Japan keeps slaughtering whales. The Japanese slaughter about one thousand whales a year — primarily minke whales — as part of a government-sponsored and financed program that the Japanese government claims is for so-called scientific purposes. People concerned about this slaughter rightly call it for what it is -- commercial whaling, which has been banned worldwide since 1986. Japan is thumbing her nose at the world.

Today, Wednesday, Peter Bethune, an antiwhaling activist from New Zealand, a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was convicted by a Japanese court of trespassing, vandalism, assault and obstructing Japan’s whaling fleet in the Antarctic. His sentence was suspended, and is expected to be booted out of the country

Various groups confront the Japanese whaling fleet to interfere with the whale hunts. These confrontations have led to some violence.

The bottom line here is that whales are an endangered and protected species, and the Japanese have thumbed their noses at the world on this issue. Why not a total, global consumer boycott of goods made in Japan and made by Japanese owned companies, until the Japanese stop slaughtering whales?

Japan makes absolutely nothing that the world needs that it can not get from other sources. To boycott Japanese made goods, and goods made by Japanese owned companies. will cause no serious inconvenience to world consumers, Yes, really. Japanese products won't be missed. They tried to kill us with their Toyotas like they're killing the whales? Right? So save the whales, boycott Japan.