The Cove to be cancelled 6/4/2010 The Cove, a documentary film indicting hunting dolphins in a small Japanese village, is not to be screened in a Tokyo movie theater after nationalist pressure and warning of protests. Whether or not dolphin-hunt should be discontinued is a quite delicate issue and should not be easily judged as right or wrong. More importantly, it is only after we see the film that we can assess the value of it. Therefore what I could say here is the movie is shown in Japan so that there is active exchange of opinions and ideas on this matter. If protestors broke in on its screening, it is nothing different from a unilateral campaign Greenpeace has been staging against Japanese whaling. Most Japanese have had up to here with its barbarous conducts against Japanese whaling fleet and we should not degrade ourselves by following its suit. As far as I am concerned, I want to see the film and believe Japanese people are obliged to see it for we have been ignorant of what has been practiced in a small fishing village in Japan. Diplomatic Initiatives by Libya 3/22/2010  I was totally taken back to hear the latest news this morning. "Monaco's proposal to ban trade in Atlantic bluefin was rejected by a margin of 48 at CITES(the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)." 20 countries were in favor of the proposal while 68 opposed and 30 abstained. It seemed to be the great victory of Japanese lobbyists; however, it was not the case. It was Lybia, upset by the EU which asked developing countries not to export bluefin tuna while securing bluefin tuna fishing and trade among its member countries, that sought to close deliberations and soon vote on the proposals. China also exerted a considerable influence on some 30 African nations, fearing other species than bluefin tuna might be involved in a potential target of CITES, which made sense to me. That's the whole story about the ado. |