Junichi Sato is not only a whale activist in Japan (and there ain’t many people who can put THAT on their business card), he’s also a blogger. And he’s been arrested for the crime of exposing the truth.

AFP reported

"Sato, writing on his blog shortly before his arrest, appealed for a continued probe into the alleged whale meat embezzlement.

"I just want to appeal to the hearts of people involved in the whale embezzlement case: ‘Do you think it’s alright to remain silent?’" Sato wrote.

"If Japan wants to take the lead as an environmentally advanced country, please, conduct diplomacy that can turn international friction into cooperation."

Junichi is a prominent anti-whaling voice in the media in Japan, and his arrest, along with colleague Toru Suzuki, on the eve of the International Whaling Commission meeting is probably not a coincidence. Some media in Japan are saying that the arrest, covered on television, was a warning to other activist groups that as the G8 approaches, voices of dissent in Japan will not be tolerated.

Kyodo Reported:

While he disagrees with Greenpeace’s anti-whaling stance, journalist Takao Saito said the way the police arrested the two men and the way they investigated the group as ”heavy-handed."

”(Greenpeace) is functioning as a whistleblower in our society so the authorities should give them a fair hearing to what they have to say. ”

So, to the barricades, bloggers — let’s GET THE TOKYO TWO OUT OF JAIL.

Digg this.

Blog this.

Put this shortlink in your skype status line: http://www.greenpeace.org/tokyo-two

Grab This:

Link to this.

Put a ribbon banner in the upper left corner of your blog or website:

<script language="javascript" src="http://www.websiteribbon.com/ribbon/61433/"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.websiteribbon.com/">Website Ribbon</a></noscript>

Or grab this to embed the action direct in your website:

<iframe src="http://write-a-letter.greenpeace.org/plain/498&quot; style="width:100%; height:750px; border: none;">
<p><a href="http://write-a-letter.greenpeace.org/plain/498">Release our activists</a></p>
</iframe>

For your friends who like games, send them the Mister Splashy Pants to the Rescue game, and make sure they take the action that the world’s favourit humpback recommends:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/whalebreak-swf-file

Or put the code for the game on your own website:
<br />
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0&quot; width="550" height="400" id="whalebreak" align="middle"><br />
<param name="flashvars" value="texturl=http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/whalebreak-xml-file" /><br />
<param name="movie" value="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/whalebreak-swf-file&quot; /><br />
<param name="quality" value="high" /><br />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /><br />
<embed src="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/whalebreak-swf-file&quot; quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="texturl=http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/whalebreak-xml-file" width="550" height="400" name="whalebreak" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer&quot; /><br />
</object><br />

And thanks to those already running the story:

Grim Planet

Confe$$sions
Foreverliving
Muhammad Fahrizal Rahman
Shearyadi
The Green Earth
Wheretolearn
Artur Poszukany
No time to waste
Science
And so many others, I’ll just run the Tecnorati feed here:

Special thanks to Kurashi for linking to the Greenpeace Japan donation page. Greenpeace Japan is attracting some new support in Japan for its courage, but is also getting a great deal of hate mail organised by nationalist and pro-whaling forces. They need all the support they can get. Being arrested in Japan is a huge thing, with extremely negative connotations that are hard to comprehend for those of us who don’t live there. The government is doing its best to discredit the entire organisation, and everyone who works for and supports them.

P.S. Junichi shares a name with a Japanese director who is best known for directing Sailor Moon episodes. THAT Junichi Sato is not in jail, but I bet we could get our Junichi sprung if we started a rumour that he’s the Sailor Moon guy. Hello, Kitty — there is no force in Japanese culture stronger than teenage girls.

P.P.S Tag your posts with "greenpeacebuzz" and register your blog with us to aggregate over at our Bloggers Centre.

Posted by: Adele | June 21, 2008 7:38 PM

Posted by: john hancock | June 22, 2008 9:21 AM