Tokyo 2 / Nebuta festival Aomori

Tokyo Two (Toru Suzuki & Junichi Sato). Now fighting a long and arduous battle in court. There are many supporters around the globe longing to see an end to this problem of todays modern whale slaughter, all caused by money, greed and plain ignorance. The T2 has exposed the "industry" and by doing so made many closed eyes wide open to this case. Get some more info RIGHT HERE!










Nebuta Festival took place at the same time as the trial and proved to be a good chance to get the public awareness. Huge paper "lanterns" lit from inside, all on man-pushed big carts through the streets of downtown Aomori. This festival is one of the biggest and most famous in the country and during the 6 days the festival is on, around 3 million people gather for a worthy spectacle.











I was assigned to cover the ongoing trial of the famous T2 (Tokyo Two) which took place in the northern city of Aomori yesterday. This huge environmental scandal has become a top priority Greenpeace topic and hopefully we will see this totally dirty "business" of hunting whales for monetary gain coming to an end within near future.

Having seen these gentle giants in the wild (I worked in the merchant marine for 10 years before doing photography) many times, I am really glad to be able to support a cause like this with my photography. Having seen the splendor of the ocean and the life in it in person is something I know not many people have done and probably never will. So for the "common" man like you and me to support the life of a many times imaginary source like whales and the ocean takes a lot of real humanitarian faith and belief in nature (I am not into religions, so please....). The problem is real, the whales are real and the solution is simple.

For more info in Japanese of the case please visit HERE & HERE.


GOYODA!


Had this post on my blog from former anti whale hunting campaigns, CLICK HERE. I remember how the fat lady receiving my gifts of Whale-meat can dummies at the Danish embassy looked embarrassed. This was a pretty big campaign all over the world with sit downs at embassies and protests on the streets. But in Tokyo it looked like I was the only one there. Same as at the Chinese embassy during the pre olympic days when the torch was in Nagano. I went there in hope of stirring up some Pro Tibet ideas but it was only me, myself and I amongst some sleepy looking coppers. Not a good sign for the future if you ask me.