The survey contained a number of questions that did not operate on a Likert scale but instead used answer options that were finite categories. In the section entitled Your Experience, Question 5 asked participants what they thought was the most responsible for declining global fish stocks, and proffered the response categories as: ‘Global warming’, ‘Overfishing’, ‘Whales feeding on fish’, ‘Damage to ecosystems’, ‘Marine pollution’, and ‘Not sure’. It can be seen from Figure 9 that the largest percentage of participants selected ‘Overfishing’ (29.6 per cent), followed by ‘Marine pollution’ (24.2 per cent) and ‘Damage to ecosystems’ (21.7 per cent). The category least selected, and one that is being increasingly pushed by the Japanese Government, is the ‘Whales feeding on fish’ option (4.4 per cent) (Figure 9).
Figure 9. The responses from Q.5 relating to the possible reasons for global fish stock decline (n= 520).
Four questions from this section sought data on the personal experience of the participants with whale products (Q.7-10)80
It can be seen in Figure 10 that of the 523 participants, 40.9 per cent had eaten whale products, 52 per cent had not and 7.1 per cent were not sure (Q.7). The results from Q.8 show that of the 40.9 per cent who had eaten whale products before, the majority were unable to determine whether they had in the last six months (53.6 per cent) (Figure 11).
, with the responses used to generate inferences about the degree of consumption of whale products in Japan.
Figure 10. The responses obtained from the Your Experience section of the survey examining past consumption of whale products by Japanese students (n= 523).
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Q.7 ‘Have you ever eaten any whale products?’
Q.8 ‘If yes, how often have you eaten whale products in the last six months?’ Q.9 ‘Are whale products readily available to you?’
Figure 11. The results from the Your Experience section of the survey examining how often students have consumed whale products in the last six months (n= 517).
Importantly, the answers to Question 9 (which asked about the availability of whale products to the participants) mostly centred on the negative (37.2 per cent cited that whale products were ‘Rarely’ available and 26.0 per cent cited that whale products were ‘Never’ available) (Figure 12).
Finally, perhaps some of the most revealing results were obtained from Question 10, in which 32.3 per cent of participants stated that they would ‘Never’ eat whale products even if they were readily available to them, 31.5 per cent cited that they would eat whale products ‘A few times a year’, and a large percentage, 21.2 per cent stated that they were ‘Not sure’ how often they would want to eat whale products even if they were readily available (Figure 12).
Figure 12. The responses obtained from the Your Experience section of the survey examining availability of whale products and desire of whale product consumption by Japanese students (n= 519, n= 520 respectively).
The survey also included a section relating to Whale Watching in which participants were asked their thoughts on the activity (Section 5). Figure 13 displays the results obtained from Question 15, showing that a high percentage of students felt that whale watching should replace whaling (Strongly agree = 14.3 per cent, Somewhat agree = 36.6 per cent), though a significant percentage of students were unsure when answering this question (Neither agree nor disagree = 29.1 per cent) (Figure 13).
Question 16 asked whether the participant would like to go on a whale watching trip. A clear majority answered ‘Yes’ (58.7 per cent), ‘No’ answers were fewer (29.1 per cent), and the ‘Not sure’ option attracted the lowest support (12.2 per cent) (Figure 14).
The survey contained a section entitled Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) (Section 7) and aimed to examine the knowledge about and attitudes of Japanese students towards these groups. Question 18 asked: ‘Including any of the organisations above (see survey ‘Section 7’ pre-question text), before this survey, did you know of any environmental NGOs based in Japan?’. Of the 515 participants, 59.6 per cent answered ‘Yes’ to knowing Japan-based environmental NGOs, 39.0 per cent answered ‘No’, and 1.4 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 15). Question 19 asked: ‘Have you ever seen any anti-whaling protests before (for example, on television, the Internet, in newspapers or in person)?’. Of the 517 participants, 55.7 per cent answered ‘Yes’, 40.8 per cent answered ‘No’, and 3.5 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 15).
Figure 15. The responses obtained from Questions 18 and 19 regarding environmental NGOs (n= 515, n= 517 respectively).
Two questions in this section were also associated with a photograph of a Greenpeace International anti-whaling campaigner. Question 20 asked: ‘Does this photo encourage you to learn more about whaling issues?’. Of the 512 participants, 51.4 per cent answered ‘Yes’, 25.3 per cent answered ‘No’, and 20.0 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 16). Question 21 asked: ‘Does this photo encourage you to join environmental groups that protest against whaling?’. Of 514 participants, 3.4 per cent answered ‘Yes’, 75.0 per cent answered ‘No’, and 18.7 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 17). Only one participant answered that they were already a member of an anti-whaling NGO.
Figure 16. The photograph of an anti-whaling campaigner used to examine participant responses to anti-whaling protests.
Figure 17. The responses obtained from Questions 20 and 21 regarding environmental anti- whaling NGOs (n= 512, n= 514 respectively).
The final question in this section, Question 22, examined the level of agreement with the statement: ‘I distrust environmental NGOs on whaling issues because they are anti-government and rebellious’. Of the 518 participants, 9.6 per cent agreed with this statement (3.6 per cent + 6 per cent), 37.4 per cent answered that they did not agree nor disagree, a total of 39.7 per cent disagreed with the statement (23.7 per cent + 16 per cent), and 13.1 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 18).
The penultimate section of the survey, entitled Sources of Whaling Information, included questions that examined where the participants might have acquired information on whaling and anti-whaling campaigning (Section 10). Question 26 asked: ‘Have you ever heard or seen information about whaling issues in Japan’s media?’. Of the 521 participants, 73.5 per cent answered ‘Yes’, 23.2 per cent answered ‘No’, and 3.3 per cent answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 19). Question 27 asked: ‘In your opinion, should Japan’s media report on whaling issues more often?’. Of the 516 participants, a majority answered ‘Yes’ (43.4 per cent), 28.7 per cent answered ‘No’, and 27.9 per cent, a significant figure because of its near-match to the ‘No’ response, answered ‘Not sure’ (Figure 19).
Figure 19. The responses obtained from questions relating to the Sources of Whaling Information (n=521, n= 516 respectively).
Within the same section (Section 10), participants were asked to consider how trustworthy various sources of information were when discussing whaling issues. When it came to regarding the Japanese media as a trustworthy source of information on whaling issues (Q.28), of the 519 participants, 28.3 per cent (8+139 respondents) agreed, a majority of 38.7 per cent neither agreed or disagreed and 19.4 per cent (78+23 respondents) disagreed with the statement that Japan’s media was a trustworthy source of information relating to whaling issues (Figure 20).
When it came to regarding the Japanese Government as a trustworthy source of information on whaling issues (Q.29), of the 521 participants, a majority of 35.5 per cent (185 respondents) neither agreed or disagreed with the statement, with 29.6 per cent (15+139 respondents) agreeing and 21.3 per cent (86+25 respondents) disagreeing that the Japanese Government was a trustworthy source of information on whaling issues (Figure 20).
When it came to regarding environmental NGOs as a trustworthy source of information on whaling issues (Q.30), of the 521 participants, a majority of 35.5 per cent (17+168 respondents) agreed with the statement, whilst 30.1 per cent (157 respondents) neither agreed or disagreed and 21.1 per cent disagreed with the statement (79+31 respondents) (Figure 20).
It is interesting to note that the ‘Not sure’ option was selected in virtual equal frequencies for questions 28, 29 and 30 (13.5, 13.6, and 13.2 per cent respectively) (Figure 20).
Figure 20. The responses obtained from Questions 28, 29, and 30 regarding the perceived trustworthiness of sources of whaling information (n= 519, n= 521, n= 521 respectively).
4.2 Content Analysis of Comments Given by Japanese