Curious, are you able to provide a better reference to this info, other than a "wikipedia" entry on Asahi Shimbun. Searching the site provides no clues in this direction!!!

This is all the more appalling when you see budget cutbacks in japanese society, including elderly care. The New York Times reported recently how some infirm elderly people with few resources or family have been left alone to starve to death, despite welfare agencies aware of their plight. These 'welfare' agencies choose this cruelty to save money, and have been described by the japanese government as 'models' for care and monetary restraint! I suspect the Fisheries Agency sustains itself and its policies of whaling by graft and bribes and kickbacks. Where are the intrepid japanese journalists to investigate the ICR and the JFA? Or is that term (intrepid japanese journalist) just a bad oxymoron?
The NYT article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/asia/12japan.html?scp=1&sq=japan+welfare&st=nyt

Yes, that's a cause for optimism. We can hope financial factors help to close the waters over whaling. But it doesn't really mitigate for Greenpeace's appalling shameful decision to withdraw now from Antactica, the new priority being not to stop whaling but to get back to base. I suppose you need all hands on deck to count all the cash you've netted from your stop whaling ad campaigns. What a farce. I never thought I'd agree with the Nisshin Maru's 'Greenpeace deceives you' banner. Sadly, it does have an ironic ring of truth.

Hi Simon,

I can barely move because of all the money that now surrounds my desk and I am starting to think that all these bank notes are becoming a fire hazard! Yes, indeed - all of the crew who just got off the Esperanza have been summoned to Greenpeace International in order to help deal with the money that has been flooding in thanks to the Japanese whalers!

OK seriously now, we're not in this for the money. We've SPENT millions on this campaign since the 1970s and we've got dedicated campaigners all around the world who desperately want to see an end to whaling as soon as possible. I have met nearly all of them and I can tell you in all honesty that this is their top priority. Of course we need to raise funds since we can't operate on thin air. But the whales campaigners who plan our global strategy to save whales in the Southern Ocean are not really concerned with raising funds. That's not their job and most of them actually have an aversion to it!

Greenpeace has a clear multi-tactical strategy to end whaling in the Southern Ocean. The most well known part is our expeditions to the Southern Ocean but we also engage in political work across the globe to ensure that there is an anti-whaling majority at the International Whaling Commission. And just as importantly we're focussed on building momentum against whaling inside Japan. Greenpeace is the only organisation that works on all of these angles and there is nothing deceptive about what we do. You can see for yourself how much money we raise and what we spend it on here: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/annual-report-06.pdf

I wish we were swimming in cash - but we're ticking along, working in 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific towards energy efficiency, clean renewable fuels, healthy oceans and forests, removal of toxic materials and many other issues - one of them being an end to whaling FOREVER (not just for a few weeks during one or two whaling seasons) and we're always striving to work as effectively as we can. It's rather disheartening to read grossly misleading accusations like yours because not only are they untrue, but they divert energy away from actually saving whales! I wonder how much more of the world's attention could be directed towards saving them if this sort of pathetic back stabbing stopped.

I'd love to see the Esperanza go back to the Southern Ocean but by the time she got back there the whaling season would be almost over and there is no guarantee that we would find them again. Our ship already pursued the Nisshin Maru over 4,300 nautical miles for 2 weeks and prevented any whales from being killed. Going back now in an attempt to delay the fleet again for the remainder of the season would take a lot of time and money at the risk of not saving a single whale. Instead, we're concentrating on taking down whaling from inside Japan. This is taking time, but it's the one sure way we can stop the fleet actually leaving Japan at all.

Check out the last video from Sara if you still have any doubts :-) http://weblog.greenpeace.org/whales/2008/02/video_sara_wraps_it_up.html

Simon 'Hacker' eh? Hacker, ...Hmmm, interesting name. Rockin' article and response Lisa, ...you too Eric. Thanks guys. Love your wit and humor Lisa, "I can barely move because of all the money that now surrounds my desk and I am starting to think that all these bank notes are becoming a fire hazard!" I wish... I can only imagine the more funds Greenpeace realizes, the better chance your children might actually survive this human stew we've made for ourselves Simon. Simon the hacker says take three giant steps backward. Greenpeace says, take three giant leaps forward. It's Simple Simon, how about some cash to keep moving forward. Give it up and dig deep.
And all this about being all volunteer. Is that what you want, those that sacrifice so much to live in a mud hut somewhere and have their children go hungry? These people need to get paid for what they do, just like anyone else. If every penny I donate goes toward your salery Lisa, that would please me beyond measure. It is my privilage to see that your family doesn't have to suffer while you are spending all your time in service to even those that would critisize you.
Sara: a world class video from a true world class heroine. Where do you get all these amazing people from anyway Greenpeace?

Martin - Regretfully, the article from the Asahi Shimbun is not online. I received a translated version from the Greenpeace Japan office and I can't publish this in full for copyright reasons.

I'm not Japanese, but I live in Japan and can read and write Japanese -- so I took the liberty of finding the original article online from Asahi Shinbun. The link is at the bottom of this post.

I'll also post a part of this to my Mixi community (a huge Japan-based SNS site). This might get a few more people on this side to even be aware that there is, in fact, something going on beyond the latest hair style and coolest new cell phone.

And no, I'm not overstating the problem of lack of public awareness. Japanese are generally highly unaware of what happens beyond their local community. I teach an extrememly well educated man here (private student) who has heard of the whaling issued, but fully believes that this whaling is being done in the name of research. People here just don't question what they are told. Ignorance is bliss.

Having said that, once the person-on-the-street takes it on board, public outcries tend to form rapidly and can get things changed. So the way to deal with this is not to write to Japanese politicians. THey're corrupt, and don't give a rat's ass about whaling or anything else unless it gets them power or money.

The way to deal with this is more images of whales and their calves being slaughtered. Japanese public opinion is not driven at all by logic or common sense -- it's driven on emotive response. Hell, on the day -- in fact, at the exact hour -- that the US invaded Iraq, there was less than 2 minutes of a cartoon-like coverage of what it was all about on national news. They then returned to a 20-minute segment about "tama chan" -- a seal that had escaped a zoo and was living in the Tokyo canal system.

Put a few more images of whales and their little calves getting slaughtered and you'll see it in the headlines over here. The more heartless the image, the more people will respond.

Anyway, here's the link to the Asahi article. I'll start putting together something in Japanese for my blog and for the mixi account. Keep up the fight, guys!!
http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0201/TKY200802010378.html

PS: As for the money thing, you'll always have critics pointing fingers and saying that you should be doing more. They are usually the ones sitting on fat ass with their laptop at home, getting fatter on Doritos and doing nothing to change their own lives, let along improve the condition of the world. Maybe somebody should harpoon them, instead! lol

OK, here's the link to the blog post -- mostly accessed by Japanese people, and linked to another Japan-based SNS community on which it's generated some good discussion.
http://asia-travelbug.blogspot.com/2008/02/japanese-research-whaling.html