Environment Agency head Yoriko Kawaguchi on Friday called the absence of the United States at a United Nations' environment ministerial meeting in Kitakyushu unfortunate and urged both countries to address the whaling issue causing the rift rationally.
Kawaguchi, who is to chair the ministerial segment of the meeting on Monday and Tuesday, echoed the sentiments of others in the government and from the Bangkok-based U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
"We plan to talk about the Rio Plus 10 gathering and climate change issues. This is not a forum for discussing whales. It is too bad (the United States will be absent)," Kawaguchi said.
"I know from living in America for several years and my friends there that whaling is a difficult issue that comes when two cultures meet. Both sides need to resolve the issue without getting overly emotional about it," she added.
Kawaguchi spent several years in the United States while at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.