Anti-Japan

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Some Japanese netizens have a theory about this man, who has often been seen accompanying the South Korean pop group KARA:

They think he’s the same person as this ruffian who clashed with police outside the offices of Chongryon (Chosen Soren), an organization of pro-DPRK Korean residents of Japan:

They both share some facial features:

Those that see the “Korean Wave” in Japan as a fabrication are claiming that this is yet another example of how Korean pop culture’s popularity in Japan is part of an anti-Japanese conspiracy. They are not at all surprised that KARA would be seen associating with North Korean agents.

According to an article on the Rakuten/Infoseek Woman news site, the entertainment company that handles KARA has stated that the man is a “schedule manager” for the music group. They are looking into the accusations that he is a member of Chongryon.

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Korean Ultra-Nationalists Lobby Virginia: Demand Textbooks Use Korea-centric Geography (“East Sea”) @SenDaveMarsden

For the last several years, South Korean ultra-nationalists have been lobbying publishing companies and governments around the world, demanding that “East Sea” replace or be written alongside “Sea of Japan” in maps and books. They are angry about how people in other countries call the sea to the east of Korea by a
“pro-Japanese” name.

Although there are mountains of historical evidence that show widespread international use of the name predates Japan’s opening to the world in the 1850′s, these Korean ultra-nationalists insist that Japanese imperialists are responsible for the name.

As an alternative, they suggest that the entire world adopt the translation of their Korea-centric term for the sea: “East Sea.”

Their misinformation campaign appears to have gained some ground in areas of the United States with large ethnic Korean populations. Several days ago, they tried to trick the state of Virginia into requiring the use of “East Sea” in its textbooks. Luckily, the State Senate rejected their plan.

As reported by Korea’s Arirang News:

The Senate’s Education and Health Committee voted down the legislation 7 to 8, brought to a vote by Democrat Dave Marsden representing a constituency with a large Korean-American community.

The bill was strongly opposed by Republicans who called the measure “micromanagement” and raised concerns over possible strife and disorder that could arise from the legislation.

Korea argues that historically the more common name for the body of water between Korea and Japan is “East Sea” and NOT the “Sea of Japan.”

If you live in Virginia and would like to express your displeasure with Senator David Marsden’s blatant pandering to foreign ultra-nationalists, contact him via Twitter, Facebook, or his website.

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Remember World War II: Sea Shepherd Depicts Japanese As Uniquely Cruel & Dishonest

In response to yesterday’s blog post about the existence of racism and prejudice among opponents of Japanese whaling, some readers complained that I was focusing too much on the words of a anonymous internet lunatics. Why should Sea Shepherd be mentioned in connection with these extremists?

Paul Watson and his organization do not openly resort to racism. But they do use arguments that stir up ugly racism and hatred. As Brendan O’Neill mentioned, anti-whalers have revived “World War II propaganda that tended to depict the Japanese as a uniquely wicked people.” The Sea Shepherd website is full of material that tells readers that the Japanese have a long history of brutality and dishonesty.

Below are a few quotations from Sea Shepherd founder and president Paul Watson. All are taken from official articles posted on Sea Shepherd’s homepage.

Paul Watson in November 2007:

The Japanese say that whaling is a matter of national pride. What kind of sick perverse culture can take pride in the cruel and bloody slaughter of whales and dolphins? oh yes, I almost forgot, the same culture responsible for the Rape of Nanking and the beheading of Australian, American, Canadian and Dutch soldiers and civilians.

Paul Watson in June 2006:

The brutal killing of whales has become an icon for the Japanese identity. This is not unusual. Japan has always closely identified with blood and slaughter. From the decapitations by the Samurai upon innocent peasants to the suicidal insanity of the Kamikaze, violence and self destruction have been a part of Japanese culture.

Paul Watson in October 2007:

Almost half a million dolphins have died in the annual dolphin death drives. The bays run red with the hot blood of these screaming creatures as Japanese fishermen slash, stab, spear, and club the animals to death. Witnessing the slaughter and watching innocent children being fed poison is reminiscent of another era, a time that many of us thought had long past-the time of the Rape of Nanking, comfort women, medical experiments on humans, the Bataan death march-a time when Japanese ruthlessness shocked and horrified the world. And now this! This unimaginable horror! Every bit as disturbing as the events of a generation ago. And yet just like in pre-war Japan, the media are complicit, the public apathetic, and the politicians compromised.

Paul Watson in May 2008:

I guess we can add it to the long list of major conspiracies at the heart of Japan’s government like the rape of Nanking that apparently did not happen and “dolphins, what dolphins are being killed in Taiji?”

Paul Watson in May 2006:

This level of imperialist exploitation has not been seen since the Japanese army swept in and slaughtered the Chinese people and invaded their lands.

Paul Watson in March 2008:

this is the nation that still denies the Rape of Nanking, that still denies enslaving Korean and Chinese women as “comfort women,” that still denies torturing POW’s during the war, that still denies destroying the rainforests of Indonesia and over-fishing the world’s oceans. Japanese history is a chronicle of deceptions.

Those interested in the Japanese government’s stance regarding war atrocities can check its official statements online: Rape of Nanking / Comfort Women / Prisoners of War

Paul Watson in January 2010, comparing the wartime sinking of an Australian hospital ship to sinking of a Sea Shepherd ship:

Nothing has changed much. The sinking of the Centaur, a hospital ship in 1943 was deliberate and it was a war crime that killed 278 Australians, yet Japan still to this day refuses to acknowledge responsibility in the face of overwhelming evidence. The same holds true for the sinking of the Ady Gil, no matter what evidence or the results of Australian and New Zealand investigations, Japan will refuse to acknowledge responsibility.

( It later came to light that Sea Shepherd members had deliberately scuttled the Ady Gil to “garner sympathy” towards their cause. )

Paul Watson in April 2010, comparing Pete Bethune’s arrest for illegally boarding a Japanese ship to the wartime treatment of Allied POW’s:

Bethune was not brought back to Japan as a criminal. He was brought back as a prisoner on the ship that had so viciously attacked him and when that ship arrived it was greeted with a nationalist rally of cheering and jeering Japanese right-wingers in the same manner as they cheered the marching of POW’s down the Kokoda Trail or through the streets of Tokyo in 1942.

This was the first time since the Pacific War with Japan that an ANZAC soldier (Pete is a veteran) was transported back to Japan from the Southern Ocean after the sinking of his ship, and the first time that a prisoner was greeted with such jingoistic hatred. They treated him as a prisoner of war and that is exactly what he is.

Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd will, of course, say that they do not condone racism and do not mean to denounce all Japanese people. But, whether intended or not, Sea Shepherd’s persistent use of World War II atrocities is extremely effective in encouraging the revival of old hatreds that existed in the 1940′s.

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Anti-Whaling Groups Display “Open Prejudice” Towards Japanese

The Australian has printed an excellent opinion piece by Brendan O’Neill (“Shades of open prejudice in war on whalers“). He argues that prejudice and racism are behind the views of some anti-whalers:

The attempt to transform Sea Shepherd’s cynical seafaring shenanigans, this overblown act of adrenalin-pumping adventure tourism, into a clash between the Australian and Japanese authorities shows what lies behind concern for whales today: a desire to exert the moral authority of what are presumed to be Good People (in this case Australia) over Bad People (Japanese).

One of the key driving forces behind much international animal rights activism is not so much love for animals as disgust and disdain for wicked human beings especially human beings with dark or “yellow” skin.

So Australia’s anti-whalers have successfully rehabilitated what many of us considered to be long-dead prejudices against the Japanese.

Echoing World War II propaganda that tended to depict the Japanese as uniquely wicked – far more weirdly sadistic than the Germans, say – the Sea Shepherd website informs us that the whaling carried out in the Southern Ocean is “cruel and barbaric, a gross sadistic perversion”.

A columnist for The Courier-Mail once lamented the “uncivilised barbarity” of that whaling nation of Japan, in contrast to Australia, which is “a civilised nation of pet-lovers”.

Here, the issue of whaling is openly used to advertise the decency of white folk who own puppies over yellow people who scoff whale meat.

Sea Shepherd has also referred to Japanese whalers as “viciously cruel” and as “terrorists”. On one eco-website, a contributor to an online debate about Japanese whaling said explicitly what other people generally only hint at – that the Japanese kill whales because they are “f . . king evil bloodthirsty amoral wankers”.

Sometimes, there’s a very thin line between international animal rights activism and xenophobia. Often, expressing concern for God’s creatures is a cover for communicating disgust with ungodly human beings.

Over the last few days, I had a chance to experience the prejudice of some of Sea Shepherd’s most fanatical supporters. Several SS members stumbled upon last week’s post about the Australian government having to spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to pick up activists who illegally boarded a Japanese ship as part of a SS-directed operation. They noticed a poll asking JapanProbe readers whether the activists should reimburse the Australian government for the expense of the rescue, so they used tweets to send hundreds of supporters to spam the poll with pro-SS votes.

I altered the poll to void their spam votes. I don’t know what they expected to achieve by changing the results of an unscientific poll on a blog post that was already off the front page of this blog. After the poll was voided, I figured it might make them go away and could reduce the number of racist comments that were flooding the post. Judging from some of the death threats I received, it seems that quite a few of them thought that I was a Japanese government official or part of the “yakuza-controlled” Japanese media. Many of them seem to think that people in Japan get their news from English language blogs that occasionally translate Japanese media reports. So, by altering the results of a poll that had been skewed by Sea Shepherd spamming, I was hiding the “truth” from the Japanese people.

Below are a few excerpts from e-mails and comments I received this week. Several clearly reflect the kind of prejudice that O’Neill mentioned in his article.

From Maria, a “Proud Resident of Fair Australia” who assumed that I was a Japanese person who worked for the “jap government” and was announcing her intent to report my blog to the Australian government:

“I understand what type of a lying and hateful breed of people the Japanese people are….

[...]

….It will be a very happy day when Japan is brought to its knees for their crimes and the world will be rejoicing because finally Japan has shamed themselves for the last time. I hope one day that all Japanese people are banned from entering my wonderful, caring and honest country. I dont want my children to grow up with your terrible children.“

A line from an e-mail from Sonya McNerk:

“You lot are such idiots….I have yet to meet and honest and honourable Japanese person.“

And a comment from Celeste:

“…if you have family like i do and you care about their future please donate to Sea Shepherd so they can fund these very important campaigns and hopefully save the planet and keep the disgusting japanese race out of our beautiful and caring country.“

A comment from Martinguest, who thinks that “under evolved” Japanese are killing whales, and that SS should “research” the Japanese (or, in other words, kill the Japanese):

“How can anyone condemn Sea Shepherd? These are people merely carrying out ‘research’ on lowlife that carry out cowardly attacks on whales! Sea Shepherd would gladly accept the handing over of their ‘kidnapped’ crew members so they can continue their ‘research’! There is obviously a number of under evolved humans that think chasing families then hacking to death (a long agonising death) the adults of the family is acceptable behaviour. However this is not the view of civilised people so, unfortunately Sea Shepherd will have to continue its’ highly valuable ‘research’!“

There are, of course, plenty of non-prejudiced people who oppose whaling. However, a great many of Sea Shepherd’s most loyal supporters seem to carry outrageously ugly prejudices against the Japanese.

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Sea Shepherd’s Idiotic Antics Cost Australian Taxpayers “Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars”

Here is a follow-up on the three animal rights activists who illegally boarded a Japanese whaling ship a few days ago. The Japanese have agreed to the Australian government’s request that the men be released, but an Australian customs vessel will have to come pick them up. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon is making it clear that Sea Shepherd’s antics are going to be expensive for Australian taxpayers:

The mission to retrieve the men would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” and bad weather could increase the taxpayers’ tab further, Ms Roxon said.

“I would very much like these three men to consider what contribution they would make, or the Sea Shepherd (environmental group) for that matter,” Ms Roxon said.

“I’m not going to be holding my breath. The truth is the taxpayer will foot the bill for this sort of action.”

Sea Shepherd has insisted that there is no need for an Australian ship, since they can accept the direct return of the men. The Japanese are, of course, will not hand over criminals to the organization directly responsible for their illegal act (especially since the organization has a history of ramming whaling ships).

Meanwhile, even Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed her lack of approval for Sea Shepherd’s activities:

“People might want to make their views heard, and they should, but people need to make sure they stay on the right side of the line and engage in legal activity.”

Update: The men who illegally boarded the Japanese ship are glad that Australian taxpayers will be paying for the costly rescue mission. The stunt, which did not save any whales, was “worth it.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has a printed a very good letter to the editor:

Although my wife and I have for many years been lovers of whales and avid supporters of measures to protect them, we strongly object to Australian taxpayers bearing the cost of thousands of dollars to assist the three Australians who committed stupid and illegal acts against a sovereign Japanese ship (”Whalers gain upper hand in protest boat chase”, January 11). We should never reward criminal behaviour.

The actions of these so-called ”activists” have damaged Australia’s international image and our efforts to protect whales. They and their supporters should be forced to pay for their release.

David Harris, Clifton Grove

Note to the people being directed to spamvote: Listen to Mr. Harris.

Note: I noticed a huge increase in racist and bigoted comment posts this morning, and found that Sea Shepherd twitter accounts have been calling on their loyal fanatics to spam this poll. Prior to calls from SS Twitter accounts to spamvote, the poll results overwhelmingly called on SS to pay back Australian taxpayers. The poll answers have been altered to reflect the spamming. You guys are welcome to spam the poll some more, but flooding an online poll with votes won’t change anything.

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Australian Activists Illegally Board Japanese Whaling Ship

Three members of the radical animal rights groups Sea Shepherd and Forest Rescue Australia have been detained after illegally boarding a Japanese whaling ship. The incident took place 40 kilometers offshore, outside Australian territorial waters.

Here is Sea Shepherd’s version of the story from the West Australian (one of the many media outlets that uncritically acts as a PR outlet for SS):

“Some of our crew members with experience in boarding the Japanese ships met them in two of our inflatable boats in waters off Bunbury,” Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said.

“We (The Steve Irwin) stopped, called in that we were having engine trouble and also posted that on our website, because we know the Japanese monitor our website.

“Our vessel was 12 miles away, and I think being boarded was the last thing the Japanese thought would happen.

“It was total darkness on that ship and they had to climb around razor wire, we also know they carry military equipment.”

Forest Rescue Australia spokeswoman Amy Flee said the three men were well aware of the risks involved when they volunteered.

“They knew full well that they would probably be arrested,” she said.

As the activists note, the people who did this were fully aware that they could be arrested. They were certainly aware of the case of Pete Bethune, who was arrested in 2010 after acting under the orders of Sea Shepherd and carrying out a similar “raid” on Japanese ships. Bethune was convicted, but released with a suspended sentence.

The men were carrying a note that said “Return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters.” But, as Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has admitted, the incident did not take place in Australian territory:

”If this vessel is close to Australian waters, you’d think there was a possibility that [they] would promptly have discussions with us about a safe and immediate return,” Ms Roxon said.

But Ms Roxon expressed no confidence this would happen, saying the government’s options were restricted because the incident happened outside territorial waters.

”It is likely that these three Australians may be taken back to Japan,” she said.

Sea Shepherd, which has a consistent record of outright dishonesty, has claimed that they boarded the vessel within Australian territorial waters. (Don’t take my word for it, just ask Pete Bethune, who says the organization is dishonest and morally bankrupt.)

This latest act of illegal boarding seems to show that Japan was being too lenient when it gave a suspended sentence to Bethune. The same organization has repeated the same crime, fully aware of its illegality, and probably thinks that its members will not face actual prison sentences.

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