Greenpeace tries softer anti-whaling approach

TOKYO – Environmentalists in the icy seas, risking life and limb to save whales from the harpoons of Japanese hunters — it makes for good headlines in the West and has even spawned a TV series, "Whale Wars."

But such efforts by environmental groups like Greenpeace have done nothing to slow Japan's annual whale hunt, which kills about 1,000 a year.

So the organization is taking a softer approach to its anti-whaling campaign in Japan, where many don't approve of protests and civil disruption.

Japan's whaling fleet left last month for its annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean, but for the first time in years no Greenpeace vessels were in pursuit.

At a subdued event in Tokyo on Tuesday, directors from Greenpeace offices worldwide gathered to protest Japan's continued whale hunts and the treatment of two of its anti-whaling activists who were arrested for stealing whale meat.

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