Check out this photo of a vehicle that belongs to a budget rental outfit in Cairns, Australia, named Wicked Campervans, a company that seems to get a real kick out of thumbing its nose at just about everyone.

Outraged cairns.com.au reader Mark sent a photograph of the van to us after his Japanese wife spotted it parked in their Bayview Heights street while driving their eight-year-old daughter to school.

“It’s terrible. If you walked around in a T-shirt with that written on it in English, you would be arrested,” he said.

His said he and his wife had tried to stop their daughter, who can read Japanese, from seeing the van, which was parked in the street for several days before leaving overnight.

Via cairns.com.au

The Australian government on Monday sharply condemned a popular Internet video claiming its citizens oppose Japanese whaling because of racism, while brutally killing animals such as kangaroos and dingoes.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith criticized the video as he announced that Australia would this week deploy a ship to the Southern Ocean to gather evidence for possible legal action against Japan over its whaling program.

The 10-minute video, which has recorded more than 100,000 hits since being posted anonymously on the YouTube website, shows graphic images of Australians killing animals and of infamous racial riots at Cronulla beach in 2005.

Full story here. . .

A woman belonging to Australian Animal Liberation Victoria protests outside the Japanese consulate against Japan’s “research” whaling expeditions.

Thanks to Mr. Pink

Japan’s farm minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi has stepped up to defend Japan’s research whaling efforts in the face of Australia’s threat to send warships to the Antarctic Sea to monitor Japanese whalers operating there.

“Research whaling is authorized under an international treaty,” the agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister told a news conference. “None is empowered to block research whaling as long as it is done legitimately.”

Wakabayashi said that Japan would have no problem with Australia monitoring its research whaling fleet, but stressed that the Japanese government “cannot tolerate a blockade of research operations.”

U.S. pressuring Japan to stop

In the meantime, the United States is said to be pressuring Japan to suspend its hunt.

“I think we had an agreement this morning or last night between the United States and Japan that humpback whales would not be harvested, I think, until maybe the international whaling conference in June,” Schieffer said.

Because of the migration patterns of the whales, such a delay until the next annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission would mean “that it’ll be awhile before they’re at risk again,” he said.

There have been signs that the Japanese government is reconsidering its strident claims that it is entitled to conduct whaling for research purposes.

“To take the concerns and anger of Australian people and other people into consideration, I think the Japanese government has started to have an intensive discussion about what steps should be taken,” said Tomohiko Taniguchi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

“But at the moment I have heard no action, or no decision as to whether or not any sort of halt would be done this time around during this research season,” he said.

Japan says there is no agreement

Japan is denying news reports that they have already agreed with the U.S. to halt their current humpback whaling expedition.

“There is no (new) written, diplomatic agreement between Japan and the United States over the current specific whaling mission… and whaling in general,” said Tomohiko Taniguchi, spokesman for the Japanese foreign ministry.

He was responding to comments by US ambassador Thomas Schieffer, who reportedly told journalists Wednesday that Japan and the United States agreed on no harvesting of humpback whales for the time being.

Nothing to do with Japan, but it looks like life is starting to imitate The Onion..

THERE’LL be no ho, ho, ho this Christmas. Aspiring Santas have been told not to use the term “ho” because it could be seen as derogatory to women.

Thirty trainees at a Santa course in Adelaide last month, held by recruitment company Westaff, were urged to replace the traditional festive greeting with “ha, ha, ha”.

A Santa veteran of 11 years who attended the course told the Sunday Mail the trainer was very clear in spelling out no to “ho”.

Two Santa hopefuls reportedly left the course after the trainer’s edict.

The term “ho” is also American slang for a prostitute. “We were told it (ho) was a derogatory term for females and can upset people,” said the Santa, who did not want to be identified publicly.

“As far as I’m concerned, a hoe is something you dig the ground with.

“I don’t think you’ll hear too many Santas saying `ha, ha, ha’.”

Critics have branded the instruction for Santas to use “Ha! ha! ha! Merry Christmas” as nonsense and madness.

University of South Australia communications senior lecturer Dr Jackie Cook said any banning of “ho, ho, ho” was “nonsense”.

“Can we use a garden hoe anymore? Do we have to remove that?” she said.

“Ho, ho, ho from Santa is going to be everywhere. It’s going to be in books, on Christmas cards and kids are going to come across it sooner or later.

“You could say that `ha, ha, ha’ was dangerous because it was always tied to the villains in movies and horror films.”

Family First MLC Dennis Hood described the “ho ho ho” ban as “plain madness”.

See the full story here.

Thanks to Mr. Pink.

As some of you may know, I’ve been following the increasingly outrageous developments in the anti-whaling lobby’s attempts to harass and disable ships of Japan’s whaler fleet operating in the Southern Ocean. Previously, we’ve seen the ominous-sounding ‘can-opener’ device exploited by activists attempting to sabotage Japanese ships at sea and there was even an incident involving acid being hurled onto the decks of a whaling vessel. The feisty ‘Sea Shepherd’ campaigners have been stepping up their tactics and deployments in the frozen seas off Antarctica for the last couple of years, but next year they may have some much better equipped allies joining them.

I speak, of course, of Australian opposition leader Kevin Rudd’s plan to deploy Royal Australian Navy warships to the Southern Ocean to protect the whales by intercepting and boarding Japanese whaling ships.

Seriously.

Mr Rudd has declared that the present government’s attempts to restrict Japanese whaling activities through diplomacy and various multilateral organisations like the IWC have not been working and that it’s time to “step it up a bit”. Yes, Kevin, an act of state piracy, and quite possibly war, on the high seas would indeed be “stepping it up a bit”.

This is by far the most ludicrous and counterproductive prescription to halt whaling in the Southern Ocean ever.

Okay, I’m no fan of Japan’s transparent attempts to dress up their commercial whaling activities as “science”. No, I’ll go further; I am offended that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and its mouthpiece the Centre for Cetacean Research, expects the outside world to swallow its clearly made-up drivel. That said, Mr Rudd clearly hasn’t thought through his plan or its consequences – alarming when you consider that this bloke is a former diplomat and quite possibly the next Prime Minister of Australia.

The first problem is a simple question of legality. Australia does have the sovereign right to board and detain any fishing vessels, foreign or otherwise, caught illegally operating within the 200km exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off its coast. This is a right that is regularly exercised in the north to prevent Indonesian and other poachers from commercially fishing within Australian waters but has not been used in defence of the Australian-declared whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean which lies roughly between the Australian continent and Australia’s Antarctic territory.

That’s because Japan doesn’t recognise Australia’s claims to Antarctica, and consequently, does not recognise the claim to sovereignty over large swathes of the Southern Ocean. In fact, not many countries do. Because of this, if the matter were brought before the International Court of Justice, its finding would invariably be that the ‘whale sanctuary’ lies in international waters and that Australia has no sovereign right to interfere with or board foreign vessels. To do so would be legitimately viewed as an act of piracy.

The second problem is one that should be well understood by Mr Rudd, an apparent expert in international affairs. What would the Japanese response to such a policy be? Would they simply bow before Mr Rudd’s aggressive and warlike stance? Or would they be tempted to test Australia’s claims in the ICJ, win, cause serious embarrassment to Canberra, and continue whaling just as they had done before, maybe even “step it up a bit” and catch a few extra ‘cause they can?

Another, more frightening prospect would be a decision from Tokyo to send a Japan Maritime Self Defence Force contingent to protect the Japanese fleet. This would present the nasty possibility of the two forces facing each other down at sea with all the inherent risks of mistakes, miscalculation and escalation that brings. An unlikely scenario, to be sure, but not altogether impossible.

The third problem is that Australia’s navy is already undermanned and, while not quite overstretched, has many other commitments in addition to being on alert to respond to a real crisis in the region. Its resources are not well spent protecting animals that are not even within Australia’s internationally recognised territory from an ally with whom Canberra recently signed an historic security agreement.

This whole plan smacks of opportunistic populism in an election year with the potential to badly backfire and cause serious damage to Australia-Japan relations.

But Mr Rudd is a crafty one.

It is possible that in pledging to enforce Australian anti-whaling laws within Australia’s Southern Ocean territory, he is referring to the EEZ around tiny Macquarie and Heard Islands which are recognised as Australian. But then, virtually no whaling takes place in these areas that constitute a mere fraction of the Southern Ocean whale-hunting-ground/sanctuary. I sincerely hope that this is his real plan.

Footage of the British teacher standing alongside the main suspect for her murder has just been released by the Japanese police. Creepy.

Yesterday was the big day. Australia and Japan will formalised their growing security and defence ties in Tokyo when Prime Ministers Abe and Howard signed the so-called ‘Joint Declaration on Security’ transforming Australia into, not only one of Japan’s largest sources of minerals, food and energy, but also its key security collaborator, second only to the US. The agreement covers counter-terrorism, joint defence exercises, disaster relief cooperation, intelligence sharing, maritime anti-piracy cooperation and more.

It’s a bold move for both countries, quietly encouraged by the US, and symbolically takes place exactly 50 years after Canberra and Tokyo normalised trade relations after the war. That agreement, incidentally, was signed by Shinzo Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who happened to be Japanese PM at the time. Symbolism overload.

Does Beijing perceive this as the next step by the US and others to gradually encircle China and threaten its interests? Nope. At least, not anyone with any sense – Shen Dingli of Fudan University in Shanghai is “not concerned at all” about it:

If China wanted to invade Japan, Australia would come to Japan’s aid, and if China were to invade Australia, Japan would come to its aid. But if we don’t invade either of them, such a pact doesn’t really work against China’s legitimate interests.

In fact, Shen’s a pretty relaxed bloke and not too much seems to concern him. What about Japan’s refusal to properly acknowledge and atone for its wartime atrocities?

I don’t think we should worry about that either. Japan tends to humiliate itself in this regard

If only others were likewise relaxed and laid-back.

I recently wrote an email to Ben Hills, author of Princess Masako–Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, to tell him about the discussion we are having here. I even invited him to drop in and take part if he felt so inclined. Understandably, he politely declined the invitation, but he sent back the statement below which he had previously issued to various wire services.

In his reply to me, Mr. Hills also had the following to say:

I would invite your subscribers to check on the history of the Chang book, and to note the remarkable similarities to my case. The book was a worldwide bestseller, a Japanese publisher agreed to translate it and publish it in Japan, the Japanese Ambassador in Washington called a Press conference to denounce its “innacuracies” (which no other historians in the world had noticed in their favourable reviews of the book) — and, lo and behold, the Japanese publisher declined to go ahead with the publication, citing “errors.” Sound familiar?

He also said but that he would be happy to reply to resonable questions from JAPUNDIT readers that are sent to him through me, so here is your chance. Please use the comments below this note to ask any questions you might have about the Mr. Hills or the the book, and I will be happy to send them along.

The Nisshin Maru seems to have given Sea Shepherd the slip, but the smaller Kaiko Maru found itself squarely in the Robert Hunter’s sights. A ramming incident occurred in which both ships were damaged and each now claims that the other was responsible. Apparently there is video footage of this, but I have been unable to find it.

For now there seems to be a truce of sorts as the Sea Shepherd group prepares to depart Antarctic waters with dwindling fuel supplies. The organisation also dropped a threat by Captain or “Cap’n” (he IS captain of a pirate ship, after all) Paul Watson to have the Farley Mowat ram the Nisshin Maru. . . if he could find the damn thing, that is.

So it appears to be all over for this year. None too soon, I might add, and with limited casualties. But seriously, who throws acid? What are they? Bond Villains?

Cap’n Watson, despite his reckless tactics, has a point when he talks about next year’s planned hunt of fin and humpback whales. Opposition to whaling from the anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand will intensify.

Now I have some problems with whaling. In principal, I don’t disagree with the minke hunt, as these are not endangered animals and could be harvested in a sustainable fashion. However, it is very difficult to hunt them humanely. Say what you want about battery hens and cattle slaughter, the torturous, sometimes as long as 30 minute death by grenade-tipped harpoon of a highly intelligent creature in front of its family grouping is not something I’m comfortable with.

The second problem is with the fin and humpback whales. Fin whales, in contrast to the minke whales, are endangered and the humpback is listed as vulnerable. I would hope that I don’t have to defend the view that a species formally listed as endangered should not be commercially hunted (and lets be honest, the hunt is commercial). The humpback, and this is where I would deviate from scientific to more emotional and personal reasoning, should also not be hunted and there will be renewed and forceful opposition from Australia on this.

I grew up on the east coast of Australia and every year watched the humpbacks on their annual migration from the frozen Southern Ocean to the warm breeding waters of the Queensland coast. They would return with their calves a few months later, remaining always close to the continent and visible to commercial tour operators and recreational whale-watchers. Most would recognise certain whales that return year after year and have names for specific members of the pod. The prospect that these humpbacks, so well-known and beloved of coastal dwelling Australians, could be slaughtered and served as dog food in Japan is distressing to many.

But I will concede that this is not a rational justification for preventing the humpback hunt. It is not a cold and removed assessment of whether Japan should be allowed to hunt these majestic creatures based on economic or ecological principles. They’re only listed as vulnerable after all.

The anti-whaling Sea Shepherd activists finally tracked down and engaged the Japanese southern whaling fleet over the weekend in waters off Antarctica. Crew from the Sea Shepherd’s second ship, the agile Robert Hunter, launched a dinghy assault aimed at fouling the “research” ship Nisshin Maru’s propeller and disabling it while their colleagues lobbed smoke grenades and even acid at their enemies.

The attempt to sabotage the whaling vessel failed, but the dinghy operators were separated from the action and not recovered until after an exhausting seven-hour search in sub-zero temperatures carried out jointly by the activists and whalers. The two men were unharmed but could have easily died in the extreme weather. Aboard the Nisshin Maru, two crewmen were reportedly injured, one with cuts and the other with acid in his eye. Ouch.

Things are pretty serious down there this year, the Sea Shepherd has doubled the size of its fleet and is even sporting a helicopter and unmanned aerial surveillance units in their efforts to track and disable the Japanese whaling operations. I just hope no one gets hurt next time these two groups clash.

As reported here on Japundit, Canberra and Tokyo are indeed taking important steps towards far-reaching security and defence cooperation. Read all about it here, and see an interesting discussion of its merits here.

This is a huge step for both countries, but perhaps more so for Japan. While not a full treaty, this will still be Japan’s first bilateral defence agreement with any nation besides the United States and is a reflection of Tokyo’s growing willingness to behave as an independent, or ‘normal’, security actor in the increasingly uncertain neighbourhood of North-East Asia. The public’s reaction to the agreement will also be a key litmus test for PM Abe’s plans to alter the pacifist constitution to allow for a more assertive Japan in foreign affairs. Some Japanese resist even the US-Japan alliance and would certainly be unwilling to have their country enter into new defence relationships, but the belligerence of North Korea leads many more to agree that Japan needs to seek out more security cooperation with a variety of new friends.

Meanwhile, China is undoubtedly cautious about the prospect of the agreement developing into some kind of containment bloc working in conjunction with the Australia-US-Japan Trilateral Strategic Dialogue, about which it already harbours grave reservations. But, for that matter, China is most likely worried about Japan signing new security pacts with anyone at all.

For Australia, the most contentious aspect of the wide-ranging agreement is the possibility that it will include provisions for joint military exercises on Australian soil. Many Australians still remember WWII, in which Sydney harbour was attacked and the northern city of Darwin was bombed. There are understandable sensitivities with regards to allowing SDF units to train on Australian soil with Australian soldiers, but staunchly conservative Prime Minister Howard has played down such fears saying:

I don’t think Australians would mightily object to it, I really don’t.

He also recalled the warm reception by the Australian public towards the successful military cooperation between ADF and SDF units serving in Iraq last year. Even the Returned Servicemen League (RSL) has come out in support of the agreement, and it seems that this kind of ‘war nostalgia’ sentiment is unlikely to hinder its development from the Australian side.

John Howard will visit Japan next month and it seems likely that the deal will be hammered out in time for a signing ceremony in Tokyo for when the two leaders meet. I so called this one.

One of Australia’s enduring WWII maritime mysteries has apparently been solved. During the Pacific War, elite Japanese submariners in their ‘midget’ vessels launched a daring raid on Sydney Harbour intending to sink a US ship that was docked there. Two of the midget submarines were intercepted and disabled, but the third managed to fire its torpedoes and, while missing its target, sunk another Allied vessel and killed 21 servicemen on board. The tiny sub then escaped the harbour and fled out to sea, but failed to rendezvous with its Japanese mother ship which was waiting off the coast. The fate of the submarine was, until now, unknown.

After around 24 ultimately mistaken claims by different groups that they had discovered the wreck since then (including one featured in a History Channel documentary last year), a bunch of amateur divers from Sydney finally located the real deal. The wreckage is just north of Sydney, still above the sea floor and has had its identity confirmed by Royal Australian Navy historians. Its discovery closes the book on one of Australia’s most elusive and important wartime enigmas and the site will be marked as a Japanese war grave to honour the brave submariners who took part in the raid.