Japan Related News

[aquamarine]

Japanese Sailors: 1, Double-Standard Hippies: 0

Ouch! Sea Shepherd boat cut in half by "scientific research" ship....

FACTS ON THE ADY GIL

Top speed: 40 knots (74 kmh)
Cruising speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: Halfway around the world - 20,000 km
Cost: Estimated $1 million
Length: 24 metres
Weight: 16 tonnes
Construction: Carbon fibre foam sandwich with kevlar armour.

Yea... I buy that the Japanese huge-ass tanker RAMMED ON PURPOSE the little ship that can quickly do 40 knots... riiiight...

They obviously cut the big boat's route, that was pretty stupid.

edit: ah I stand corrected, the big boat apparently corrected to hit them. Good boy.

YouTube- Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru No. 2, view from MV Bob Barker

I like how they give them another little spray after hitting them


If all else fails...

Tee hee!

I'm going out to eat whale tomorrow night at the izakaya JUST to piss off scarletjolopson and his friends in the bat-boat.

 

[Rhinosaur]

They purposely rammed another ship! What a bunch of cunts!!
I hope the captain of that vessel gets charged.
The Japanese whalers deserve all the global condemnation they get!

 

[aquamarine]

And what should be done about the constant sabotage attempts to the read of the ship, the sponges and containers filled with acid that the bat-boats crew were launching at the Japanese vessel OR the green laser gun that was used from a distance in an attempt to permanently blind the captain of the Japanese vessel? Two sides to this one, my friend.

 

[guy]

It's hard to tell who rammed whom. The first video makes it look like the Shonan Maru 2 veered towards the Ady Gil. But in a second video shot from a different angle, you can clearly see a small wake behind the Ady Gil, meaning its captain was at least partially responsible for (either intentionally or idiotically) putting the Ady Gil in the path of the Shonan Maru 2.

Either way, I too am happy to see a bit of misfortune come to Sea Shepherd. I don't really care about the issue of whaling, but using terrorist tactics to achieve an ideological goal is unacceptable.

Then again, part of me wonders if the Ady Gil was intentionally sabotaged. I mean, Sea Shepherd has been after the Japanese whaling researchers for years now, but with little success (and certainly no legal support for their extremist tactics). Perhaps they thought that if they could make it look like the "big, evil Japanese whalers" destroyed their "peace boat", they could garner more sympathy and maybe even get the whalers prosecuted for wrecking their ship.

I wouldn't mind South Park's alternative ending. Just as long as we don't have to listen to that god damned hippie music.

 

[E-raven]

people are taking this kind of things to peresonal ._.
I mean throw acid? try to blind someone?
I do not aprove whale killing myself, but thats just going too far. BOTH of em

 

[scarletsnow]

I'm not too sure if the ramming was done on purpose or accidental. It doesn't really matter; it seems at first glance it was done intentionally by the Japanese whalers.

So, what if there was a lethal casualty? Not exactly outside the realm of possibilities when one rams a much smaller vessel at sea. The Japanese economy depends heavily on exports, not on whaling. Negative sentiment against Japan could easily translate in hardship for other Japanese if it effects export. I feel mature people should take these things into consideration; one is not alone on this world.

It reminds me of those Japanese fisherman that used a boat's propeller to block Hayden Panettiere's way when she was in the water as an activist. I'm quite sure that recklessly cutting up the face of a well known all American girl with a propeller by a Japanese fisherman would have been a public relations nightmare for Japan.

The SSCS rams ships too. If you dish it out, you should also take it and don't be sore loser about it and sulk. They are definitely exploiting the ramming.
They do not keep to the international regulations for avoiding collisions at sea; in case of an accident they have blame.
The tactics used by the SSCS are quite radical.

Regardless of this all, none have the right to kill or endanger the lives of others by ramming another ship on purpose without proper cause. Being annoyed or inconvenienced does not constitute proper cause and gibberish about hippies has nothing to do with proper cause at all.

Also Paul Watson is not a hippie and neither are the people who support him. Can you really imagine him at a grateful dead concert smoking marijuana and looking at the pretty shapes of the green haze, while saying 'far out, man'. There's nothing flower power and peaceful about him; they don't come much more militant as he is.

Whale meat is likely heavily contaminated with the neurotoxin methylmercury. I would advice aquamoron to not eat too much of it, because he already has so little to work with, but he probably still has his fingers in his ears.

And now I will listen to some Jefferson Airplane.

 

[Desu]

It reminds me of those Japanese fisherman that used a boat's propeller to block Hayden Panettiere's way when she was in the water as an activist. I'm quite sure that recklessly cutting up the face of a well known all American girl with a propeller by a Japanese fisherman would have been a public relations nightmare for Japan.

why? they could even have been applauded for that... and become HEROES! (or an heroes)
btw, thank you for not calling her an actress

scarletjolopson? wtf? :ridiculed:

 

[E-raven]

I saw both videos again....
the first one:
Japanese show small boat headed to them, on the background theres a bigger boat than ady gil moving. ady gil has a pirate flag (WTF?), engines on, seems they placed the boat on place.... I mean they did have freinds around to rescue em. The other video, filmed from another ship (the one you can see on the background on first vid), I belive since theyre moving makes it seem shonan maru 2 goes right to em. So you look at that again and draw your conclusions....
Mine: although I dont like whale killing, Ady Gil did this on porpous just to draw atention to the problem: Japanese fishermen give a shit on our opinion about ecology

 

[aquamarine]

The little black bat-boat were attackers. Pirates, if you will. They pitched acid-filled sponges and containers at the ship, one landed on the deck of the Maru. They also shot green-laser guns at the crew in an attempt to blind them. I saw a video about a week ago of one laser gun hitting the ship, it looked to be a circular series of green lasers tied in together, perhaps about 15 of them.

I know how irate I get if someone shoots me in the eye with a fucking red laser, let alone potentially 15 or 20 200+mw green lasers. That calls for heavy caliber firearms on behalf of the Japanese.
--edit--
Lets paint a picture shall we?

As you are driving to work, I show up in a black car, chopped, with tinted windows and start driving aggressively, throwing acid packs, and generally trying to run you off the road.

Who here WOULDN'T fucking take a run at me?

Now, for the record, I think whaling is right up there with child r***, but cmon, really? You think people are gonna drop what they are doing and focus on your cause when you are putting their lives at risk? You wanna make a difference, bomb the hedquarters, snipe the CEO, kidnap his kids and extract their oil, but come the fuck on.

If you are going to be a fucking terrorist take the goddamn gloves off and be a fucking terrorist. Show up with a fucking gun at least.

Before...

After, lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5uptwYWeY8&feature=player_embedded
And another to ponder. Check out the tail jet thrusters from the Ady Gil... notice how the jet-spray was shooting AWAY from the back?

And now onto something direct from the U.N. Charter...

This is straight from the UN Convention of the Laws of the Sea:

Article101

Definition of piracy

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).

The biggest beef I have is that the Discovery Channel is essentially paying these guys to break international laws. these pirates engage in illegal acts to gain publicity for their cause. This Paul Watson clown was kicked out of Greenpeace for being "to radical" and I think that speaks volumes about his character if even Greenpeace wants nothing to do with him.

 

[loveshuffle]

Thats one cool ship xD to bad it got destroyed xD

 

[bologna]

This is less interesting than a minor car crash where someone got a sore neck.

Talk about media hype.

 

[Rhinosaur]

This talk of illegal activities by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society really pisses me off!

The Japanese government is involved in illegal commercial whaling in contravention of international law under the guise of scientific research. They have been caught hunting in Whale sanctuaries in Antarctica and have even sought to hunt endangered species!

They have bribed poorer nations for supporting votes in the International Whaling Commission.

The Japanese government is conducting a media propaganda offensive to "convince the public that whaling is culturally and economically important to Japan."

Professor Toshio Kasuya, of Teikyo University of Science and Technology in Japan says, “The annual expenses of the research program amount to around 6 billion yen, or more than US$50 million, of which 5 billion yen is covered by the sales of whale meat produced from the catch by the "scientific" whaling. Government subsidy and other funding make up the remaining 1 billion yen.

Without the earnings from the meat sales, the whaling organization that undertakes the government-commissioned research program would be unable to continue operation, and the shipping company that provides the fleet for the program would not be able to recover costs for whaling vessel construction.

This is nothing other than an economic activity. It leaves no room for researchers to carry out research based on their own ideas. It certainly does not conform to the scientific purpose authorized by the Convention.”

The Institute of Cetacean Research claims that whales eat too many fish and threaten the conservation of fish stocks – an assertion for which there is no scientific basis. They argue that lethal research is the only appropriate method to collect the needed data. However, Professor Kasuya says, “examination of biopsy samples reveal the amount of blubber and reproductive rate, and analysis of faeces provides information on what whales are eating.”

Gutless governments around the world, concerned only with the fiscal impact of taking a stand against the Japanese government on this issue, mean that societies like Sea Shepherd have to bear the responsibility of "policing" the illegal activities perpetrated by the Japanese whalers and their government!

The deliberate ramming, and continued high pressure hosing after, of the Ady Gil by the Shonan Maru II was an extremely serious, and potentially deadly, breach of maritime law.

 

[aquamarine]

The deliberate ramming, and continued high pressure hosing after, of the Ady Gil by the Shonan Maru II was an extremely serious, and potentially deadly, breach of maritime law.

So have been the numerous unathorized illegal boardings, the sabotage of legally operating equipment, the heaving of acid packs at crew and equipment and the attacks using green lasers.

I think though, what a waste of a million dollars (for the bat-boat) that could have otherwise been spent in a better fashion.

 

[darkcomet]

thank you

 

[aquamarine]

Umm... for what?

 

[scarletsnow]

My first guess would be a thank you directed at Rhinosaur's post; 06:02 to 06:10 leaves 8 minutes to read the thread and to post a thank you. Anyway, @darkcomet, there is a thanks button at the lower right of each post, you probably missed it. Also welcome to akiba.

 

[guy]

The Institute of Cetacean Research claims that whales eat too many fish and threaten the conservation of fish stocks – an assertion for which there is no scientific basis.

Actually there has been some studies showing that the minke whale population (on which most of the Japanese whaling is concentrated) has grown far too large and is consuming most of the krill that the endangered blue whale population requires in order to survive and repopulate. In other words, keeping the minke whale population in check is supposed to help the blue whale population recover, while allowing the minke whales to proliferate might only further endanger the blue whale.

Whether this study is credibile or not is up for debate, however there seems to be little counter-evidence to show that this theory is incorrect.

Moreover, your statement that this "assertion [has] no scientific basis" is in itself an assertion for which you have provided no evidence. If you do have any evidence that it is indeed only a dubious theory, you would serve your argument best by providing it, otherwise it's just smoke and mirrors.



For anyone who is interested, SSCS is now planning to bring charges of piracy against Shonan Maru 2. As the AG was registered in the Netherlands, they will try to bring their case against the SM2 in Dutch courts; but it is unclear how successful they will be as the incident took place in (mostly) international waters. However it seems that regardless of the outcome, extradition (of the SM2 crew) will be unlikely.

Naturally SSCS is claiming that the SM2 intentionally veered into the AG. The crew of the AG claims the SM2 was aiming for the crew cabin in order to cause casualties, and that they were only saved by throwing the engine in reverse, placing the brunt of the damage on the forward section of the vessel. However SSCS so far has not released any evidence that can verify this claim.

The SM2's claim is still the same from before (their larger ship was not easily maneuverable, and that the AG, being far more nimble, had the opportunity to evade the collision). The ICR has, however, released footage (the same as linked on YouTube earlier) that appear to support its claims. It's the same video that shows a significant wake behind the AG just before collision. Whether this wake was due to acceleration forward or trying to put the AG in reverse is unclear; it will be up to forensics to study the characteristics of the engines on board the AG to make a conclusion.

For the moment, the crew of the AG has abandoned ship. The AG is now currently leaking its fuel in the ocean, and crew of the Shonen Maru 3 have released video showing the extent of the leak, commenting that the smell of the fuel is quite noticable.

Not the best of sources, but I'm sure you can dig up more (and from whatever biased outlets you like) if you just search:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/01/09/sea-shepherd-charges-japan-with-piracy/

 

[Rhinosaur]

Moreover, your statement that this "assertion [has] no scientific basis" is in itself an assertion for which you have provided no evidence. If you do have any evidence that it is indeed only a dubious theory, you would serve your argument best by providing it, otherwise it's just smoke and mirrors.

Not my assertion, it was a quote from Professor Toshio Kasuya, of Teikyo University of Science and Technology!

"Dr. Toshio Kasuya graduated in 1961 from the Division of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, and obtained his Doctorate in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1972.

Dr. Kasuya had a long career in many prestigious Japanese institutions related to fisheries and marine mammals conservation and management. From April 1961 to March 1966, he was a researcher at the Japanese Whales Research Institute. In April 1966 he joined the Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, where he was a Research Associate until March 1983. In April 1983 he joined the Far Seas Fisheries Research Laboratory of the Japanese Fisheries Agency where he exercised as Project Leader and later until March 1997 as Division Director. From April 1997 to March 2001, Dr. Kasuya has been a Professor at the Faculty of Bioresources, Mie University, and from April 2001 to March 2006 a Professor at the Division of Animal Sciences, Teikyo University of Science and Technology."

He seems somewhat qualified to make these assertions!

We're all going to have differing opinions on this, but as far as I'm concerned the bottom line is that the Japanese government are engaged in illegal commercial whaling whilst telling the world it's for scientific purposes!

The SM2's claim is still the same from before (their larger ship was not easily maneuverable, and that the AG, being far more nimble, had the opportunity to evade the collision).

The SM2 looked fairly maneuverable when it changed course and veered towards the stationery AG.

 

[guy]

If the whaling is indeed illegal and the Japanese government is responsible for ignoring those laws, then I think that's perfectly fine. I just don't think terrorizing whaling ships is an appropriate, effective, or even legal way of stopping the whaling operation. The SSCS would be better off taking their claim to court and pressuring authorities to force Japan to stop its operation.

Really, I don't have a problem with Paul Watson or SSCS in terms of their aim of stopping whaling (it doesn't affect me personally either way). What I do disagree with is the types of extremist actions they take, and the type of "mindshare warfare" they engage in. I mean, if the Japanese whalers are lying about conducting scientific research, they're considered the bad guys. But if the SSCS is lying about using "rancid butter", that their lasers are not harmful, or that any of their other tactics are not illegal, they're considered the good guys.

In such a polarized condition, it's impossible to gauge the issue fairly. What we need is to bring the issue to court, and as neither side of the argument is willing to do it, both sides are to blame.

Still, if it's the Japanese government that is responsible for the so-claimed illegal whaling, then SSCS needs to take their fight to the Japanese government. It's downright callous to target the individual fishermen on the ship. Really, if whaling were illegal, those fishermen would just go find other jobs; but if the SSCS were successful in getting rid of those fishermen or their ships (but not in getting the government to stop this "illegal activity"), the ICR would just send in replacements.



Anyhoo, while the SSCS has claimed that the SM2 had "sunk" the AG, the latest Japanese videos show that the AG is still afloat (abandoned) and is currently leaking oil. Paul Watson has now responded to these claims saying that the Japanese government is lying and that one of the Japanese ships must have gone back and "thrown in a bucket of oil ... and took a picture".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IptnK5ZXICQ

Since the source of the oil is unverified, we can't know whether it's the Shonan Maru 2/3 or Watson that is lying. Either way, for whoever is actually telling the truth, it will be a huge setback for the other; although given how most of the public opinion and media already side with Watson/SSCS, it seems hard to imagine that the ICR could be set back any further than it already is.



As for the fault of the collision, I think it's still questionable. Again since I'm no maritime expert I can't vouch that my own opinion is correct. I admit that there's a possibility that the SM2 could have maneuvered out of the way, and that its captain could be responsible (whether out of misjudgement or ill intention). But I also hold the same skepticism against AG and its crew (misjudging the trajectory or intentionally causing the collision), and I maintain that the wake behind the AG just before the collision is something that cannot be ignored.

If you willfully ignore the wake behind the AG and only focus on the video which makes the SM2 appear to veer towards the AG, then you're selectively editing evidence to reflect a prejudged conclusion, and that is hardly fair.

 

[Ceiling Cat]

I've seen a few episodes of this "Whale Wars" show, and I think these guys are a joke. They ran out of fuel, their captain doesn't seem to know sh!t about being a captain (I read somewhere that Greenpeace didn't want him & kicked him out; that would explain their lack of endorsement), and they broke their own helicopter trying to rescue some of their hippie friends that got thrown in the drink when their zodiac capsized. They were spazzed out the whole time, apparently the captain never did his part by doing man-overboard drills or preparing the crew for such events. Even with all that fail, they still said their mission was a success because they threw stink bombs at some Japanese spotting ship. Remember the episode where they boarded a whaling ship, then tried to claim they were kidnapped by the Japanese crew?

Do these guys really think they're saving anything by running around the ocean, burning up marine diesel? Still, it's ranked as one of the more popular shows on Animal Planet-- and therein lies the truth: this is all about hype and generating ratings. You have to watch the show with your bias set aside in order to see it for what it is-- a bunch of self-righteous eco-terrorists led by an incompetent Captain Planet-wannabe who would have done the planet far more good by simply cutting back on all the burgers & hot dogs he's been shoveling down his throat.

As for me, I don't give a shi!t about whale meat as I don't eat much seafood to begin with. Are the Japanese doing something illegal? Probably. I'm not here to bat for either side on the environmental/conservation issue, but I'll call a spade a spade when I say these guys are a joke. I looked at arguments online (just google Whale Wars + hippies), and the vast majority of Sea Shepherd fanboys are on board just because they hold the same view or are drawn to the unconventional tactics (terrorism) of the crew, and refuse to see these guys for what they are.

I'm surprised nobody tried to draw a parallel between the Bat Boat and PT109, which Kennedy was on when a Japanese destroyer sliced it in two... but then again, that would make the hippies heroes, wouldn't it?