Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd emphasised that "Australia's relationship with Japan is long-standing, close and broad-based" when he made his first visit to Japan as Prime Minister last year. The two countries share a lot of the same political values, such as democracy, advanced capitalism, and pro-US international policies. However, history reveals that our relationship has not always been peaceful and harmonious.
The first contact between Australia and Japan was recorded in 1831, when the Australian whaling ship Lady Rowena landed on the eastern shores of Hokkaido after being struck by heavy storms for weeks. According to historical records of this event from both Australia and Japan, the Australians fired guns at the Japanese and destroyed a village. In 1854, a Japanese intellectual, Shoin Yoshida, wrote in A Prison Notebook that "it would be most profitable for Japan to colonise Australia". Half a century later in Australia, a Japanese exclusion bill was considered as soon as the Commonwealth of Australia was created in 1901. Japan was a major influence on Australian defence policy until the end of the WWII, and even today, we are still ironically "fighting" over the whaling issue almost 180 years since our first contact.
Australia stopped whaling in 1979 as whale oil was no longer a profitable commodity, and started to focus on working towards the protection and conservation of whales. The international moratorium on commercial whaling came into force in 1986, but Japan decided to continue its whaling in the name of scientific "research" despite international criticism. Hundreds of whales are still killed in the Southern Ocean every year by the Japanese, and this upsets many Australians who want to protect these huge marine mammals for a range of environmental and ethical reasons.
In 2004, the animal welfare activist organisation, Humane Society International, made a legal claim that Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean is illegal according to Australian domestic law. In January last year, the Japanese whaling company Kyodo Sempaku, which conducts whaling in the Southern Ocean under their government's supervision, was ordered by the Australian Federal Court to stop killing whales in Australian Antarctic waters. However, the judge also admitted that no realistic enforcement of this order can be made "unless the respondent's vessels enter Australia", since Australia's territorial claim over the Southern Ocean is disputable according to The Antarctic Treaty (1961). This treaty formalises an international agreement to prevent any permanent human settlement in Antarctica, hence no government can enforce its authority there or in the surrounding ocean.
On the contrary, Japan has a much stronger legal justification to support its whaling in the Southern Ocean. The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (1948) allows Japan to conduct whaling for research, and this activity may include the killing of whales, so long as the whaling contains a degree of scientific research. Furthermore, Japan is legally permitted to use any by-products of their research, such as whale meat. Thus, Australia is legally powerless to stop Japan's whaling even though the Federal Court called Japan's activities illegal.
This summer, Japan will continue whaling in the Southern Ocean. Australians will express anger - politicians, environmentalists, citizens and media will all point an accusing finger at Japan. We may never be true friends... however, it is advantageous for us to cooperate rather than continue to fight. Australia and Japan are already isolated in the Asia-Pacific region due to the fact that both are not typical "Asian" countries. Regionalism is the global trend of the 21st century, so it would be a shame if the whaling issue were to continue to weaken our vital diplomatic relationship.
Written By Tets Kimura
