Japanese whalers anticipate confrontation with activists in Antarctic Ocean

Yesterday the dolphin slaughter controversy, today the whale slaughter controversy.

As many know, Japan still hunts whales and uses a loophole in the 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows whales to be killed for research purposes. Japan hunts whales annually, saying it's for research (nobody believes it) and part of the country's culture. Its fleet is currently bound for the Antarctic Ocean intent on killing hundreds of whales.

As many also know, anti-whaling activists annually try to disrupt the hunt and a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel is currently en route to do just that.

The latest news: Japan's fisheries agency and justice ministry have announced that anyone forcibly trying to disrupt the hunt will be detained by the whalers and handed over to the Japanese Coast Guard.

Whale enthusiasts may recall that last January, two activists boarded a Japanese whaling vessel and prompted a two-day standoff before they were turned over to an Australian customs ship. Australia and New Zealand have spoken out against the hunts, largely because whale-watching is a vital industry in those countries and killing whales that frequent their waters is bad for business.

Whale meat is sold throughout Japan, but is increasingly unpopular among the country's younger generation. Yet the hunts continue and Westerners, Japan has implied, should not be insensitive to its rich whaling culture.

Pete Thomas

Photo: Crew on Japanese ship Yushin Maru 2 spray anti-whaling activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society last January. Two of the activists boarded the vessel, causing the whalers to halt the hunt. Credit: Institute of Cetacean Research

New Photographs - Canon IXY 3000is

I went ahead and bought a new camera yesterday. I had been debating the hefty price tag for a few days, but more so I had been looking for a camera that I could use in the vast array of pursuits I undertake. I surf and Dive, so I needed a camera that I could get a housing for, but also had the manual and auto settings to make sure I got the shot I was after, was also needing a continuous shot function for those action sequence shots. The camera had to also be compact, which eliminated the idea of a digital SLR. I also like taking random shots of thing that catch my eye throughout the day, so I was really looking for a camera that allowed me to play around with photographic ops in an array of settings light conditions etc. In the end I found everything I was looking for in the new Canon IXY 3000is. Here are a few pics I snapped throughout the day to show you a little of what this camera is capable of. It should also be noted that all of these pictures are handheld...will pick up a tripod tomorrow! Now why put this on the Japan Blog, you may be asking? All photographs were taken in Japan, In Okinawa to be precised.

Rockabilly In Japan

The place is called Kentos, it is a rockabilly bar in Japan, great food, cheap drinks, awesome atmosphere and an incredible live band. The band mainly plays all the rock classics, Great Balls of Fire, Summertime Blues, Lollipop etc, but out of the 6, 35min sets they play, one of them is all in Japanese. Here are some pictures I took from my night out at Kentos.

Toilet Training Japan style!

This video is just so cute it is almost disturbing. An animated instructional/motivational video teaching kids how to use the toilet, it is pretty much a must see for one and all!

Nikkei Soars near 14%

Within hours of Tokyo Stock Exchange opening, the Nikkei stock average jumped more than 12 per cent, in a marked contrast to last week, when the country suffered its worst one day losses since the 1987 crash. It closed up a record 14 percent.

While Asia led a global surge in share prices yesterday, Japan’s financial system was today making up for lost time following a three-day weekend due to a national holiday.

The surge in the Nikkei, which wiped out last Friday’s 9.6 per cent drop, reflected growing confidence that international government measures to thaw frozen credit markets and boost bank funding would help stabilise increasingly volatile financial systems.

“Investors were relieved by government moves to rescue the global financial system,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd.

“Since the opening, buying is spreading across the board. It was due to rallies in the US, European and Asian markets yesterday."

Last week, fears of a global recession were cast in the spotlight as more than $7 trillion work of global stock markets were wiped out, resulting in the MSCI world Index plummeting 20 per cent.

Since then, the UK has agreed to invest £37 billion in banks including Royal Bank of Scotland Group, while France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria have committed 1 trillion euros to guarantee bank loans and take stakes in lenders.

Meanwhile, the US government has agreed to take a $25bn stakes in a string of major banks in a bid to bolster the banking system and bring to a halt growing global financial disorder.

Today, the feeling in Tokyo was upbeat, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rebounding 1,025.32 points, or 12.38 percent, to 9,300.71 and the broader Topic index also jumping 12 per cent to 944.06 in early trading.

As the market rebound gathered pace, Mitsubishi Motors Corp experienced its highest jump in 20 years, rising 32 per cent to 146 yen, trading at 140 yen, following a drop of 29 per cent last week.

Predicting further rises, Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities said: "We're seeing both short-covering and a lot of fresh buys.

"Basically, the market fell too far last week.”

Cute Japanese Girls, Why Not! Part 2

Work has had me all tied up lately, so I havent had much time to think about interesting and informed ideas for a post this week...When that happens I just post pics of cute girls! What can I say, I am a guy!

The Yen is Kicking Ass!

The yen continued its advance against the currencies of Japan's major trading partners Friday, gaining beyond the 100-level against the U.S. dollar, as investors continued to unwind carry trades amid heightened global risk aversion.
The yen was quoted at 99.02 against the dollar, from 99.46 yen late Thursday in New York and 100.32 yen there late Wednesday. The yen was quoted at 134.82 against the euro, compared to 145.11 on Oct 3. Against the Australian dollar the yen was quoted at 65.03, on track for a more than 25.4% gain this week.
"It's risk aversion," said Haruya Ida, a foreign exchange analyst at Thomson Reuters IFR in Tokyo. "The yen has taken on the cachet of a safe haven currency similar to the Swiss franc in the past simply because the Japanese banking system seems to be a little bit stronger than banking systems abroad."
He added currency traders were buying yen in spite of sharp declines in the Tokyo shares because of confidence in the outlook for the Japanese currency as a store of value.
The advance put the Japanese currency on track for its largest-ever weekly gain against the euro and its biggest weekly gain against the dollar in a decade, according to Bloomberg. For the week the yen had appreciated about 7.1% against the dollar and about 8.9% against the euro.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index closed down 9.6% at 8,276.43 Friday.
Japanese exporters were growing increasingly concerned the yen's advance will negatively impact profit outlooks this year. The Bank of Japan's tankan survey released last week found exporters were expecting the yen to trade around the 102-level against the dollar on average in the second half of the year through March 31. A stronger yen makes Japanese exports more expensive overseas and reduces the corporate profits from overseas operations.
The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier in the week Toyota Motor expects operating profit to decline 160 billion yen ($1.61 billion) from its earlier forecast if the yen averages above 100 to the dollar and 135 against the euro in the second half.
In other currency action Friday, the Singapore dollar fell to S$1.478 against the dollar, from S$1.4686 in the previous session after Singapore's monetary authority said it was abandoning its strong currency policy as economic growth weakens.
South Korea's won ended at 1,306.9 per dollar from 1,379.5 in the previous session, rising 5.6% on the day on suspected dollar intervention by South Korean authorities eager to stem the currency's 39% slide from the beginning of the year.
"Currency depreciation also has negative consequences, especially in times of financial stress," wrote Aaron Smith, senior economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The inflationary implication can stonewall effective monetary policy as central banks fear cutting rates." End of Story