| ISANA
Dec. 2002 No.26 |
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SHIMONOSEKI AND THE IWC
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Kiyoshi Ejima
Mayor
City of Shimonoseki |
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The
54th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
was held in Shimonoseki from April 25 to May 24, 2002.
In 2000 at the
52nd Meeting in Adelaide, Shimonoseki was selected as the venue for
the 2002 IWC meeting, after competition for sponsorship with New Zealand.
At the London meeting last year, I made a welcome speech for the meeting
in Shimonoseki, and since then I concentrated my efforts on making
the meeting a success.
As this international
conference was scheduled for about a month with up to 500 visitors,
both municipal government employees and the citizens wished to entertain
our guests heartily under the slogan "Welcome to Shimonoseki."
As a first step,
the Council for Promotion of the IWC Meeting in Shimonoseki, a nationwide
organization, was established on August 23, 2001. In October the same
year, the IWC Meeting Promotion Section, executive office headed by
myself, was set up in the Municipal Office, and in November, a steering
committee was organized centering on citizen groups. In this way,
full-scale preparations for the meeting were set in motion.
Because of a
large number of foreign participants in the IWC meeting, we publicly
recruited 150 language volunteers to assist foreign visitors at the
Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki Conference Hall, hotels and train stations.
To our very delighted surprise, over 300 volunteers applied, far more
than we expected. I felt very confident to see the presence of so
many citizens who have internationally-oriented minds.
We had contributions
from various people in realizing a Shimonoseki-style welcome under
the joint cooperation of the Municipal Office and our citizens. Volunteer
efforts included the removal of illegal advertisement boards and posters
from around the Conference Hall. Various types of training sessions
were held for accommodating guests by hotels, inns, restaurant business,
taxi companies, and IWC meeting ad wrapped bus operations and for
preparing announcements in English for transportation. And a whale-shaped
topiary decorated with ivy and flowers was set up at the Strait Dream
Plaza just in front of the Conference Hall.
Thanks to the
cooperation of many of our citizens, I am honored to report here that
we had words of appreciation from delegates of various countries on
the last day of the meeting. Especially to be noted was the remark
by the delegate of Germany, the host of the 2003 IWC meeting, who
said "We may not be able to entertain delegates as Shimonoseki people
did, but we will do our best on the example of the Shimonoseki meeting."
Such encouraging words certainly helped to dissipate the painstaking
efforts by the Shimonoseki Municipal officials, volunteers and all
the people of Shimonoseki in leading this memorable event to a success.
I would like to take advantage of this article to express my heartfelt
gratitude to all the citizens of Shimonoseki and people who cooperated
for their dedicated contributions.
Shimonoseki has
been deeply related to whales from ancient times. Whale bones have
been excavated from the Ayaragigo Remains, designated as a valuable
historical site. Monuments dedicated to Oka Juro and Yamada Tosaku,
two unforgettable figures who initiated modern whaling in Japan at
the end of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), have been built in Hiyoriyama
Park in the city, showing that the city has been closely involved
in the initiation of modern whaling.
In the first
decade of the Showa Era (1926-1983), the Taiyo Fishery Co. led by
Nakabe Ikujiro (Now Maruha Corporation) thrived during the Antarctic
Whaling Period. Needless to say, Shimonoseki is the place of origin
of the Japanese Antarctic whaling. |
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Subsequently,
Taiyo Fishery formed a large group based in Shimonoseki that developed
into a large consortium involving shipbuilding, icemaking, food processing,
transportation and hospital businesses. A full-course western cuisine
was served at Nisshin, a Taiyo-run restaurant specializing in whale
food, attracting 130,000 guests in its peak period. This illustrates
that whale cuisine was very familiar among ordinary city people. The
present Yokohama Baysters, a professional baseball team, started in
Shimonoseki as the Taiyo Whales.
However, the
city, once thriving because of whaling, was forced to thread the path
of decline as the commercial whaling moratorium was adopted in 1982.
People in Shimonoseki again are trying to vitalize the city with whales
because their relationship with whales has been closer than for any
other locality in the country. The people's initiatives can be clearly
observed in the monument dedicated in token of their appreciation
to whales which was constructed this spring. Since 1998, Shimonoseki
has been the home port for Japan's whale research vessels, with a
port departure ceremony being held each year. Further, the Kaikyokan
Aquarium, opened in April last year, exhibits the bone structure of
a blue whale, one of the rare specimens in the world. All these indicate
Shimonoseki's initiatives to revitalize itself through whales.
Regrettably,
we could not witness at the IWC meeting any substantial progress toward
the resumption of whaling, as in previous years. However, we could
publicize extensively both in Japan and overseas the whaling dietary
culture and history of whaling, as witnessed by such events as the
first Summit of Traditional Whaling Communities in Japan held in Nagato
City, the Extraordinary Meeting of the Sustainable Use Parliamentarians'
Union (SUPU), the Summit of Local Autonomies on Regional Communities
and Whales, and the 6th Riches of the Sea Festival--all held immediately
prior to the IWC's plenary session.
We are now in
the process of working on a scheme to build a Whaling Museum using
the No.25 Toshi-Maru, a whaling boat that is expected to withdraw
from active whaling this autumn. We are committed to handing down
our involvement in whaling to contemporary and future generations,
publicize Shimonoseki as a City of the Whale, both at home and abroad,
and, as a place where modern whaling saw its birth, continue our positive
efforts to promote the resumption of commercial whaling.
I consider the
IWC meeting held on the 100th anniversary of Shimonoseki's naming
as a city and the year marking its transition into Yamaguchi Prefecture's
first Special Case City (i.e. a city with a population of over 200,000)-has
become truly a great asset for us especially after the successful
completion of the whole event. I am convinced that the Conference
has given confidence and limitless strength to our continued effort
to build an exemplar city of Shimonoseki. |
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| Mayor Ejima addressing the opening ceremony |
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