How Japan can save face -- and whales

Two of my Japanese friends, Yoshiko and Masumi, recently joined our research trip to birthing lagoons in Baja, Mexico.

When the gray whale calves curiously came to the boat to be touched, Yoshiko began singing a traditional Japanese lullaby, “Sakura, sakura, yayoi no sora wa (Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms, as far as I can see.)” The barnacles on the whale’s skin looked just like the luminous blooming flowers in Yoshiko’s native country.

That same spring during the Japanese cherry blossom festival, a single gray whale swam into Tokyo Bay. It seemed all of Tokyo came out to greet the rare, solitary whale. There had only been 12 gray whale sightings around Japan since the 1960s; the Western Pacific population is all but extinct.

“TV footage showed holidaymakers on nearby wharves cheering wildly as the whale came into sight and blew water high into the air,” reported the Mail & Guardian.

When I sent Yoshiko this news, she wrote back, “They do not tell us much about Japanese whaling in our newspapers. We are speaking for the whales here in our country. And many Japanese are listening – especially the young people.”

So what can Japan do?

The world’s oceans and marine life need far-sighted conservation, alternative energies, and ecosystem health.

And Japan is, after all, a country that has given the world green cars and technological marvels. Its inventions in health and communications lead the world.

If Japan wants to show pride and save face, why not build upon the enlightened 2000 decision by Mitsubishi to preserve pristine gray whale birthing lagoons in Mexican biospheres by not building a salt factory in those whale nurseries?

What if Japan, an island nation, vowed to lead the world in ocean conservation, practicing far-sighted self-restraint and ending this old-fashioned and wasteful whaling?

Whales are already proven to be worth more alive than dead, bringing millions in whale watching and tourism to coastal communities. Whalers could be trained instead to study whales and our marine systems in nonlethal, truly scientific ways. Japan has already brought its technology and green genius to hybrid automobiles. Why not employ that same ecological vision to saving our oceans?

Japan has the support within its country to end whale hunting. If it stepped up and accepted the challenge, Japan could lead a 21st century legacy of celebrating our ocean’s home and our fellow, sentient mammals. That would be a golden age.

Brenda Peterson is the author of “Sightings: The Gray Whale’s Mysterious Journey.”

Other articles on the whaling debate we think you might enjoy:

Readers weigh in: Is Japan right? Should the IWC ban on commercial whale hunting be lifted?

Book review: The Whale

Global News Blog: Sea Shepherd and Japan escalate annual whaling war

Blog: Whale Wars: Sea Shepherd Watson threatens citizen arrests, says donations pouring in

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