As part of a nationwide sister cities tour of New Zealand, Green MP Gareth Hughes will visit the city next Wednesday to encourage Dunedin residents to "save the whales".
Mr Hughes said residents would be able to write to sister city representatives, urging them to protect whales from Japanese commercial whaling - the leading threat to whales in the Southern Ocean.
People would be asked to fold their letters into an origami whale before they were sent to Otaru, located on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
He had also written to Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull asking him to support the campaign on behalf of the Dunedin City Council.
Other mayors with sister city connections in Japan had also been contacted, he said.
Mr Hughes said demand for whale meat was waning in Japan, and ultimately it would be the "Japanese people who make their Government stop".
His campaign is launched in Wellington today, with further events are planned in Auckland, Tauranga, Gisborne, Christchurch before concluding in Dunedin.
