DECAYING HUMANITY OF JAPAN

Japanese people have long been revered by the world for their culture, traditions and polite domeanor. But all this glitz and blitz about Japanese culture is just a tarp over the cracks in their culture from where the stink of their decayed morality and rotten human values is seeping out. And now not even this tarp can hide the shameful and disgusting parts of Japanese culture. I am so ashamed to admit that I truly revered certain aspects of Japanese culture. But in last couple of years, my reverence for the Japanese culture has been replaced by a deep seeded feeling of disgust and contempt. And today I don't even have words to describe what I am feeling right now. I guess at best I can describe as being enraged with hate.

Many of you would have seen the horrible images of Japanese crew slaughtering whales by the hundreds in the South Atlantic. The horrific images of senseless slaughter, of gentle giants of the sea, haunted me for days. For days, whenever I saw colour red, the sight of the sea turned red by the blood of those helpless creatures came back to me instantly. I don't know the reason for me feeling this way. May be I am abnormally sensitive towards the suffering of animals or it may also be that I don't have a huge distinction between a human's suffering and an animal's suffering. I may be going a little overboard with my belief that a life is a life, it doesn't matter if it is a human life or an animal's life. Pain and suffering felt by either is same but it's just that animals can't express pain like we are accustomed to recognise. And when this suffering is subjected upon one of the most benign creature of the ocean, it really saddens and enrages me.

The extent of brutality, barbarity and horror that I saw in the Taiji whale and dolphin slaughters was akin to, the horrendous and unbearable images of Dolphin slaughters at Faroe Islands, Denmark. The shear insensitivity and disregard for another living beings pain and suffering, exhibited by the disgusting and repulsive people of Japan and Faroe Islands shook me to the core of my soul and broke my long believed myth that all humans are good and kind at heart and that every human is worthy of a life. To learn more about Faroe Island Dolphin massacres click here.
 

Whaling is not just a modern Japanese phenomena, rather it has been present in Japanese culture for last 800 years. There is an old and horrific history of whaling in Japan. The active hunting of these gentle mammals of the oceans began in 12th Century and it still continues to this very day. But the industrial scale slaughtering of whales began in early 1890s. When Japanese whalers wiped out the whale population in the Japan's territorial waters, they began conducting whale hunts in the international waters. Japanese people continued their commercial whaling activities well into the 20th Century, untill International Whaling Commission(IWC) moratorium went into effect in 1986. But if anybody thought that this would stop the Japanese from massacring thousands of whales then they were thoroughly mistaken. After the prohibition on Whaling went into effect, Japanese very conveniently continued the slaughter of whales in the pretext of scientific research. Japan had deliberately added this exception into the agreement with International Whaling Commission as a loop hole to continue whale hunts. To give their unhumane actions a cover of Scientific research, whaling now a days is done officially in the name of a fake entity called Institute of Cetacean Research. 

This excuse of a scientific research is so pathetic that you'd have to be mentally retarded to believe it. And for those who believe that this really is the case that Japan is killing whales for some kind of scientific research then I ask them these questions, what kind of scientific research requires killing of thousands of whales? And what kind of institute, after experimenting on the whale, sells it meat in the market? An image released by Australian government showed the Japanese whaling vessel pulling a whale and its 1 year old calf aboard to be slaughtered and processed. Even a mentally retarded person would know that adult females and their young ones should never be killed because that adult whale could bear more calves in coming years and help maintain the whale population. But the dumb Japanese motherfuckers didn't know this because they were not scientists, they were just butchers. Just glorified butchers of a glorified nation with rotten culture and stinking morals.

International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's whaling program(JARPA II) that began in 2005 in Southern Ocean is not for any kind of scientific research but only a cover for killing whales for meat. International Court of Justice directed Japan to cease its whaling program JARPA II. But Japanese people think that they are unique in this world so ruling of International Court of Justice don't apply to them. So they quite blatantly continued their whale slaughters in the Southern Ocean.

At a time when the hundreds of millions of people all over the world are waking up to the urgent need of conservation and repopulation of wild and marine life, its hard to fathom the mindset of Japanese people who want the whale slaughters to continue. How disconnected from nature someone has to be in order to demand continuance of such atrocious activities? How deprived of empathy one has to be to witness such horrendous slaughters of innocent creatures, and still keep on supporting such crimes against nature and life? 

This immoral and unethical defiance by Japan about ignoring the ruling of International Court of Justice to cease whaling and continuing the whale massacres has created a feeling of contempt and disgust towards Japan, throughout the world. Its a testament to the rise of human awareness about the suffering of animals, that several nations all around the world have openly criticised such activities of Japan. Numerous nations, scientists and environmental organizations opposed to whaling consider the Japanese research program to be unnecessary, and that it is a thinly disguised commercial whaling operation. 

But even more surprising was the response of Japanese Prime Minister to the calls to stop whaling by international community. He said that annual whaling is sustainable and necessary for scientific study and management of whale stocks and he argued that objections to whaling are based upon international communities prejudice towards Japan because of cultural differences and emotional anthropomorphism.

 Now I would certainly like to remind mister Prime Minister that it was the same international community who sent you billions of dollars worth of aid, at a time when your country was going through its worst time. 

You sure swallowed up all that aid without any mention of prejudice at that time. It's the same international community that opened their hearts to help your country and your people.

But tragically the brutality of the Japanese people is not limited to whales only.


"Cove" a 2009 academy award winning documentary revealed the horrific Dolphin hunting practices of Japanese fisherman of the whaling town of Taiji. Documentary showed gruesome heart wrenching scenes of slaughter of hundreds and thousands of Bottle-nose Dolphins near the town of Taiji. Fisherman without even a shred of humanity and empathy slit the dolphins just beneath their heads and then left them to bleed out and die, and the fisherman moved on to the next poor dolphin. And this has been a normal practice in Japan for centuries. I am astonished that a country with such a huge buddhist population can be so brutal and cruel towards animals. Buddha taught to love and respect every living creature equally because everything and every living being in this universe is divine in itself. Japanese people should be ashamed of themselves for bringing shame to the teachings of divine Buddha.

I am a vegan and i have been one ever since I got old enough to comprehend that an animal's life in no less sacred than the life of a human. When you yourself don't respect life, then what right do you have to expect others to respect yours. Of all people in the world, I would have guessed that Japanese people would have learned to respect the ocean and its destructive force by now. I thought that such a huge loss of life due to Mother Nature's fury would have humbled Japanese people down and taught them humility. 

It has to be mentioned that anti-whaling activists, members of NGOs, conservation groups and especially the  Sea Shepherds Conservation Society have to be praised for their efforts towards protecting the whales from the barbaric Japanese whalers. Even a pathetic coward can shoot a harpoon and kill passive sea creatures, but it takes courage and real human values to risk your life in order to protect those same creatures. 

Paul Watson is a hero and by risking his life time and time again to protect whales, he has proved that there are still people in this world who are willing to risk their lives in order to save lives of innocent creatures. 

It was reported that when Japanese people heard about that anti-whaling activists and members of Sea Shepherds Conservation Society were harassing Japanese Whaling Vessels, the demand for whale meat increased substantially. This in itself is evidence of decaying human and moral value within the Japanese society. When the members of a society demand the slaughter of innocent sea mammals like whales and dolphins, then that in itself signifies the rotten state of humanitarian values and their inability to empathise. 

I know and I understand that there must be hundreds and thousands of Japanese people who must be doing their best to protest the slaughters of whales and dolphins. And I know it will be many times harder for them to stand up to protest against their own people. As appreciative as I am for their efforts, it doesn't change the fact that majority of Japanese populations are supporting such atrocities because otherwise it would all have ended long time ago. It's because of these Japanese people, who still buy whale and dolphin meat that these activities are still continuing.

AUSTRALIAN OPPOSITION
Although many nations have openly criticised Japan's shameful activities but in my view only appropriate response that should have been adopted by all countries, has been taken by Australian Government. It is a true testament to the changing times that a country has openly challenged another country on the issue of cruelty against animals. 

Due to the proximity to Antarctica, the government of Australia has been particularly vocal in its opposition to Japan's whaling activity in the Southern Pacific. In 1994, Australia claimed a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the Australian Antartic Territory, which also includes a southerly portion of the IWC Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. In December 2007, the Rudd government announced plans to monitor Japanese whalers about to enter Australian waters in order to gather evidence for a possible international legal challenge and on January 8, 2008 the Australian government sent the Australian customs vessel Ocean Viking on a 20-day surveillance mission to track and monitor the fleet.

On February 7, 2008, the Australian government released photographs of the ICR harpoon ship Yushin Maru killing several different whales, and a mother whale and her 1-year-old calf being taken on board the Nisshin Maru for processing. The Australian government also used that opportunity to reject ICR's scientific research claims by calling them "without foundation", and declaring that "You do not have to kill a whale in the Southern Ocean to gain a deeper understanding of it."

In late 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia restated official objections to Japan's whaling programs and threatened to take legal action through international courts.

We, if we cannot resolve this matter diplomatically, will take international legal action. I'm serious about it, I would prefer to deal with it diplomatically, but if we cannot get there, that's the alternative course of action. 

                                                                                                        Australian PM Kevin Rudd, 2009

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE(ICJ) AT HAGUE(NETHERLANDS)

The Australian public overwhelmingly supports governmental efforts to stop Japanese whaling, even at risk of losing valuable trade relations. The New Zealand government lodged a "Declaration of Intervention" with the ICJ on February 6, 2013, in which it deemed Japan as ineligible for a Special Permit that would allow whaling on the basis of scientific research. 

As a result of the Australian government's 2010 application, a court case was heard at the ICJ. The hearing ran from June 26, 2013 until July 6, 2013. In its deposition to the ICJ, the Australian government has claimed that Japan "has breached and is continuing to breach" its obligations under the international convention, and further asserted that Japan has refused to accept International Whaling Commission (IWC) recommendations. Solicitor General Justin Gleeson appeared for Australia before the ICJ.

Tony Press, CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre at the University of Tasmania, Australia, provided weekly reports of the ICJ hearings for The Conservation Australia media publication. Following the second week, Press relayed that Japan articulated in certain terms its intentions in the Southern Ocean: "the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry", further explaining that a whale must be killed to obtain certain types of information, such as the collection of ear plugs to estimate the age of a whale. During the second week, Professor Lars Walløe, of the University of Oslo and a former Norwegian Commissioner to the Whaling Commission was presented by Japan as its sole expert witness.

On March 31, 2014 the ICJ ruled that Japan's whaling program was not for scientific purposes. The Court ordered that "Japan revoke any extant authorization, permit or licence to kill, take or treat whales" and refrain from granting any further permits. The court's judges agreed with Australia that the number of Japanese scientific research publications were not proportionate to the number of animals killed. Two former Australian Environment ministers applauded the decision and stated their hopes that Japan will respect it. The decision of the ICJ is final and the right of appeal does not apply in this context. Japan said it would abide by the decision.

 

On 7th June 2014, Japanese PM quite true to his character totally made a U-Turn on his earlier promises to abide by the ruling made by the International Court of Justice. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe stated that Japan will not only resume its Whaling Expedition but even increase it despite International Court of Justice's ruling that prohibited Japan from killing any more whales. 

JAPANESE FASCINATION WITH DEATH

Japanese culture throughout its history has maintained a dark fascination about death. Whether it be the Samurai ritual of "Harakiri" where a samurai adhering to the Bushido code commits ritualistic suicide by disembowelment or whether it be the "Kamikaze" pilots of Second World War, who deliberately rammed their plane into American Naval Vessels or Suicides committed by thousands of Imperial Japanese soldiers at the end of Second World War. Suicide is a epidemic in Japan even today.Japanese society's attitude toward suicide has been termed "tolerant," and in many occasions suicide is seen as a morally responsible action. Public discussion of the high rate of suicide also focuses on blaming the economic hardship faced by middle-aged men. However, the rise of Internet suicide websites and the increasing rate of suicide pacts have raised concerns from the public and media, which consider the pacts "thoughtless."

In 1703, Chikamatsu Monzaemon wrote a puppet play entitled Sonezaki Shinjuu (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), which was later re-engineered for the kabuki theater. The inspiration for the play was an actual double suicide which had recently occurred between two forbidden lovers. Several more "double suicide" plays followed which were eventually outlawed by the governing authorities for emboldening more couples to "romantically" end their lives. During Japan's imperial years, suicide was common within the military. This included suicide when a battle was lost. The samurai way of glory was through death, and ritual suicide was seen as something honorable. Writer Yukio Mishima is famous for his ritual suicide while trespassing on the grounds of the Defence Agency headquarters in Ichigaya.

The cultural heritage of suicide as a noble tradition still has some resonance. While being investigated for an expenses scandal, Cabinet minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka took his life in 2007. The former governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara described him as a "true samurai" for preserving his honour. Ishihara is also the scriptwriter for the film "I Go To Die For You" which glorifies the memory and bravery of the kamikaze pilots in WWII.

 

So its totally understandable why Japanese people have such a difficulty in understanding why slaughter of whales and dolphins bothers people in the international community so much. A culture that condones and considers act of committing suicide a noble act, cannot TrueType understand the value of life. When committing suicides become a regular part a society, then at some point that society is bound to become desensitized to death. That would explain how Japanese whalers are able to be so cold hearted during their whale slaughtering campaigns. Disillusionment towards emotions like empathy and sympathy, enables these people to commit such atrocities and still remain blatantly unaffected by it.The pain and suffering that these people are creating, doesn't just dies with the creature. It resonates and spreads throughout humanity changing everyone of us, bit by bit. These people are a cancer for humanity who are killing the spirit of humanity from within. After unleashing such pain and suffering on to the world, clueless Japanese people wonder why there are so many suicides in Japan. Everything is in form of energy, especially emotions and when so much pain and suffering is unleashed it will be consumed by some person. Pain and suffering can only cause depression not happiness. So I am not all surprised by the widespread endemic of suicides in Japan.

HISTORY OF ANIMAL ABUSE AND SUPPORT FOR ILLEGAL ANIMAL PARTS TRADE IN JAPAN

If any of you thought that gruesome annual massacres of thousands of dolphins and barbaric whale hunts are the only way that Japanese people are destroying nature, than you were wrong. Japanese people have a long history of animal abuses and of providing support for the illegal animal parts trade. Japan is one of the most detached countries from nature. For decades Japan's fishing vessels have long been accused of over fishing and ravaging the marine diversity and marine population all over the world.

Japan's very own Fisheries Agency had declared that overfishing of Pacific Bluefin Tuna has ravaged the population of the specie. To allow the Tuna populations to normalise again,the Fisheries Agency proposed halving the international catch of young Pacific bluefin tuna. Fisheries Agency said March 10 that more drastic measures will be required to preserve the population of the fish. In 2012, Japan caught 26,300 tonnes of bluefin tuna and they even considered this to be half of what they were expecting to catch. And the thing to notice is the way Japanese official described why the population of Bluefin Tuna need to be replenished. It wasn't because Japanese people in their greed ravaged the population of a specie to such an extent that it was on brink of extinction. It wasn't even for the survival of the species for its natural right to exist in this world. Reason given by the official was this, "more must be done to preserve stocks of the hugely popular sushi item in Japan".

This explains the kind of mentality Japanese people have towards natural wildlife. For them these creatures are not living breathing inhabitants of this world like them, for them everything is commercial item, endangered creature's population is stock of the item. It is as if they see the oceans of this world as their personal refrigerator where all their food items are stored in huge stocks. Then how can we even expect empathy from these robots towards wild and marine life.

I recently read about a incident that took place in Tokyo in the last days of World War 2. It was 1945 and US Navy had severed all supply routes of Japan. There was a shortage of food in Japan. But people were still getting by somehow. In 1940s, Tokyo had a well renowned zoo that had more than 1000 animals most of them from foreign lands. Suddenly in 1945, the Japanese government ordered the zoo keepers to poison all the animals and put them down. According to the zoo keeper Haruto Ishida who is in his 90s now, the reason given to him was the shortage of food and there's just not enough around to feed the animals. Zoo keepers told the authorities that most of the animals eat only grass and shrubs, and they volunteered that they themselves will arrange this foliage for the animals. And for the meat eating animals, they replied that there is enough stock available of rotten meat that is unhealthy for human consumption but animals can consume it without any serious problems. So they explained that none of the animals at the zoo, would require any food from the limited stock of food for the Japanese population. But the reply given to Haruto Ishida was to do what he's been told.

When the news about this broke out among the people of Tokyo, hundreds of children wrote letters to Zoo authorities and even converged on to the zoo to request authorities for not to kill the animals. But sadly within a week, all animals in the Tokyo zoo were killed. Included in those animals was a young elephant called "Shinji" whom Haruto Ishida had reared himself for 17 years. When asked how he felt when Shinji was put down, the 70 year old pain moistened his eyes and he replied "Shinji didn't die alone that day, a piece of my soul, my best friend and my loving child whom I has raised from the day after his birth, also died with him".

This incident as sad and as tragic as it is. once again reveals the same old Japanese mindset that animals are expendable and their lives don't matter at all. And it is this belief that is at the core of all animal abuse controversies of Japan.

According to the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) Japan is one of the biggest market of illegal animal parts trade. Approximately 70% of the illegally poached elephant ivory is bought by Japanese buyers. In year 2000, Japan signed a trade deal with the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) for purchase of Ivory from the African countries. But soon demand for Ivory in Japan increased so much that Illegal Ivory trade started flourishing in Japan. Japan had assured CITES that only registered ivory traders would be allowed to sell in Japan. But this was all a lie and soon Japan became an international hub for Illegal Ivory. According to treaty with CITES, any trader trying to sell ivory to Japan had to specify the source of Ivory. Soon the ivory supply from CITES nations died down, but the demand of ivory in Japan kept on increasing. Eventually to benefit from increasing demand of ivory, illegal ivory traders filled the vacuum left behind by the CITES. Japan never asked the illegal ivory traders and they never told Japan about from where were they getting their ivory. I guess everybody knew that this ivory was being sourced by illegal mass killings of African elephants

A number of Asian countries like Thailand, India, Cambodia, Burma, Sri Lanka have repeatedly appealed to Japan to prohibit the sale of Ivory and to deem it illegal. Japan has refused to do so and today it is the biggest reason why wild African elephants are being killed illegally. Poachers know that they have a permanent market in Japan, where they can easilly sell their ivory, without any trouble. That's why today, 70% of illegally poached ivory finds its way into the hands of Japanese buyers. Japan's denial to appropriately address the issue illegal ivory trade , even when it is biggest reason behind increase in illegal poaching of elephants in Africa and Asia, can only be described as tragically disappointing and utterly irresponsible.

And craze of Japanese people about getting animals killed globally is not just limited to elephants. Tigers are also one of the creatures that is on the Japan's victims list. After China, Japan is the second biggest buyer of Tiger skin, bones and other body parts. Approximately 32% of the global trade of illegal Tiger parts finds its buyers in Japan. The laws in Japan about the trade in body parts of endangered species are at best laughable. Although there is ban on sale of parts of endangered species in Japan, but this ban doesn't apply to the products not readily recognisable. Meaning sale of tiger bones is illegal but sale of crushed or fragmented tiger bones is legal. Similarly sale of Rhino horn is illegal but if break the horn into smaller pieces than it becomes legal. And same goes for all kind of parts from endangered species. Japan is also one of the top ten countries for supplying shark fins to HongKong and China.

Despite numerous appeals by WWF and Asian countries, Japan has refused to ammend its laws to make sale of every form and kind of body parts of endangered species, illegal. 

Japan is one of the biggest instigators of illegal animal poaching worldwide. Risk for every endangered specie in the world is compounded many times because of Japan's passion for dead animal parts and its denial to erect stricter laws to combat this cancer that is ravaging wildlife populations worldwide. There is something within the culture of Japanese people that desensitised them to the pain and suffering of animals.

But expecting Japan to take steps for the protection of endangered animals would be like tossing a coin and expecting it to land on its edge. It is possible but probability of it happening is 1/6000. But the thing is, you only try to protect those things that you consider valuable to you. Japan is a country, where living creatures are identified as sushi items and their existence in nature as stock of that Sushi item. So expecting much from them is nothing more than a fool's dream.

CONCLUSION

Most of the Japanese people and many people around the world would argue that killing whales or dolphin is just like butchering poultry and cattle. So if people in the west are not stoping the slaughter of cows, pigs, lambs, goats, chicken and turkey then why are they asking Japan to stop its slaughter of whales and dolphins for food. First of all, for me there is no difference between those who butcher animals for meat and Japanese whalers who slaughter whales and dolphins. But there is a big difference between the two practices. Cattle and animals that are slaughtered in western countries for meat are all raised and reared for that specific purpose. As disgusting I find that to be but its the fact that those animals are reared and raised in corporate slaughter houses. People don't go into the wild to kill a couple of thousand moose in order to process their meat at a huge scale for commercial reasons. Even though millions of animals are killed in western countries for food, the numbers of wild animals are not affected at all.

But what Japanese people do is totally opposite to this. Japan uses specifically constructed whaling vessels to rape the oceans and marine life. The creatures that Japanese people kill are wild creatures who have had no contact with human beings. Neither have Japanese people aided in the growth of these whales nor have they made any efforts to ensure their survival. Then who gave the Japanese people the right to sail out onto the international waters and slaughter these creatures by thousands. I think it is very arrogant and naive of Japanese people to assume that they have any right over the lives of these creatures even though they haven't made even a shred of contribution to their existence. And the shear audacity of the Japanese people to venture into an existing and UN recognised Whale Sancturay, to slaughter whales is beyond belief. And the fact that UN is allowing Japan to continue its shameful activities in Southern Ocean proves how impotent and powerless United Nations is. If a country like Japan wouldn't even listen to UN, then what is the fucking purpose that tower in New York. If UN won't act and our governments can't act, them onus is upon us to take appropriate measures to safeguard the animals on this planet from an indiscriminate slaughter by a hypocrite nation and its morally deprived people.

I think this is a time for a stronger stand on the issue. If Japanese are arrogant enough to go against the ruling of International Court of Justice then that attitude should be reciprocated. All the relief aid being given to Japan for the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the Tsunami should halted immediately. Any and all kinds of food export from Japan should be cancelled immediately. All the UN and Red Cross units stationed in Japan should be immediately withdrawn. And any Japanese vessels conducting whaling expeditions in Southern Ocean and especially within the area of designated Whale Sanctuary should be impounded and all its crew should be placed under arrest. If Japan thinks international laws don't apply to them then there is no logic in discussing things with them anymore.

We regularly butt heads with each other over minuscule issues. And for the first time we have a noble cause to stand in support of. We have two choices, either we can simply ignore the atrocities committed by Japan which I am sure will be considered a green signal by Norway and Iceland to commence whale hunts of their own or we can unite and take stern stand against the slaughter of whales and dolphins. If government doesn't possess enough guts to stay defiant that its totally justified that we make a stand of our own. Its our world and they are our animals and we require no permission from anybody to protect what's ours. If talks won't persuade the whalers then a proactive measure just might. If it comes to it even sinking the whaling vessels should be considered a worst case scenario action.

How long will be sit by idly while innocents creatures of our natural world are being slaughtered right in front of our eyes. Japan's PM stated that the whale hunting is sustainable so it should allowed, well human are also sustainable so if tomorrow Mr.Abe says he want to hunt humans because of their sustainability, then would international community act in such a pathetic manner. No it won't because then the life under threat would be of a human. So its nothing to do with sustainability, fact is Japanese people consider lives of whales and dolphins worthless so it's perfectly fine for them to slaughter them.

If mankind carries on in this hypocrite manner than that day is not that far in future, when we would have to show a picture of whales to our children to teach them that such a creature really existed once. And it is extinct now because we were waiting for a diplomatic solution while the very last one of whales and dolphins were packed in cans to be placed on shelves of Supermarkets in Tokyo.

Decision is yours..............