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Japan comes out big winner at U.N. conservation meeting

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First Grand Victory for Ozawa lead DPJ ? Congratulations !

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“You can’t buy the vote by just serving bluefin tuna. That’s a silly idea.”

Just wondering.....How many delegates from countries that wanted the ban on tuna, ate it at the reception.

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Roberts said Japan’s tactics are reminiscent of the way it operates at >the International Whaling Commission, where heavy lobbying and >allegations of vote-buying are common. He said activists brought non->whaling governments into the body to win a moratorium on commercial >whaling and Japan followed suit, leading to political gridlock with >little room for scientific debate.

So all those charges of Japan "buying off votes" at the IWC was in fact a reaction by Japan to what was started by the anti-whaling nations? That's how the 1986 moratorium was established?

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“I have been talking to Japan and they say, ‘What do you need? What kind of project are you able to do?’” Rosero said. “The Japanese come to make business and the States come to explain.”

So how is this not buying votes?

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The meeting is becoming more like U.N. climate change meetings, they said, where politics at times trumps science and a deals are struck by world leaders behind closed doors.

At Times??

At Times?

how about all the time????

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Isn't vote buying a normal thing in Japan? Why should they act any differently with the rest of the world. Money talks, especially to the poorer countries. I'd just love to see representatives of these countries come out and say on camera that Japan PAID them to vote a certain way. That would be the nail in the coffin for Japanese lobbying!

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Oh, by the way Japan, you might have been the "big winner" in this round but sometime in the future you'll be the crying loser when there just aren't any more tuna!

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Very eye-opening article to say the least.

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Sorry OssanAmerica, you can't "spin " this article in your favor(I'm sure you'll try).

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NuckinFutz at 08:40 AM JST - 26th March

Oh, by the way Japan, you might have been the "big winner" in this round but sometime in the future you'll be the crying loser when there just aren't any more tuna!

They can still clone tunas in the future and put them in the sea! The research will find something

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Thanks to nippon, Tyna might be wiped out forever. Only museums and aquariums might have Blue fin swimming around in a tank.

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"Their aggressive and relentless lobbying campaign appeared to pay dividends."

HILARIOUS! Only Japan would run around with so many people at a UN meeting lobbying AGAINST the environment (with big padded envelopes, of course! I love those that never wonder why countries like Togo SUDDENLY stand up against the UN in favour of Japan after Japan pays them a visit and promises them this and that).

Tsk tsk.

I say enough. Let the species go extinct, and just remember to show these articles over and over when Japan claims to be the victim and the world has somehow attacked their culture by the species being overfished to extinction. They'll find a way to blame everyone but themselves, as usual. Fortunately, the rest of the world won't alter their textbooks, and sadly Japan will once again be history's enemy.

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Simplelife: "They can still clone tunas in the future and put them in the sea! The research will find something"

What?? ALREADY Japanese are complaining that tuna created in a lab "doesn't taste good" and they haven't even tried it yet! Relying on the science of the future is not a pretense for destroying the present.

The, "Pfff! We can fix it later" approach is what's landed the world in so many of our present problems, from war to the economy to the environment. Japan is one of the counties that never learns.

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The tuna ban failed because US and some European countries came to the meeting without giving any alternative for those people whose lives depends on catching blue fin tuna. If you like people to stop then give them something else, or you are just telling them to commit suicide by ruining their source of income while the US and some European countries in particular are free to catch blue fin tuna. Tell a fisherman that he is no longer allowed to catch a fish then you will naturally understand their position. Japan came and said, we will continue buying your blue fin tuna and we will give you money for research and teach you means on how to conserve the blue fin tuna while the US came and said, if you don't stop catching blue fin (but of course the US can still catch blue fin because they are not part of the ban) you will have no more blue fin to catch in the future...and people are scratching their head why they failed miserably in enforcing the ban.

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"we will continue buying your tuna...we will give you money for research and teach you means on how to conserve the blue fin tuna" The first phrase is the operative one here, the second just pretense.

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Japan - 1 : Nature - 0. Suck on that Tuna!

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Boy this makes for some real sad reading! This article Jpn declares is doent give even the tiniest care about the environment & boasts about being a BIG WINNER, this country has no shame.

I think maybe its time for NAmerica & all Europes fleet to come to Jpn for a decade & take some fish & then see what J-fishermen have to say.

Jpn come off pretty slimy after this affair & they think its great, some days its embarassing to live here, today is definitely one of those days..........

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Japan wasn't a big winner. The world was a big loser.

Gotta agree with GW's last sentence.

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If trashing the planet were an olympic event, Japan would have won more than 5 medals! And for sure a gold!

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Japan is going to be even further in massive debt now - they now have to pay off those nations whose votes they bought! Legally of course, through promises of projects ,building funding etc. All because old Japanese want to eat copious amounts of scarce bluefin tuna and refuse to vary their diet with other types of fish - and they vote!

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i agree, im disgusted to be living in japan at the moment, i see all these companies here working real hard with their environment schemes to help the environment, all the locals are hardcore at recycling, yet for some things, japan just doesnt care...

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paulinusa at 08:47 AM JST - 26th March Sorry OssanAmerica, you can't "spin " this article in your favor(I'm >sure you'll try).

No need to spin anything. Are you going to tell me you knew this before reading this article?

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Some countries "convince" by using the carrot/$$$, as opposed to some countries that "convince" by using the stick...

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mikihouse is the only person who actually read the article. By the way does everyone know how little Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is consumed by Japan compared to the other non-issue/non-threatened Tuna species?

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I'm going for a tuna sandwich!

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mikihouse: "The tuna ban failed because US and some European countries came to the meeting without giving any alternative for those people whose lives depends on catching blue fin tuna"

What's your suggestion for them when ALL of said fishers are fighting over the same tiny remainder of tuna... and how about when the tuna become extinct?

silence...

Again, Japan is not a 'winner' at all, nor are the countries that got an immediate pay-day they will squander within the year.

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mikihouse is the only person who actually read the article. By the way does everyone know how little Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is consumed by Japan compared to the other non-issue/non-threatened Tuna species?

Well, it appears to be 80% of a species most scientists qualified to comment feel is heading for extinction.

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Japan wasn't a big winner.

But the Associated Press says it was.

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Money will always win over common sense, nature and conservation. Plain and simple, until the tuna are gone, few will do anything about it.

Japan makes me sick when it comes to their policies on nature.

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OssanAmerica: Not to be meanspirited, but in certain matters you do seem as predictable as the cherry blossoms. Again, in a good way.

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scotchegg: "Well, it appears to be 80% of a species most scientists qualified to comment feel is heading for extinction."

Shhhh... people who believe the words of Japanese scientists (sushi chefs) are in the realm of those who thought the world was square. You prove them wrong and not only do they IGNORE what you say, they want to drag you through the town square by horse.

Pointing out to people like Ossan the fact that 80% of the world's tuna (it's a pity we have to point out the Atlantic is part of said world, but like I said) will just earn you the title of 'J-basher' or statements like, 'if you don't like it, leave!' when they ultimately have nothing to offer in terms of return argument. Where is Mikihouse's rebuttel, for example?

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Japan will just move on to something else.

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Perhaps Japan will get a taste for Dolphin then.

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cleo, smithinjapan..you guys know very well what I think about this nasty issue. I've post this before and I'll post it again...I'd love to see the whole tuna species wiped out from the face of earth, then perhaps..them j-folks will have to start fishing their own gunk out of the sewers...can you imagine? yucky..but then again..money over nature huh.. Good luck japan, when it comes to trash this planet and exterminate what's left in our oceans you sure are a big-winner! disgusting.

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Japan = winnner; Conservation = no so much

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Japan = loser

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Japan up to its old tricks again. Wake up Japan! Your tired old arguments, your vote-buying, your refusal to consider the environment...what's wrong with you? As I always find myself saying...I love Japan but I hate its attitude to tuna, dolphins and whales. A country as modern, sophisticated and educated as Japan and they still insist on wearing their blinkers! Get with it!

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I agree Tanabata san. I feel Japan is a loser in the sense of losing credibility both in terms of any commitment it claims to make in terms of wildlife conservation, and in political terms. Whilst Japanese fishermen are fortunate in having an abundance of fish in the seas around Japan, and - dolpins etc. excepted - make a reasonably good job of managing catches, when they go further afield they tend to do what the stereotypical Japanese tourist does. Tabi no haji wa kakisute. Whether in the Southern Oceans or the North Atlantic, they really couldn't care what happens to species which will, sooner rather than later, cease to exist. All the social and regulatory pressures at home vanish as they hunt without much concern for the consequences. In global terms, the behaviour is irresponsible and shortsighted, that of a loser telling those watching to 'get lost'.

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How very sad!!!

But certainly not a suprising outcome. Im sure the uninformed Japanese public will be very proud of their government/fisheries agencies victories here, ensuring they will continue to be able to eat tuna, use elephant ivory to decorate their business documents and ensure certain shark species will continue to be brutally killed, all whist still killing whales in a whale sanctuary and every where else, and the mass slaughter of dolphins, no one wants to eat anymore.

How proud they will be!

Enjoy it all...while it lasts, then sharpen your pens and gather your government censored media around you to announce to your voting public that the VERY BAD western nations, have taken all the tuna meant for the japaese, and have repeatedly refused to impliment quota reductions and trade bans to ensure the tunas survival...and now the tuna is commercially exctinct.

I will await that press release!

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Japan 1, Tuna 0. (As in 0 tuna left uneaten in the world.)

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