Environmentalists pursue Japan's whalers

[yanpa]

If it's any consolation, someone else fell for it too:

killer-whales-factory-ship.png

But the link now 404s... http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/560873/2 ... tivity.htm

And that Crown Prince story...

In related news, the Oxford English Dictionary has announced that the word "gullible" was a hoax perpetrated by a 19th century lexographer and will be removed in the next edition.

[Yokohammer]

The fact that the IBT followed that story up was what led me to believe it was true. Chain gullibility, like. Gotta be real careful with this Internet thing.

[Russell]

Now, let's discuss what would happen if 16 of Japan's whaling crew were gobbled up by killer whales. Would that be the end of whaling?

[yanpa]

The fact that the IBT followed that story up was what led me to believe it was true. Chain gullibility, like. Gotta be real careful with this Internet thing.

No grounds for me to change my opinion on that fine bastion of copypasta then

[yanpa]

Now, let's discuss what would happen if 16 of Japan's whaling crew were gobbled up by killer whales. Would that be the end of whaling?

No, but said cretaceans would be relabelled "危険クジラ".

[legion]

I thought killer whales were a type of dolphin.
Frickin nasty creatures, there's an episode about them in the book 'The Worst Journey in the World' trying to tip expedition ponies of the ice into the sea for lunch.

[yanpa]

I thought killer whales were a type of dolphin.

According to Wackypedia, "the killer whale (Orcinus orca), also referred to as the orca whale or orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family so you can take your pick.

Frickin nasty creatures, there's an episode about them in the book 'The Worst Journey in the World' trying to tip expedition ponies of the ice into the sea for lunch.

And who hasn't done that when in need of a chilled equine snack?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Now, let's discuss what would happen if 16 of Japan's whaling crew were gobbled up by killer whales. Would that be the end of whaling?

No, but said cretaceans would be relabelled "危険クジラ".

What's a cretacean?

[yanpa]

Now, let's discuss what would happen if 16 of Japan's whaling crew were gobbled up by killer whales. Would that be the end of whaling?

No, but said cretaceans would be relabelled "危険クジラ".

What's a cretacean?

A cetacean with a superfluous "r".

[Yokohammer]

Now, let's discuss what would happen if 16 of Japan's whaling crew were gobbled up by killer whales. Would that be the end of whaling?

No, but said cretaceans would be relabelled "危険クジラ".

What's a cretacean?

A large ocean-dwelling cretin?

[Russell]

Unrelated news for the gullible, or maybe just true?

Giraffe dies from head injuries after trip in back of open truck in South Africa

A young giraffe has died from head injuries sustained while being transported, blindfolded, in an open truck along a South African highway, an animal welfare agency said.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)'s Rick Allan said he suspected the giraffe died after hitting its head against an overhead bridge.

[...]

"Our investigations so far showed that the transport used was inadequate and incorrect," said Allan.

"There are lots of projectiles flying around on the highway (and) especially leaving an animal with its heard sticking out blindfolded, is looking for problems."

More

The emphasis placed on the word blindfolded in this story appears to suggest that giraffes can cope with such a situation when their vision is unobstructed.



And now I can't help imagining how that looks like, a giraffe ducking for every overhead bridge coming its way. How fast do these trucks drive anyway?

[Coligny]

Would have made a good game for the Atari 2600...

[Samurai_Jerk]

I didn't see the movie but there was a scene like that in the trailer for 'Hangover 3.'

[Russell]

I didn't see the movie but there was a scene like that in the trailer for 'Hangover 3.'

LOL, but that giraffe didn't duck...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Russia holds Japan whaling research vessel

A Japanese whaling vessel and its crew were being held in Russia on Friday after the ship entered Russian territorial waters without permission, Tokyo said.

The 712-tonne Shonan-maru No.2 was ordered into a Russian port on August 15 after sailing through the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin island, an official from Japan's Fisheries Agency said.

The vessel, which does not catch whales itself but monitors the oceans for signs of the creatures, had 19 Japanese crew and one Russian observer on board.

Tokyo has admitted the vessel changed its initial course and entered Russian waters without going through the proper procedures.

[Russell]

So, why was there a Russian observer on board?

[Samurai_Jerk]

So, why was there a Russian observer on board?

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe the Russians want to improve their cetacean research capabilities.

[Coligny]

image.jpg

To h4lp them stay out of Rushiun waturz...

At least, that's what they wanted you to think...

[Takechanpoo]

that Beverly Hills' biach in Taiji

Gendai_21288_1.jpg

[wagyl]

Activist chic.

I thought Shannen Doherty's face was more asymmetrical than that.

Oh, but apparently not. http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-med ... taiji-1633

[Russell]

Japan: Let Them Eat Whale

Japan’s decision last week to continue hunting whales in the Antarctic despite the International Court of Justice’s earlier ruling that its “scientific whaling” program there was illegal should now prompt a major rethink of global efforts to end Japanese whaling.

With Tokyo now seemingly on a warpath to create an open-ended “research program” that the world court would sanction, anti-whaling countries and NGOs need to change their game plan.

One way to do that is to give Japan what it says it really wants – a resumption of commercial whaling. Far from decimating whales, the return of whaling on purely commercial terms would actually be the best way to save them.

[...]

With whale meat consumption in Japan down to just 1 percent of its peak in the early 1960s, any notion of earning a profit from a return to commercial whaling now seems quaint. Given Tokyo’s determination to “legalize” its “research whaling” program in the Antarctic at all costs, now may be a good time to call its bluff and make it an offer it can’t refuse: Give up your bogus research and state-run whaling programs and subject them to market forces. Only then will we know if Japan truly has the stomach to eat these gentle giants of the sea.

More

Subject the internal market of Japan to market forces...?!?

[Russell]

Ban the Kimono

Australia’s “imperialist” campaign against whaling is akin to restricting the right of Japanese women to wear the kimono, the country’s chief negotiator at the International Whaling Commission has said.

Joji Morishita, the head of Tokyo’s delegation to the International Whaling Commission, said Japan would defy “eco-imperialist” anti-whaling countries – led by Australia and New Zealand – and resume the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean in late 2015.

In March the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan had produced insufficient scientific data to justify the killing of whales for “research” and put an immediate end to its hunts in the Antarctic.

Morishita said international objections to whaling, partly on the grounds that the hunts are unprofitable and bankrolled by Japanese taxpayers – could be compared to restrictions on the wearing of kimono.

“The average Japanese woman wears kimono perhaps two or three times in her lifetime,” he said. “Those ceremonial kimono cost millions of yen, so some might argue that they are a waste of money. But what if another country then said that only a small number of women could wear kimono?”

More

Hmm, does this man even pretend to be serious?

[Yokohammer]

Hmm, does this man even pretend to be serious?

He's trying to make a case where no case can be made, so resorting to loopy logic is the only option. But nobody will be convinced, except people who want to be convinced because it serves their personal agenda. He's pissing into the wind, and it makes him and everything he represents look utterly ridiculous.

With this response after the ICJ ruling, they have officially declared themselves to be outlaws (scofflaws?). I'm sure there will be a hugely negative reaction throughout the international community.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Salty]

I am all for a ban on women wearing kimono, given that it also of course means, or did mean - clothes. Let them go nekkid I say. Well at least those who are hot.

But a ban on whale meat consumption might more appropriately be compared to a ban on long pig.

[wagyl]

He's pissing into the wind, and it makes him and everything he represents look utterly ridiculous.

..and wet.

[IparryU]

http://www.japantoday.com/category/nati ... negotiator

New whaling plan will prove hunt is for scientific purposes: negotiator
New whaling plan will prove hunt is for scientific purposes: negotiator
Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, speaks to the press in Tokyo on Wednesday.
AFP
TOKYO —
A two-thirds cut in Japan’s Antarctic whaling quota announced this month should be enough to prove that the hunt is for genuine scientific purposes, the country’s chief negotiator said Wednesday.

Joji Morishita said the world’s anti-whaling nations should compromise and recognize that Japan is trying to meet them halfway after a ruling by the International Court of Justice banning the hunt.

“Hopefully this research plan would trigger or send some message (to international opponents) because we have accepted the ICJ judgement in our research plan,” Morishita told journalists.

In March the ICJ—the highest court of the United Nations—ruled that Tokyo was abusing a scientific exemption set out in the 1986 moratorium on whaling, and was carrying out a commercial hunt under a veneer of research.

Japan cancelled its 2014-15 Antarctic mission after the ruling, but said it intends to resume “research whaling” in 2015-16.

Now, in a new plan submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its Scientific Committee, Japan has set an annual target of 333 minke whales, down from some 900 under the previous program.

[matsuki]

When are the torpedoes going into the water?

[kurogane]

Ban the Kimono

Australia’s “imperialist” campaign against whaling is akin to restricting the right of Japanese women to wear the kimono, the country’s chief negotiator at the International Whaling Commission has said.

Hmm, does this man even pretend to be serious?

Don't you hear that stuff in your field fom other Japanese researchers? In Social studies it's pretty much a standard discursive response, though by no means universal. A rather wise British mentor/colleague once referred to it as a hyperbolic non sequitir (or something like that). The key is to be as radically tangential as humanly possible without appearing deranged, completely hijack the topic, distract listeners with the blinding incommensuracy of it all whilst remaining deadly serious. Think of it as arguing with a deadly earnest precocious 8 year old that hasn't quite mastered the art of rational analysis and discussion.

BTW, he means every word of it. Of that I am sure. And yes, I agree with you. Let me throw this out there: have others not found this to be a freakishly common older Japanese male debate tactic?

[Yokohammer]

Don't you hear that stuff in your field fom other Japanese researchers? In Social studies it's pretty much a standard discursive response, though by no means universal. A rather wise British mentor/colleague once referred to it as a hyperbolic non sequitir (or something like that). The key is to be as radically tangential as humanly possible without appearing deranged, completely hijack the topic, distract listeners with the blinding incommensuracy of it all whilst remaining deadly serious. Think of it as arguing with a deadly earnest precocious 8 year old that hasn't quite mastered the art of rational analysis and discussion.

BTW, he means every word of it. Of that I am sure. And yes, I agree with you. Let me throw this out there: have others not found this to be a freakishly common older Japanese male debate tactic?

In a culture where pride, face, and status almost always take priority over reason, the term "debate" should be used with caution. When I was in high school "debate" was an actual subject that was actually taught in actual classrooms, with actual teacher-moderated and graded debates, like. As far as I know logic and debate aren't taught as part of the compulsory education curriculum here. At least they weren't back where my memory is currently pointing. I really think that's part of the reason why Japan has such a hard time effectively locking horns with other nations where politics is based on reasoned debate, as in the Greek model, and why Japan's political system (and so many other institutions) is such a mess. They simply have a different approach to arguing the point, and reason, at least universally applicable reason, doesn't come into it.

So many locals use the old "because it's joshiki" (常識) argument when that "joshiki" is really very personal and narrowly focused to their own advantage. Not long ago some guy was trying to convince me of some bullshit (he was lying through his teeth), and his proof was that "you should believe me because Japanese people don't lie." No reason anywhere to be found. There really is no debate. It's all about who can railroad who into going along with/agreeing with them. In fact, I don't think I have ever had proper logic-based debate that led to a well-reasoned outcome here. There's always an "oh but he/she wouldn't like that" or "oh but Japanese people would never do that" or "but that wouldn't be profitable for us" ... some type of emo-rank-pride-profit monkey wrench that gets thrown into the works to make a logical conclusion impossible. I mean, I'm no Vulcan and I don't insist on pure logic in every situation, but there's certainly a dearth around these here parts.

Anyway, so yeah, "like prohibiting Japanese women from wearing kimono" is exactly that: a very narrow and self-serving "joshiki" that isn't even close to proper reasoning. The average debate-trained western high school student could come up with something way better than that.

Shades of shamefully ex-PM Yukio Hatoyama saying "trust me" to Barack Obama, like that's a reason to trust him.

This country needs a thorough rebuild of its education system in order to compete evenly on the world political/diplomatic stage.

[matsuki]

Don't you hear that stuff in your field fom other Japanese researchers? In Social studies it's pretty much a standard discursive response, though by no means universal. A rather wise British mentor/colleague once referred to it as a hyperbolic non sequitir (or something like that). The key is to be as radically tangential as humanly possible without appearing deranged, completely hijack the topic, distract listeners with the blinding incommensuracy of it all whilst remaining deadly serious. Think of it as arguing with a deadly earnest precocious 8 year old that hasn't quite mastered the art of rational analysis and discussion.

BTW, he means every word of it. Of that I am sure. And yes, I agree with you. Let me throw this out there: have others not found this to be a freakishly common older Japanese male debate tactic?

In a culture where pride, face, and status almost always take priority over reason, the term "debate" should be used with caution. When I was in high school "debate" was an actual subject that was actually taught in actual classrooms, with actual teacher-moderated and graded debates, like. As far as I know logic and debate aren't taught as part of the compulsory education curriculum here. At least they weren't back where my memory is currently pointing. I really think that's part of the reason why Japan has such a hard time effectively locking horns with other nations where politics is based on reasoned debate, as in the Greek model, and why Japan's political system (and so many other institutions) is such a mess. They simply have a different approach to arguing the point, and reason, at least universally applicable reason, doesn't come into it.

So many locals use the old "because it's joshiki" (常識) argument when that "joshiki" is really very personal and narrowly focused to their own advantage. Not long ago some guy was trying to convince me of some bullshit (he was lying through his teeth), and his proof was that "you should believe me because Japanese people don't lie." No reason anywhere to be found. There really is no debate. It's all about who can railroad who into going along with/agreeing with them. In fact, I don't think I have ever had proper logic-based debate that led to a well-reasoned outcome here. There's always an "oh but he/she wouldn't like that" or "oh but Japanese people would never do that" or "but that wouldn't be profitable for us" ... some type of emo-rank-pride-profit monkey wrench that gets thrown into the works to make a logical conclusion impossible. I mean, I'm no Vulcan and I don't insist on pure logic in every situation, but there's certainly a dearth around these here parts.

Anyway, so yeah, "like prohibiting Japanese women from wearing kimono" is exactly that: a very narrow and self-serving "joshiki" that isn't even close to proper reasoning. The average debate-trained western high school student could come up with something way better than that.

Shades of shamefully ex-PM Yukio Hatoyama saying "trust me" to Barack Obama, like that's a reason to trust him.

This country needs a thorough rebuild of its education system in order to compete evenly on the world political/diplomatic stage.

Holy fuck Yoko, right on point.