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A Secret Documentary of the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter has Been Shot

My keyboard is fritzing, so I’ll keep this short. Visit Kuruashi for more.

Every year, in coves near Taiji Village in Wakayama Prefecture, thousands of pilot whales and dolphins are driven into what has become known as the “killing cove”. There, behind large tarps and a police cordon to keep prying eyes away, they are cruelly speared, beaten, and chopped to death. Some survivors are sold to aquariums to become show animals, the rest are gutted and the meat canned and sold or served to children in school cafeterias (even though it is well documented fact that the meat contains up to hundreds of times the Japan Health Ministry’s advisory level for mercury).

Now, a full length documentary has been produced which will clearly expose this horror to the world.
Financed with $5 million by Netscape founder Jim Clark, the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) has secretly filmed the hunt over the last year.

31 comments - What do you think? Posted by Claytonian - April 5, 2008 at 1:21 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

kenji

man…looking at that picture is pretty rough. having sympathy for intelligent creatures such as dolphins i want hunts like these to end. but then again western thinking flaws our perspective on alot of things like this. i love cuddly little furry dogs but does that mean i should tell koreans to stop killing dogs? same for the canadians spearing baby seals? as much as you dont like it, there are different perspectives in the world and we have to acknowledge them.

Kevin

I think if you focused less on how intelligent/not intelligent the animals are and how poisonous dolphin meat is, your argument would have a lot stronger footing. They link above even mentions that these dolphins are being killed so the meat can be canned and served at local schools. This isn’t a matter of animal intelligence – as much as environmentalists want to make you believe. This is a matter of making sure that the children and locals aren’t exposed to mercury.
What I don’t understand is why people don’t focus on this fact in Japan and get the news out. I support the Japanese right to whaling, but this kind of dolphin hunting doesn’t make sense simply from health-related point of view.

BaronVonSTFU

that kuruashi link doesnt work

http://surrealu.blogspot.com Claytonian

thx sorry fixed

jay

Would be nice if other countries minded their own business.
shazzb0t

Ugh. Meanwhile, in India, Hindus everywhere are vehemently denouncing America’s factory farms and the wholesale slaughter of cattle and other animals everyday.

Something about a plank and a splinter comes to mind.

http://surrealu.blogspot.com Claytonian

The plank and splinter metaphor never lets anyone get anything done, really, because there are problems everywhere. Both countries should be and are evaluated for what they do. It’s good that someone calls America on it’s practices. Moreover, seeing the failings of others can raise self awareness of one’s own shortcomings.

Additionally, I should point out that a lot of people involved in the covert filming probably don’t eat meat anyways.

LOD

Those dolphins are smarter, and more social, than dogs or cows.

And I wonder if this statement is meant to be serious, or cynical.
kay

it’s pretty messed up that the japanese people aren’t more informed about the mercury levels in seafood… with any luck they’ll get http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease

this disease which is severe mercury poisoning.

i wonder why the japanese aren’t more freaked about this. i mean they’ve dealt with it before.

it’ll be interesting to see how much exposure the documentary will get.

keep us updated!

Ryry

With any luck Japanese people will get Minamata disease? How charming.
shazzb0t

First off almost any Japanese person knows about Minamata disease. Second off that has almost nothing to do with dolphins or eating seafood today. It was localized in Kumamoto prefecture. Please stop posting.

kay

just stating a possibility….. it’s happened more than once: outbreaks of the disease
anonymouse

People who slaughter animals in such an inhumane manner should be put to death themselves!! Being reminded of this makes me so angry that there are still such primitive and cruel people in the world!

shazzb0t

Where do you live? I’m sure there are animals being killed in a factory near you as I type.

In b4 ‘dolphins are smarter than cows’.

Nikkeijin

Great. This film will increase the “Japan haters” worldwide, ten-fold. I don’t necessarily support the killing of dolphins (or whales), but the worldwide media attention on the matter definitely has a tone of racial hatred, at least in the U.S.

Being a Japanese descent myself I’ve been an unfortunate recipient of random racial slurs in a public setting all in response to the hyped media attention on this subject. I’m old enough to not let it affect me, but my poor kids in grade school are getting it too. Call me ignorant, but I would much rather be oblivious to slaughtered sea creatures half way around the world than to see my kids being blamed, victimized by racial prejudice.

kay

nikkeijin… where in the world do u live that people know about the taiji dolphin hunt? i live in a coastal town in california… well known for its activism : santa cruz, and i get the feeling that this is not an issue at all on people minds, nor is it public knowledge.

nor have i been racially slurred at for any reason for a long time. only time i can remember was like in kindergarten when some kid asked me if my face had been steam rolled or something cuz it was so flat.

Minamata disease is a result of bioaccumulation…. precisely what is happening the world’s oceans today on a much larger and slower scale.

Nikkeijin

Kay, if the only Asian racial slur you’ve ever heard was when you were in kindergarten, wow, Santa Cruz must be a great place to live! I live along the Rocky Mountains. Love it here, but certainly not the most diverse populace around. Try getting out of California and I’m sure you’ll experience some interesting body language if not verbal exchanges.

Mostly whaling is what I hear about the most for obvious reasons. I’m not sure if it’s specifically the dolphins in Taiji or not, but wherever that girl from HEROES went to protest with her surfer friends was the talk-of-the-town some time ago and still making the “E!” news every now and then. Dolphins or not, “Japan” is certainly getting the spotlight for being the “evil-doers” to some friendly sea creatures that everyone loves.
shazzb0t

So, are you saying Japan is solely responsible for bioaccumulation in the oceans? You argument makes little sense.

Minamata disease and dolphin slaughter have nothing to do with each other.

http://surrealu.blogspot.com Claytonian

Minimata disease is an instance of mercury poisoning. The dolphins have a lot of mercury in them. The point this person was trying to make, I imagine, is that the Japanese should know better.

http://surrealu.blogspot.com Claytonian

The best way to combat prejudice by association is education.
It is unfortunate when an ethnic group gets associated with an odious action. However, I think people are right to report on something if they find it highly objectionable. Imagine if nobody reported on ethnic cleansing or other horrid acts just to avoid getting associated people’s reputations smudged.
It reminds me of WWI and II when Germans were discriminated against and Japanese were interred. Both sad states resulted from ignorance, not information.
You say “half way around the world” as if things that happen outside of your sphere of awareness don’t concern or have an effect on you. That’s a little troubling.

Nikkeijin

My dear Claytonian, you obviously don’t have any children.

I think the problem here is that certain people regard the killing of whales and dolphins as equally as momentous and horrid as ethnic purification of a human race. The Japanese, unless they are an innately evil and an injurious people, simply don’t look at it that way. In a matter of perspective, you’re right, unless it is a breach of human rights, I don’t necessarily prefer to have the awareness of certain activities half way around the world if they don’t directly or indirectly affect my family, community, or country. I care much more for the benefit and welfare of my own family and community than, say, dogs, a man’s best friend, being killed and eaten in Korea. Do I agree with it? No I don’t.

In my own community, hundreds if not thousands of fathers and sons go into the mountains each and every year and hunt and kill deer and elk; not for food, but for the “sport,” and so they can display their proud catch (chopped heads) in their living rooms. They’ve been practicing this culture for the past 100 years. Could you imagine if another country of another race that loved elk kept exposing this activity worldwide as an act of American evil? What benefit exactly would that exposure have in the perspective of Americans living around the world?

One would argue that the animals brought in from the ocean are shared among nations, especially when dealing with whales when international borders and agreements are an issue. I don’t necessarily agree with the culture of killing and eating dolphins, but I don’t necessarily get warm feelings either when I see these radical groups hiding out in the hills of Japan taking secret footage of the activity with the sole purpose of worldwide denunciation and exposure.

http://surrealu.blogspot.com Claytonian

Sir, this is not just an animal rights issue. As I quoted in the article, these dolphins contain alarming levels of mercury. That brings it into the sphere of human rights, for humans will consume it.

“My dear Claytonian, you obviously don’t have any children. ” First, don’t make such pat deductions about my personal life. I know with grave certainty what I would do to protect my family. Second, you haven’t proven that people don’t have a right to know what is happening in the world. You are appealing to emotions, making your argument as sensational as the bad publicity you rail against.
the overthinker

As I understand it, Nikkeijin’s argument, such as it is, is based solely on his own opinion: “I would much rather be oblivious to slaughtered sea creatures half way around the world than to see my kids being blamed, victimized by racial prejudice.” “I care much more for the benefit and welfare of my own family and community than, say, dogs, a man’s best friend, being killed and eaten in Korea.” Therefore since it is his own opinion and was offered as such, rather than as a rational response.

method

I’m confused about all the threads of different arguments. The way I figure it, if the meat has high levels of mercury in it and shouldn’t be eaten, then there’s no point in killing the dolphins.

*But* if it’s ecologically a bad idea to kill all those dolphins, then probably the Japanese shouldn’t do it. *In addition* to the previous point, if dolphins are really smarter and more emotional, as scientists seem to indicate, it might be _more wrong_ to kill them, especially to kill them without a pressing need, than to kill other animals.

To tell the truth, I only jumped on this issue because it was on my feed and I didn’t like the responses. The other time I read about this event I recall something about this being a trumped up tradition to support the local economy of Taiji village. I think the most relevant parallel has to be English fox hunting, which has (I think) been mostly phased out because of the perceived _cruelty_ of it.
Nikkeijin

Clay, my comments are not meant to offend. I’m not an “Angry Nikkei” by any means, and I don’t get my jollies harassing people over the internet, so if I offended you I apologize.

I’m not out to “prove” anything, as you stated. I’m not out to make a statement on a person’s right to know what ever it is they want to know. My frustrations simply come from the fact that these groups always have a tendency to manipulate their cause one way or another, at the expense of a more, in my opinion, significant repercussion. If these were skipjack tuna that were being caught with tender care, that just happened to have very high levels of mercury being consumed by a small prefecture in Japan, I guarantee you these activists would not be spending millions of dollars with high tech equipment out to expose the “horror” to the world.

As far as mercury is concerned, yes, Japan should definitely know better. A lot of their quiescence in my opinion is due to many years of tradition and the conformity to the group idea of “shoganai.” But if I remember right, and correct me if I’m wrong, the Minimata incident was due to toxic wastes being dumped by a local biochemical factory, not by natural biomagnification of the aquatic food chain, such is the case with high mercury levels in large sea animals like dolphins. The FDA has advised against, or limit the consumption of tuna for years warning about dangerous mercury levels. If that really is the issue at large they wouldn’t be targeting a small town of a few thousand people no one outside Japan has ever heard about.

http://surrealu.blogspot.com claytonian

No worries, no offense taken.

You are right, this is a rather glamourous cause for the environmentalists. It is up to the public to decide how many grains of salt they are going to take with it, and it sucks that people not associated get the blame.

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http://www.myspace.com/kerazymike09 m_d4dolphins

apathy+cruelty=evil
mary

this is sooo sad
shazzb0t

Destroying the oceans? Haha. I think you need to look at the numbers again.
http://www.japaneconomynews.com/ Ken

wonder why no one here seems to understand that “and you too” isn’t actually a valid moral argument.

Because they’ve never read Kant?

A Secret Documentary of the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter has Been Shot

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