Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The Japanese whaling industry is dying, but the government is still spending millions to keep it alive. It’s getting a renewed financial boost now. Where is the money coming from? Taxpayer dollars and funds earmarked for tsunami disaster relief. Despite a decline in the demand for whale meat, nearly 30 years of a moratorium on commercial whaling, a Japanese public ambivalent to keeping the industry afloat, and international pressure to abandon the program, conservatives in government continue to shovel money into its gaping mouth. The Guardian reports on it, as there’s been increased concern about the government subsidy as the Japanese economy works to recover from the financial crisis topped with the fallout from March 2011. In an interview with Australian media, Masayuki Komatsu – the man who engineered the “research” program that kept the Japanese whaling fleet in business after the 1986 moratorium on commercial catches – says it’s time for an end to the subsidy. C’mon Japanese people, get mad and put an end to it.
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We were messing with puns in the title, but oh well. That said, yet another piece of possible tsunami debris washes up, and it’s another exciting dock. It’s also gigantic, yet poses no threat thus far to the environment. (Seattletimes – Dock)
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What else can go wrong for 3.11 in Japan? Lying politicians and company chairpersons, lack of safety, false information and now this. (LATimes – Billions Elsewhere)
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The Harley Davidson motorcycle that went across the Pacific in a storage container via the Tsunami in Japan, is now on display at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, WI. (LA Times – Tsunami Harley) We previously wrote about the finding of the bike and what Harley Davidson was intending to do with it. Glad they got it all done quickly. (GR – HD)
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It’s called preservation, but in the end, the “miracle pine” that survived the tsunami is actually dying from the salt water. Yet, it’s preservation basically means putting a carbon pole into the trunk and reattaching the branches. It’s basically dead and stuffed at a cost of nearly 2 million dollars. The 270 year old tree will stand in Rikuzentakata as a symbol for much longer time. (ABC – Pine)
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