IFAW was wrong; Japanese public really does want to kill whales

[Guest guest]

Press release of the Japanese Whaling Association

 

March 21, 2000

 

Garbage In, Garbage Out

IFAW and Greenpeace Craft Poll for Their Own Ends

 

TOKYO, March 21 -- With CITES and IWC meetings fast approaching, both IFAW

and Greenpeace are now attacking Japan's whaling culture and traditions by

claiming to have found " dramatic " evidence that the majority of the Japanese

public does not support whaling or consume whale meat. The " evidence " ? A

self-serving poll conducted in Japan by the same firm IFAW hired to " prove "

that the British are opposed to fox-hunting.

 

These hand-crafted polls prove nothing except the ability of the pollsters

to frame questions in a way that will return the results sought by their

customers.

 

Despite these fabrications, the truth is that the Japanese people's support

for whaling and the whaling culture is, if anything, increasing steadily.

 

Judge the facts for yourself: In August 1992 a Gallup poll showed that 64%

of Japanese people supported whaling while 22% were against. A 1993 poll by

the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shinbun showed that 64% supported whaling while

21% were against. Another poll in the same year by the Asahi newspaper gave

as a result 54% for and 35% against whaling. Other polls conducted

independently in the same year by the newspapers Nishi Nippon Shinbun and

Kyoto Shinbun produced respectively 82% and 63% support for whaling with 13%

and 17% opposing.

 

In a 1995 public opinion census conducted by the Prime Minister's Office on

whales, the whaling culture and whale meat as part of Japan's cultural

heritage, when asked whether they would support whaling managed in a

rational and sustainable way the majority (77%) responded yes. Also, 58%

supported the socioeconomic and historical importance of the Japanese

whaling heritage and the need for it to continue. When asked whether they

agreed with the statement that whaling should not be allowed no matter how

or under what conditions it is performed, 68% responded that they did not,

citing among other reasons the population and food security problems.

 

The Prime Minister's Office poll survey utilized a representative sample of

3,000 Japanese adults.

 

Although it is true that whale meat consumption in Japan decreased in the

last ten years, it was an artificially introduced change. The reason is not

because Japanese people no longer consider it to be an integral part of

their culture, but rather because its availability in the market became

limited as a result of the moratorium on commercial whaling established by

the IWC without any scientific ground.

 

It appears that IFAW is tired of working for the rights of animals and now

advocates racism in its press release, by advancing the message that

" archaic cultures " do not have the right to survive nor be respected. It is

for the people of Japan and other whaling cultures to preserve their

cultural heritage and defend it against the fund-raising industry

organizations.

 

IFAW has hired the services of MORI (Market & Opinion Research

International, one of Britain's leading opinion research companies) in the

past to conduct polls for its campaign against fox hunting in England.

 

The IFAW/Greenpeace poll was carried out between November and early December

1999, just before a blatant and much-publicized campaign by Greenpeace

against Japan's whale research in the Antarctic raised the public's interest

in the issue.