"Living national treasure" (人間国宝, Ningen Kokuhō) is a Japanese term for craftsmen and artists certified as curators of intangible cultural assets. The Japanese Ministry of Education has thus distinguished those who, through their excellence in the art of the kimono, for example, pass on a unique know-how and the heritage it generates. This admirable country, where modernity and tradition exist side by side, and which has deep philosophical and artistic ties with Europe and France in particular, as evidenced by reciprocal borrowings, is also, along with Norway and Iceland, one of the three countries in the world where whaling is still practiced.

Everyone has seen these bloodbaths in the videos of the NGO Sea Shepherd and all the animal protection associations. You can imagine the fright of the marine mammals harpooned in the territorial waters of these countries, as well as around the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Since 1986, whaling has been subject to a moratorium, and the scientific community has warned of the threat of extinction hanging over marine mammals which are often already victims of ship strikes or die after being accidentally caught in fishing nets.

The activist who has saved 5,000 cetaceans

Yet it was against this backdrop that Japan inaugurated the Kangei-Maru, the largest whaler ever built, on May 21, 2024. It was this vessel that Paul Watson intended to stop by interfering with his boat to prevent the harpooning of marine mammals.

The activist who has saved 5,000 cetaceans was prepared, once again, to risk his life for a whale but without hurting anyone. After all, his actions have never caused injury to a human being or significant damage to anyone else's property. He has, however, caused moral damage, not to Japan, but to those who want to develop a business that benefits the wealthy few.

Arrested in Greenland on July 21 as he docked to refuel, 73-year-old Paul Watson is in prison in Nuuk and threatened with extradition to Japan, even though he is, in the eyes of many of us and now perhaps the whole world, an ambassador for the sea and marine life – in other words, a living global treasure.

2% of Japanese eat whale meat

Japan quit the International Whaling Commission in 2019 to resume commercial whaling, yet barely 2% of Japanese eat whale meat, and the role of cetaceans in preserving the marine ecosystem has been recognized.

Who can seriously believe that whaling, which is so damaging to the environment, to animals and to Japan's image, is the solution to ensuring food security in a country whose agricultural system, according to its top experts, is in need of radical reform? A minority, supported by politicians who care little for the common world, wants to impose whale meat on the grounds of tradition.

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