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The first Westerners that reached Japan, were the Portuguese. Later on, the Dutch were the only ones, who were permitted to have a “direct” (trade)relationship with “Empire to be”. In the harbor of Nagasaki a tiny island was reserved for the Dutch, an island they called Decima.
For two hundred years the Japanese succeeded in shielding of their unique island-culture. In the 19th century, this situation changed. The Americans entered the harbor of Eddo (later Tokio) and demanded, on gunpoint, that japan would open up its markets. Japan would be a bridgehead for China. For capitalist entrepreneurs China was (and still is) the super market. Japan was interesting because of its coal and because of the whale population in the nearby oceans. In the midst 1900's, European and American whalers had killed of most of the whale-population in the Northern waters. Why was there such a high demand for whale-products? Because the industrial revolution produced countless steam engines and -machines, where whale-vet was used as grease, to keep the production going.
In the 21st century hunting whales is out of fashion. Iceland and Norway claim their right to hunt, while Japan is actually hunting whales. About 1500 whales are killed each year. The Japanese do this for scientific reasons.So they say. The “Nissan Maru” is a giant mothership, where whales are processed at sea. Smaller vessels hunt the whales down and kill them with grenate-harpoons. A bloody business, which can take quite a while before this mammal dies. “RESEARCH” is painted on floating slaughterhouse. But they are confronted. The organization “SeaSheperd” tries to hinder the whaling. With two big vessels, a helicopter and smaller boats, they hinder and frustrate the Japanese fishermen. It's a small war, hidden from the public, fought between the “scientific whale-killers” and anarchistic animal lovers. With paintbombs and irritating maneuvers, they try to save lives. I support them. I suggest a world wide boycott of Japanese athletes and sporting events, until this killing has stopped. We need the whales for our completion, we need these mammals for their songs.
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