Canon Inc., the world's largest maker of digital cameras, has declined a request from Greenpeace International to condemn the government's expedition to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean.
Responding to the Greenpeace request to Canon President Fujio Mitarai, who also heads Japan's largest business lobby, Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Canon said in a letter last week it would not sign a statement condemning the annual hunt to kill minke and fin whales in the Antarctic.
"Scientific opinion about research whaling is different among the Japanese, various governments and NGOs," the letter said. "For us as a single company to declare an opinion on this topic is beyond our scope."