Japanese diplomat goes on a whale watching tour, gets heckled
What exactly was the Japanese ambassador to New Zealand thinking when he accepted an invitation from New Zealand’s Conservation Minister to go on a whale watching tour? Here’s what happened:
New Zealand is one of Japan’s strongest critics on the whaling issue and the visit came a month after Japan led an international push to end a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling.
About a dozen protesters waving flags and banners met the diplomats’ bus at the waterfront in Kaikoura.
The activists had also suspended an old freezer from a crane with “Whales don’t live in a freezer” written on it.
Reports said Saito looked embarrassed and uncomfortable at the attention, avoiding the media when the cruise ended and hurrying back onto the bus.
Earlier police were called when the bus was briefly stopped by black balaclava-wearing protesters when it arrived at a Maori meeting ground, Radio New Zealand reported.
A traditional Maori welcome was interrupted by activists shouting slogans through a megaphone from the roof of a neighbouring house.
Carter said the tour had been an opportunity to demonstrate the value of whale conservation.
“It may not make any difference at all but it’s a chance in a very practical way to show why New Zealanders feel so passionate about whales,” he told reporters.
An anti-whaling activist who took part in the protest also supported the visit.
“The more whale hunting nations that can see the benefits of whale watching instead of eating them, the better,” Brad Thorpe told Television New Zealand.
Did the ambassador not realize that it was a trap?
Apparently anti-whaling rage has been on the rise in NZ since a recent Australian report about Japanese whalers killing pregnant whales in an area considered a sanctuary. An article over at CDNN manages to link Japanese whaling to the evil Japanese militarists and their World War II war crimes. It is also the source of the ridiculous image I posted at the beginning of this article. [Read it here.]
