科学

(Science)

My name is Yukio, and I am the son of Yukio - a Japanese name which in English means "gets what he wants". I am a seasoned mariner, now skipper of the "Shonan Maru 2". Our voyages take us far from the cherry blossom hills of my homeland to the far corners of the Pacific Ocean. We are at sea for weeks on end. How I miss my dear wife Kimi - she who is without equal - and my daughter Miyoko and her two little boys. What joy it is to have a family to return to.

Last winter in a single trip, the "Shonan Maru" rescued two humpbacks, a pregnant fin, seven minke and four grays from the ocean but please don't be appalled my friends for this was all in the name of scientific research. We hauled each whale on board and measured it from tail to nose - dangerous work when the deck is awash with blood and seawater. But the cause of science is greater than my crew's safety. We hoisted each carcass and weighed it as we have each winter for the last fifteen years. All of our detailed findings were of course logged on computer and sent to the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research.

Unfortunately, our vital scientific research causes death to those creatures we save from the sea. Once the measurements are taken we have little choice but to butcher the whales. Their meat is blocked and placed carefully in the ship's freezer rooms but we always return the final remains of the carcass to the ocean so that it can feed and enrich the lives of other sea creatures.

Upon our return to the great whaling port of Shimonoseki, we have to somehow dispose of the whale meat so that our research vessel can prepare for further scientific voyages. Luckily, seafood merchants are happy to vie with each other for the meat blocks and any profit our company makes is of course pumped straight back into scientific research. Understanding the need to support our great work, Japanese consumers readily pay up their hard earned money in the fish markets, supermarkets and sushi restaurants of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka in order to purchase fresh whalemeat - the mere by-product of our scientific endeavours.

We are aware that undemocratic organisations like Greenpeace are attempting to disrupt our research, inventing crazy figures to suggest that the Pacific's whale population is in terminal decline. Pure poppycock! There are plenty of whales out there and to better understand their lives and population trends, it is of course essential that our scientific research continues.