LATE last month, Japan dropped humpback whales from its so-called "scientific" whaling program for this year and next, writes Junichi Sato.

It was front page and prime time news in most of the Japanese media.

For me, the fact this was so well reported was far more surprising than the fact that the Japanese Government had backed down on humpbacks.

It signalled a great change in Japanese society.

Until very recently, the whaling issue had been almost non-existent in the Japanese news media, due to the self-censorship within its ranks.

This was created because of the nature of the whaling debate.

Taking the anti-whaling position was considered to be taking a position that was anti-Japanese culture.

The anonymous anti-Australian video on YouTube implies exactly that. It is incorrect, a misreading of the anti-whaling campaign.

It is an attempt to divert the whaling debate towards something else.

To counteract any such perceptions in Japan, Greenpeace's key message is "We love Japan, but whaling breaks our hearts".

Linking whaling with nationalism in Japan has made it very difficult for the media to criticise the country's whaling policy.

The Japanese media also well knows that the national whaling industry is very small and that most ordinary Japanese people were either not aware of or interested in the whaling debate.

Until now, whaling has not been considered a significant national issue worthy of headline news.

The fact that whaling was a non-issue to most Japanese was reflected in a 2006 survey conducted by the Nippon Research Centre, which showed that more than 95 per cent of the public had never or very rarely eaten whale meat.

It also found that 90 per cent of Japanese people had no idea their government hunted whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, and once they were aware of it, 69 per cent disagreed with it.

Japan currently has 4000 tonnes of frozen whale meat in storage, and in an attempt to get rid of the unwanted meat it is fed to schoolchildren and served free at some local festivals.

Despite the government's attempts to make eating whale meat synonymous with Japanese culture, the public just aren't interested.

Some members of the older generations who are not opposed to whaling remember how eating whale meat helped save their lives during World War II when they were starving.

These minority views are changing.

Recently, an older Japanese man wrote in to a prominent newspaper to say that perhaps it is time that Japan stopped whaling.

Due to media self-censorship and indifference among the Japanese public on the issue, a "whalers' sanctuary" has been created inside Japanese society.

It protects a small number of bureaucrats, whalers and politicians so they can enjoy vested interests in whaling and keep their nationalistic stance. All at the expense of Japanese taxpayers.

The "whalers' sanctuary" had been very hard to tackle in the past, but this year it looks quite different.

Why? Political and public pressure from all over the world, especially from Australia, created a completely different atmosphere in the debate.

The latest message that came from Australia was not communicated as anti-Japanese, rather it was focused on the facts of whaling, taking into account the science and possible economic damage to the Australian whale watching industry.

The Japanese Government had a much harder time countering such arguments with its usual defence of claiming those who are pro-whale conservation "are too emotional and denying the Japanese culture".

They have now lost their method of protecting the "whalers' sanctuary".

There are three urgent actions that Australians can take to help end whaling in the Southern Ocean.

First, they can directly communicate with Japanese political parties.

Through intense public and political pressure, Australians helped stop the Japanese humpback whale hunt in the Southern Ocean this year.

Now is the time to call for an end to all whale hunting. Japanese political parties need to hear directly from Australians rather than receive information filtered by Japanese government bureaucrats influenced by the "whalers' sanctuary".

It is especially important to bring the whaling issue to the attention of the Democratic Party of Japan.

The DPJ has been steadily gaining support as the current government led by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party has lost popularity.

It looks increasingly likely the DPJ could even win the next election. It has not yet clarified its stance on whaling.

Second, the construction of a new super-sized whaling factory ship, as proposed by Japanese pro-whaling politicians, must be stopped.

The Australian Government should ask officially if this proposal is still being considered and, if so, state that it must not proceed.

Last, Australians can ask their Japanese friends and their Japanese companies to help stop whaling.

Junichi Sato is leader of Greenpeace Japan's Oceans Project

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