now quake aid is being diverted to whaling ... make that, killing whales that will end up rotting in storage like they always do, because very few people want to eat the stuff anymore.* This makes me spittin' angry.

*EDIT: They have to resort to tactics like forcing children to eat whale by funneling it into the country's school lunch program, in the hope that the kids will grow up to be whale eaters. This is really sick stuff. They're trying to create a "tradition" that never really existed. Whaling has unfortunately become a condensed version of the very worst aspects of Japan.

[dimwit]

The thing that irks me the most about all of this is that the Miyagi and Iwate Prefectural Governments seem to have learned NOTHING from the earthquake. As crass as it might seem, the tragedy did offer them a unique opportunity of do thing differently starting off from a clean slate. They could have implemented city and town wide zoning to enhance both the safety and attractiveness of the communities. Instead they plan to make bigger breakwalls and more concrete reinforced structures in the hazard zones making them as ugly as possible and insuring that a tourism industry will never develop. Instead of developing new industries they get stuck in the supporting the same one oversubsidized uneconomic activities, largely I fear because they are cognitively incapable of any creative thought.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Japan's actions in funding such a politically charged practice by diverting money donated by foreigners is morally reprehensible...though a wee bit of me (the little devil that sometimes sits on my shoulders and urges me to do bad stuff) also finds it delightfully ironic!

[matsuki]

The thing that irks me the most about all of this is that the Miyagi and Iwate Prefectural Governments seem to have learned NOTHING from the earthquake. As crass as it might seem, the tragedy did offer them a unique opportunity of do thing differently starting off from a clean slate. They could have implemented city and town wide zoning to enhance both the safety and attractiveness of the communities. Instead they plan to make bigger breakwalls and more concrete reinforced structures in the hazard zones making them as ugly as possible and insuring that a tourism industry will never develop. Instead of developing new industries they get stuck in the supporting the same one oversubsidized uneconomic activities, largely I fear because they are cognitively incapable of any creative thought.

THIS

Clone the past over and over again, keep the wa, it can't be helped

Japan's actions in funding such a politically charged practice by diverting money donated by foreigners is morally reprehensible...

Let the Japan bashing begin...

[IparryU]

THIS

Clone the past over and over again, keep the wa, it can't be helped



Let the Japan bashing begin...

it never stopped...

[matsuki]

it never stopped...

Heh, I meant the international Japan bashing by people who donated money for tsunami victims...red cross sounded legit but TIJ

[gaijinpunch]

The thing that irks me the most about all of this is that the Miyagi and Iwate Prefectural Governments seem to have learned NOTHING from the earthquake.

Has anyone? Tokyo is still the financial center of the country, home to all of Parliamant, and still overdue for a massive Earthquake. Perfect time to start up some type of benefit for companies that create jobs in the countryside. Oh, well.

[IparryU]

Has anyone? Tokyo is still the financial center of the country, home to all of Parliamant, and still overdue for a massive Earthquake. Perfect time to start up some type of benefit for companies that create jobs in the countryside. Oh, well.

i said that to my wife and her family and they were pissed off... they asked why I could think of something like that for situations like that... and i said that if your PM was doing a job, that should be one of the things he should pick up on quick...

who has ever hated a cuntry leader for getting more jobs for the people and making a fucked situation better?

[gaijinpunch]

who has ever hated a cuntry leader for getting more jobs for the people and making a fucked situation better?

Ones not in Japan...

[Kanchou]

With the thousands of new college graduates who will go unhired this year (and then fucked in the ass for that same reason for every year afterwards), and the tens of thousands of NEETs in the country, if you paid all of them reasonable salaries to do the recovery work, Japan would be back on it's feet in five years. With a lot more debt, mind you... but people who don't have stable, well-paying jobs and do have half a brain tend to not have kids.

No kids = no Japan in 100 years.

Places like Fukushima were already dieing before the nuclear accident... no one wants to stay in the Inaka when there's no jobs, and now no one wants to go because of moderately higher levels of radiation. If you paid people to go there New Deal-style, people might actually settle down and raise families there.