14 DAY TRIAL // Breaking a habit is a tough thing to do. It's even tougher if you aren't really trying, or haven't at least taken one minute to consider the possibility that you should change your ways, somebody should tell Japan.
In case you are wondering what my ranting is all about, here is your answer: this past Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the country wished to resume whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.
This is despite the fact that, earlier this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's whaling program was illegal, and ordered the country to put an end to it without delay.
What's interesting is that Japan is not just looking to relaunch its so-called scientific whaling program. Thus, its goal is to prove that there are plenty of whales in the ocean to allow for commercial whaling.
“I want to aim for the resumption of commercial whaling by conducting whaling research in order to obtain scientific data indispensable for the management of whale resources,” Shinzo Abe said.
“To that end I will step up efforts to obtain the understanding of the international community,” Japan's Prime Minister reportedly added, as cited by The Guardian.
Not at all surprisingly, conservationists did not take lightly to Shinzo Abe's announcement. In fact, both Australia and New Zealand got pretty angry when hearing the news that Japan wished to go back to whaling.
Given these reactions, we should expect that, should Japan return to the Southern Ocean, conservationists will put up a fight and try to keep it from butchering whales.