Blogpost by Junichi Sato, Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan Whale conservation has lost out to the fading, but still defiant pro-whaling forces, at this year’s International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting. The meeting in Panama City had initially offered the world hope that the IWC would actually help to save whales, not whalers, after the [...]

Post by Junichi Sato, Executive and Programme Director Greenpeace, Japan On December 22, 2010 the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) acknowledged and publicly apologised for embezzlement within the whaling industry. An official from the powerful agency gave a 90 degree bow of apology on national television (seen here on ABC Australia’s report and explained that [...]

This will be the first blog Toru and I have written together, as up until recently our heavy bail restrictions have meant that we could not be in the same room or even talk to each other without a lawyer present. The verdict in our trial is approaching, and on Monday September 6 we will [...]

One of our campaigners in New Zealand, Karli Thomas, sent me a link to a recent program from 60 minutes New Zealand. It contains some disturbing information. We know that whales face many threats beyond  whaling including ship strikes, entanglement in fishing nets and the impacts of climate change. But the program contains  evidence that [...]

International human rights experts Dirk Voorhoof and Serge Gutwirth have co-authored a thought provoking article about the right to protest under threat. Check it out on the ABC Unleashed site here: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2911068.htm Professor Dirk Voorhoof recently provided testimony  in the case again the Tokyo Two, our activists who risked jail time for exposing the fraud that [...]

There’s been quite a bit of media lately on the whales front. And the conflicting reports can be a bit confusing. Here’s what’s going on in a nutshell – and it’s not good. As we wrote in February, 12 key countries, including Australia and Japan have been involved in talks over whaling for some time [...]

Last week was a big one for the Tokyo Two, our Japanese activists who are facing politically motivated charges for successfully exposing corruption in the Japanese whaling program. Lines of people queued to see events unravel in one of the most high-profile cases the Aomori Local court in northern Japan has hosted. There was high [...]

The end to large-scale, industrial whaling was achieved in 1986 and is seen as one of the great victories of the environment movement. But this achievement might be undone by negotiations currently underway. Commercial whaling could be set for a comeback after closed-door negotiations between 12 countries, including Japan and Australia, resulted in a proposal [...]

The trial date for the Tokyo Two is finally approaching after months of drawn-out pre-court processes. The hearing will commence on 15 February and is set to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, trial heard in the Aomori court, in northern mainland Japan. Otherwise known as the “Tokyo Two”, Junichi and Toru [...]

Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, better known as the Tokyo Two, are on trial for intercepting a box of whale meat as part of an investigation into an embezzlement ring within Japan’s taxpayer-funded ‘research’ whaling programme. The Japanese government subsidises the loss-making whaling programme to the tune of US$5 million a year, making [...]

Toru Suzuki is a Greenpeace anti-whaling activist from Japan. One of the Tokyo Two, he was arrested last year after exposing a whale meat embezzlement scandal that rocked the Japanese Government-funded whaling industry and made front page news. Toru recently visited Australia, meeting with politicians, government officials and the public to provide an insight into [...]

The change of government in Japan in a landslide victory to the Democratic Party of Japan provides new hope of a shift on Japan’s whaling policies – especially if the Australian government plays the right cards. Although whaling is not an issue where the Democratic Party differentiates itself from the outgoing Liberal Party, a range [...]

This post is just in from Junichi Sato. Junichi is one of the two Greenpeace activists known as the “Tokyo Two” that were arrested when they presented evidence of corruption in Japan’s whaling industry to Japanese authorities. While Japan’s Criminal Justice System may look OK from a distance once you get close enough to smell [...]

Junichi Toru, on of the two Japanese activists known as the “Tokyo Two” arrested for exposing corruption in the Japanese whaling industry, is also at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. He’s “celebrating” one year since his arrest and shares his thoughts on the IWC meeting, his upcoming trial and the future of Japanese whaling. [...]

Everyone at the International Whaling Commission (or IWC) keeps assuring me that international meetings to decide important environmental issues aren’t normally like this. The IWC is becoming something of a joke on the international stage. In recent years the IWC was a forum for fiery debate between pro conservation and pro whaling countries. The flashpoint [...]

I’m in Madeira, a Portuguese island in the Atlantic and the host of this year’s annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission. The IWC, as it’s known, is the peak international body for deciding upon all issues related to whales and whaling. It’s also my first IWC meeting as a Greenpeace whales campaigner. To be [...]

We just got in some excellent photos of a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), taken off the coast of Sri Lanka by Hong Kong-based photographer and diver Paul Hilton. We have the privilege of working with great photographers and wanted to share these pics with you all. Enjoy!

We’re very proud of our origami whales – our interactive website where you can pimp up your own origami whale to send off to Japan with a message asking their government to stop whaling. The website won a People’s Voice Award in this year’s international Webby Awards. » Check out the website and add your [...]

The big news in Iceland this week has been the election of a new Government which has previously said it will look at ending commercial whaling. The world’s first openly gay leader, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir will lead a coalition government formed from Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement. Just before he was [...]

We’ve had awesome news in the office! Our Origami Whales interactive website is finalist in the 2009 Webby Awards – the equivalent of the Oscars for the web! The petition site was launched almost a year ago, asking the Japanese Prime Minister to cease whaling in the Southern Ocean. Users can pimp their own origami [...]