An anti-whaling or anti-Japan flag?

Got this photo, and e-mail from a reader:

My wife and children were walking along Petone Esplande this afternoon, glorious day and all, and came across this flag flying at a hairdresser on the corner of William Street. This shop flies flags of all kinds and is pretty well known for doing so. My wife, who is Japanese (of the non-whale eating variety, like the majority of the population) was, as you can imagine, pretty offended by this flag. Our nine year old son wonders if it means that the person who made the flag hates Japan. My son also wonders if the kids in the neighbourhood will see it and hassle him.

 

This got us thinking so at dinner we had a talk about what this bold flag statement (in a pretty prominent location to boot) meant. We decided that the whale and the cross were pretty clear but got stuck on what the flag symbolised.

 

So here is our dilemma. We assume that X = BAD and cute picture of whale = WHALE. But what does the flag mean?

 

Possible answers we came up with:

1. The government of Japan

2. Japanese government policy

3. All things Japanese

 

Perhaps your readers might be pretty interested in how people interpret the message this flag?