TOKYO (9 Nov 2004) -- After failing to persuade the world that killing whales, dolphins and sharks is good for both the environment and its fishing industry, the Japanese government has announced it will do what it does best: Ignore international agreements and environmental regulations aimed at protecting threatened and endangered species. Japan's right-wing, ultra-nationalist government has decided to reject the recent CITES agreement severely restricting trade in great white sharks and forbidding trade in Irrawaddy dolphins. Masayuki Komatsu, who represents Japan's commercial whaling industry, referred to the CITES regulations as "nothing more than western cultural imperialism" and defended Japan's decision to defy the international agreement stating, "No global population assessment of this species (great white sharks) has been carried out." Komatsu, who describes whales as the "cockroaches of the sea" and repeatedly lies about the "cultural significance" of whaling to modern Japanese, has been criticized in Japan for adopting the rhetoric of Japanese war criminals who combined racism, nationalism and territorialism to justify Japan's aggression and brutality during the second world war. According to Japanese ultranationalist Masayuki Komatsu, initiatives to protect marine wildlife are "nothing more than western cultural imperialism". | | Zen and the extreme brutality of killing dolphins one hack at a time... "Komatsu is an embarrassment to educated Japanese--the government's commercial whaling lobby does not reflect the opinion of most Japanese citizens," said Ken Mano, a leading Japanese environmentalist. "Apart from the fishing industry and the corrupt politicians, ultra-nationalists and organized criminal gangs that support them, we Japanese do not want to kill whales nor do we feel some ancient cultural urge to eat them." "Please remember that next time you hear Komatsu ranting about 'western cultural imperialism' or read an article in the New York Times about Japan rejecting international wildlife protection agreements." Mano told CDNN. "The Japan they are talking about is not the Japanese people, it's the special interests that control Japan's politicians, economy and of course, the mass media." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
