Unraveling the Financial Statement of the Unsold Whale Meat -Laden ICR– what’s behind the interception of Disaster Recovery Funds and Profitable Fisheries subsidy

Junko Sakuma
(Freelance writer)

(Lead paragraph)
 Although the news of the disaster recovery fund (the third supplementary budget for the 2011 fiscal year) inappropriately spent on research whaling finally caught the public’s attention and garnered criticism, the media reported the diverted allocation as a fund for “obstruction countermeasures (against Sea Shepherd),” which is not an accurate description of the actual situation. What really happened was that the money was mostly spent on covering the deficits of research whaling.
Misappropriation aside, this means that whale meat sales still have not improved.
 In this issue, we unravel the ICR’s financial statements and the reform proposal they crafted for securing a new money source.

You can read more by the following PDF file.
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Prime Minister Kunihiko Noda
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Akira Gunji

Despite the recent criticism on the inappropriate use of the additional recovery fund from the third supplementary budget, research whaling, the operation we have long been questioning, managed to avert attention, and the whaling fleet is said to soon depart for the Antarctic Ocean for this term's quota. We request the end to research whaling and inappropriate measures being taken to impel research whaling. Below is our five demands and reasons:

Read more: Joint Statement - "Please Terminate Research Whaling"

We Request for an Urgent Review and the Return of Disaster Recovery Fund Used on Research Whaling

October 5, 2012

CC: The Disaster Recovery Ministry, the House of Representatives Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration, and the Fisheries Agency

The earthquake and tsunami last March destroyed many local communities and have left a deep scar on the region. Despite various support extended from inside and outside Japan to rebuild the affected areas, their recovery is still far from completion. During such a difficult time, we learned and pointed out that 2.28 billion yen of the recovery fund, money supposed to be allocated to the recovery of disaster-hit areas, was going into research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean - far from North East Japan. We sent a protest letter to the Fisheries Agency requesting the recovery money be spent on support for the effected areas, but we still have not heard from the agency about the details of how 2.28 billion yen of our taxpayers’ money is spent.

Read more: We Request for an Urgent Review and the Return of Disaster Recovery Fund Used on Research Whaling

Letter of Request

September 26, 2012

A Request an End to Research Whaling and the Inappropriate Use of Tax Money

The earthquake and tsunami last March destroyed many local communities and have left a deep scar on the region. Despite various support extended from inside and outside Japan to rebuild the affected areas, their recovery is still far from completion. During such a difficult time, we learned and pointed out that 2.3 billion yen of the recovery fund, money supposed to be allocated to the recovery of disaster-hit areas, was going into research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean - far from North East Japan. We sent a protest letter requesting the money be spent appropriately. Unfortunately, the government of Japan is still conducting research whaling with 2.3 billion yen of our taxpayers’ money, with the definite use yet to be clarified.

Read more: A Request an End to Research Whaling and the Inappropriate Use of Tax Money