Greenpeace activists, dressed as a whale and wearing a mask of the face of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, protest outside the first day of the "International Whaling Commission Normalisation Meeting." The meeting was called by Japan and supported by pro-whaling nations. Outside the venue, the activists held a board depicting the names of 32 countries which Greenpeace suspects Japan has bought votes from for the pro-whaling vote at the IWC. While it cannot currently be proven that the Japanese government has used aid money to get votes, Greenpeace sees a strong link between the votes for Japan and the aid money some members in the IWC have received.