Truth of the Japanese Coast Guard

The following video clip that was leaked onto YouTube yesterday has been popular on Japanese twitterverse today.

The Senkaku boat collision video leaked on Youtube

It seems the Senkaku boat collision video was leaked on Youtube.

Video recorded from Japanese coast guard patrol ship, Hateruma.


Video recorded from Japanese coast guard patrol ship, Mizuki.




[UPDATE] The person who uploaded the video clips has deleted his/her videos and account. Since Japan Probe is keeping links to copies of the video clips, please visit that site to watch the videos.

Whale-related school bullies in New Zealand

According to New Zealand Herald, a Japanese-born boy was seriously injured as a result of school bullying. He had been racially abused by the students who turned around and picked up him and dropped him on his head.

A 14-year-old suffered a potentially fatal blood clot in his brain after he was attacked by school bullies in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

The teen, Japanese-born Ryotaro Wright, needed emergency brain surgery in Waikato Hospital after the attack at Forest View High School in Tokoroa this week. Doctors say he was close to death.

Four students have been suspended and police are investigating.

Ryotaro's father Llewellyn said yesterday his son had been racially abused by four students over the past few weeks, including being called "whale muncher".

According to the school's web page, Ryutaro was awarded Premium Student Achievement Award last year. I hope that he will get well soon.

NYT article on Japan in an alternative universe

On the Occasion of Barack Obama’s Inauguration, New York Times had an article entitled "Japan’s outcasts still wait for acceptance" by Norimitsu Onishi .

English-language news media often publish inaccurate or sometimes hilariously exaggerated articles on Japan. However, since majority of Japanese do not read English-language media, they do not know that such articles have been published in foreign media. As a result, misconception caused by exaggerated articles is rarely corrected. When Mr. Onishi wrote the NYT article, he was perhaps expecting that his report would become one such article. The article, however, had so much exaggeration that Mr. Okumura at GlobalTalk 21 has been posting a series of counterarguments. So far four Six relevant articles (plus one) have been posted there. They are must reads for those who are interested in the issue of outcasts in Japan.

Introduction,
First Installment,
Second Installment,
Third Installment,
Fourth Installment
Interlude
Coda without a finale

How beastiality restaurant was made real in the WaiWai column

The Website of Mainichi Daily News (MDN) has the results of the investigation of problems of the WaiWai column. The most criticized about the Mainichi's WaiWai column was that it contained wrong information about Japan as stated by one of the members of third party organization.

The WaiWai column lent credibility to articles that Japanese readers would ordinarily take with a grain of salt. Foreign readers cannot tell whether or not the Japanese magazines that originally published the articles are reputable and can be taken at face value. There was a danger, therefore, that the column could invite great misunderstanding. It is frightening to think that the responsibility for such a column was left completely in the hands of an individual staff writer. A company that gives precedence to the number of web hits over consideration of what information should be conveyed cannot be properly called a newspaper.

Claims have been made that the column shed light on certain aspects of Japanese society. This claim is unsupportable, for rather than shedding light, it provided something close to misinformation.

The results of the investigation did not include any detailed description of the examination of individual articles probably because quoting the articles should results in violation of copyright laws; The articles had already violated the laws by translating articles without permission of copyright holders. This was vaguely stated in the Mainichi's investigation document; "Issues relating to the translation and summarization of copyrighted material are being discussed with the publishers of the source magazines."

Some Japanese bloggers and 2-channelers are trying to collect source magazines that were used for WaiWai articles, in order to examine how original articles were changed and modified when they were translated for the WaiWai column. Recent finding of the source magazine for the WaiWai article titled "The Cook, the Beast, the Vice and its Lover" revealed how that WaiWai article was made.

The WaiWai article start with the following summary describing about beastiality restaurant.

A disgusting and twisted restaurant in the Tokyo entertainment district of Roppongi is enticing warped rich folk with the opportunity to figuratively have their cake and eat it, too — with animals, according to Jitsuwa Knuckles (9/25).
(You can read the transcript of full article at the following URL.
http://logipundit.wordpress.com/2007/09/27/beastiality-restaurant-opens-in-tokyo/)

When Japanese see the name of the source magazine, they can automatically notice that the story is fictional as I wrote before, but foreign readers may take the story at face value. However, it was not the only problem of the WaiWai article.

Finding of the source magazine revealed that the original article was written as one of the articles featuring urban legends; The articles had a header stating that the contents were urban legends.

The header says "エロバカ都市伝説: 各地に広まった身近な都市伝説を徹底収集" which means "Vulgar and foolish urban legends: thorough collection of familiar urban legends dispersed in various places". The author of the WaiWai article omitted this information when he wrote the article. Considering the nature of the source magazine, I don't think the contents of the articles were actual urban legends but think they were creation by the writer. Anyway, the writer of the original article was at least responsible enough to suggest that its content was not factual, stating that it was an urban legend. However, the author of the WaiWai article shamelessly omitted the header so that readers can take the story at face value.

Also, in the original article the person who invited a commenter to the restaurant was a congressman, but in the WaiWai article that person was changed to a lawyer. Why did the author of the WaiWai article make this change? Did he have ill-feeling toward lawyers? No one but the author knows.

Mainichi Shimbun vs Japanese women

On June 21, the Mainichi Daily News decided to cease publishing the infamous WaiWai articles, responding to the criticism from Japanese people. Many of the articles in the WaiWai column had been taken from fictional stories from tabloids and skin mags published in Japan. Complaint from Japanese people was that, whereas many of the original Japanese articles were fictional stories, the MDN did not mention in their WaiWai articles the nature of the original articles. Since foreign readers do not know the nature of the magazines, they might think that the stories in the WaiWai articles were based on fact.

Foreigners who have enough knowledge on Japan also seemed concerned about the circulation of wrong knowledge derived from WaiWai articles. For example, Yudan Taiteki wrote in a thread on The Japanese Page,

by Yudan Taiteki on Tue 05.01.2007 5:12 pm
(...)
The one that I'm tired of seeing over and over again is this idea that it's normal for Japanese moms to give their sons oral sex during exam study time to decrease their stress. This concept is so absurd that you would think nobody could possibly take it seriously, and yet it seems like every few months I see someone bring it up as an example of how "messed up" Japanese people are. It apparently originated from a Waiwai article that was taken at face value despite a complete lack of sourcing (and plausibility), but because it fit in with this idea of Japan being a bizarre place, it was accepted without question.

Responding to this comment, doinkies and two_heads_talking wrote,

by doinkies on Wed 05.02.2007 1:30 am
I find it preposterous that there are actually doinks out there who think everything in WaiWai is real... :@ But since Mainichi never says that the WaiWai articles really come from tabloids, I suppose people think they are real news articles. -_-

Another thing WaiWai often does is post articles about some odd, weird or gross item or business and say that said item or business is "wildly popular" in Japan, but never actually give the numerical data to prove this claim. I suppose it's because if they did, then people would instantly see that their stories are nothing but exaggerations.

and

by two_heads_talking on Wed 05.02.2007 9:40 am
(...)
I had never heard that as Japanese, but I had heard it from nearly every other asian country.. mainly china, thailand and vietnam. I never much believed it, but figured it was one of the "urban legends" that just gets a face life depending on which race is used to fuel it..

One doink who thought that what was written in the WaiWai article was true was an Australian writer, Ben Hills. In his book, “Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysthanthemum Throne”, he mentioned the oral sex thing as a fact that was reported in the Mainichi Shimbun. Also there are tons of articles in Wikipedia that cite WaiWai articles.

The MDN issued an apology to readers for publishing "vulgar" articles, but it did not clarify the nature of the magazines that they used when they wrote the WaiWai articles, even though the latter was what had been requested by people.

Also made Japanese people upset was that, although the Mainichi announced punitive measures for people who had been responsible for the publication of the WaiWai articles, the Digital Media Division President was promoted the head of the Mainichi Shimbun Corporation on June 25, despite the fact that he had been the most responsible person for the WaiWai issue.

The most angry people against the Mainichi are Japanese women . They are trying to spread the information on how Mainichi had been making fun of Japanese women on the Mainichi's English-language Website. Also, they are making phone calls to the sponsors of the Mainichi, requesting to cease to provide on-line ad on the Mainichi's Website. Their effort seems to be successful right now. In the ad spaces on the Mainichi's site, I can find only internal links to Mainichi's own pages since last night. Also, even Japanese tabloids that WaiWai had been referring have started to make fun of Mainichi.

The Mainichi Shimbun is known among Japanese netizens to be the most active newspaper company in promoting the legislation of Internet censorship. Result of this "battle" may affect the fate of the Internet culture in Japan.

Update: It seems some doinks are actually doing that. Even this may become wildly popular among them in the near future.

Who shot Capt. Watson?

After a Japanese coast guard threw a flash grenade, Paul Watson whips out a bullet buried in the Kevlar vest.

The flash grenades are commonly used in crowd control. They are designed to rupture in mid-air and produce a loud bang. You can see in the following video the Japanese coast guard throwing flash grenades.

Perhaps he was attacked by one of the invisible ninjyas.

Mild acid made from rotten butter?

Sea Shepherd attacked a Japanese whaling ship again on March 3, 2008. The BBC's news report relating to the attack said in the first sentence,

Japan has summoned senior diplomats to complain about an activist attack on its Antarctic whaling fleet using mild acid made from rotten butter.

The acid that Sea Shepherd threw to the Japanese ship was not made from rotten butter. Does BBC believe that Sea Shepherd has a factory where they are extracting butyric acid from rotten butter? Do they believe that butyric acid made from rotten butter is less harmful than that synthesized chemically? No. They are trying to make butyric acid look harmless by emphasizing that the substance is contained in rotten butter. But the fact is one can kill a human by administering 40 ml of the substance onto the skin.

Last year, Ampontan's article entitled "BBC: Inciting racial hatred of the Japanese?" revealed how BBC is biased in reporting Japanese whaling. BBC's news reports seem to be getteing worse. They are promoting violence that may kill people by spreading misinformation from Sea Shepherd to the world.

The Daily Telegraph called Japanese Japs in the headline

The Daily Telegraph published an article with the headline, "Japs turn backs slaughter". The term "Japs" has already been removed from their website.

The followings are from Propaganda Buster.

This is the 21st century and we have a newspaper using racist terms. The Daily Telegraph, a newspaper in Australia on their online website used a racist and offensive term in reference to the people of Japan. A Japanese person complained to the newspaper about that term. The Daily Telegraph removed the term from their article headline, but not entirely from their website. Proving once again, racist are stupid.

Take a look at the screenshots in the Propaganda Buster's video.
日本語字幕付きは、こちら. (HT to lovewhale1)

Update: The Daily Telegraph is still displaying the term.

Click the above thumbnail to see the screenshot.

A good move to keep security in the public sea

Today's Sankei Shimbun reported that the Metropolitan Police Department's Public Security Bureau has started the investigation on the forcible obstruction of business, inflicting bodily injury and other suspicions to Japanese whalers commited by anti-whaling activists. After identifying suspects, they will request the country where the suspects reside to hand over them based on the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA). According to the report, one sailor attacked by the activists last february got his face
burned by butyric acid.

On the toxic nature of butyric acid

Sea Shepherd threw glass bottles filled with butyric acid onto a Japanese whaling ship on the 15th of January. Paul Watson confirmed that the group launched butyric acid at the Yushin Maru No.2 as reported in The Australian.

Whale activists admit to stink bombs
By Melissa Jenkins | January 19, 2008

ANTI-whaling activists admit to throwing about 12 stink bombs onto a Japanese whaling ship after two of its crew were released, and are planning more attacks.

Two members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who were being detained on the whaling boat Yushin Maru No. 2, were yesterday handed to an Australian customs' vessel then returned to their ship, the Steve Irwin.

The Japanese Whaling Association (JWA) has accused the activists of throwing acid onto the sister vessel of the Yushin Maru No. 2 -- the Yushin Maru No. 3 -- overnight.

Captain of the Steve Irwin Paul Watson denied any attack on the Yushin Maru No. 3, saying he had not even seen such a boat.

But he confirmed the group launched a “retaliatory strike” of butyric acid “stink bombs” at the Yushin Maru No. 2, about one hour after activists Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane were transferred to the Australian customs boat, the Oceanic Viking.

Butyric acid is a non-corrosive substance and smells like rancid butter.

“We sprayed them with butyric acid, which is a noxious stink bomb, and the smell stays there for a few days. While it is on the deck it is pretty hard to do any work, like kill a whale,” Mr Watson said.

In the above report, the reporter Melissa Jenkins described that butyric acid is a non-corrosive substance and smells like rancid butter. According to her description, butyric acid is just a foul-smelling, non-corrosive substance that can hardly injure people, which echoes the view of Sea Shepherd. The following is a comment posted on www.news.com.au by a person who professed himself to be a strategist for Sea Shepherd.

As a strategist for Sea Shepherd I wish to bring to the public and media attention that the "ACID" used is an organic acid - Butyric Acid...a flavouring used in the Food Industry. It is more commonly known / identified as rancid butter...it is thrown on the flensing decks (not at people) where it permeates the timber. When whale meat is cut up on the deck it contaminates it rendering it unsaleable / useless. The other feature is that it stinks. Exageration and misrepresentation that it is "Acid" infers that it is akin to dangerous ionic acids such as Sulphuric or Hydrochloric acids which it is not. It is consumed daily by human beings and approved for food use & is biodegradeable. It is not in our charter to harm human beings or other creatures of the world we have a clean record on this account, IF the weak Gov't stood up to their election promise we would not be there.

Posted by: Tim Horwood of Belgrave 9:45am January 16, 2008
Comment 79 of 262

According to his description, butyric acid seems to be a harmless substance that is not so highly acidic as sulphuric or hydrochloric acids, consumed daily by human beings, and biodegradable.

These descriptions by Sea Shepherd and Australian media looks to be scientific. However, contradicting these notions, Japan Whaling Association claimed that two Japanese crew were injured when Sea Shepherd members threw the acid at Japanese sailors on Nisshin Maru last February.

Not only did Sea Shepherd deliberately ram the Kaiko Maru this year as well, they also threw acid at Japanese sailors and shattered glass bottles on the Nisshin Maru deck, resulting in injuries to two Japanese crew.

Other Japanese source says that butyric acid from a broken bottle splashed the face of one of the sailors. Fortunately, he did not injured heavily since he could soon washed the acid away. But his whole face was inflamed after the incident. He should have been blinded if he had not promptly closed his eyes when the acid splashed his face.

These comments from Japanese side sharply contradict the report and comment in the Australian media. Are the Japanese whalers deliberately exaggerating the fact?

When something is uncertain, bloggers usually search information on the Web. However, those who are working with chemical substances know that MSDS is the best source to consult first on the toxicity of chemical substances. MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is a form cantaining basic data regarding the properties of a particular substance.

MSDS for butyric acid says the follwoings.

Harmful if swallowed or inhaled. Corrosive. Extremely unpleasant smell may cause nausea. Liquid may burn skin and eyes. Readily absorbed through the skin. Severe skin, eye and respiratory irritant.

Although the reporter of The Australian wrote "Butyric acid is a non-corrosive substance", MSDS tells us that it is "Corrosive".

Also, MSDS says that acute dermal toxicity (LD50) of butyric acid is 530mg/kg [rabbit], which roughly means you can kill a rabbit that weigh 1kg by administering 0.53 g of the substance onto the skin. By simple calculation, it is roughly estimated that a human who weigh 70 kg can be killed by administering about 37 g of butylic acid onto the skin. It is obvious that the amount of butyric acid thrown onto the Japanese ship is enough to kill more than several people.

MSDS says that butyric acid is readily absorbed through the skin and then degraded into other substances and that the biodegradation products are more toxic than butyric acid itself.

The high toxicity of butyric acid seems to be conferred by the toxicity of the biodegradation products rather than its acidity.

MSDS also tells us that CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) in the US classifies butyric acid in "Hazardous substances".

During the piracy attack by Sea Shepherd, many of the bottles dropped on the sea failing to reach the ship. Those bottles will arrive at the seashore somewhere someday. If a child opened the bottle, what would happen?

The Australian government must know the toxic nature of butyric acid since MSDS is available to anyone. Purchase, storage and usage of harmful substances are usually regulated by law. The fact that Australian government has not detained the Sea Shepherd members might indicate that she is supporting Sea Shepherd to attempt murdering Japanese sailors and polluting environment, as Japan Whaling Association suggested. But I still hope the Australian government and media to cope rationally with this issue.

NOTE: MSDS is distributed in many places. I obtained one from www.sciencelab.com. Search "butyric acid" using the search box on the top page. You can find a link to the PDF file below "n-Butyric Acid, Reagent". Also, you can see a shortened version of the MSDS here.