That’s why we have the Konjunktiv 2 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood#The_subjunctive_in_German ) in the German language, so that the news can report what people say and state without being held responsible.

Something people make their living off of, and they don’t have other skills to make that quality of life. Forcing your culture and values on someone else about something that may seem culturally wrong to you but fine for someone else.

If you have sources, please do post.

Where it isn’t humanely slaughtered it is prosecuted as cruelty by nearly every government on the planet. People would be less hostile to the practice if it wasn’t so outrageously cruel.

People who get their feet bound do. And they have the right to ask for help.

““I do not like it” is not an answer.”

Is “it is extraordinarily painful and cripples you for life” a better answer?

This whole issue (of rights and culture) is far too complicated to be settled by blog posts. Nothing will be achieved here but some smart-arse comments and feel-good rants.

The arguments you are making in favor of dolphin hunting; culture, history, privacy, etc, could all be applied to the practice of slavery

The argument could be applied to the practice of brutally farming, and killing cows, pigs, chicken etc.

I don’t agree with this premise either. It could be that media frenzy is exploited for political gain, stirring up problems. The “if you’re innocent you have nothing to hide” idea is only valid if the other side is equally innocent (as in honest and incorrupt).

why would they go to such lengths to conceal their activities from not only the world, but their own people?

Surely people killing, say, cows, dissecting them, selling beef, eating it, don’t want to be filmed when they know they will be the target of hatred in the film.

It’s the same type of tactic Muslims in America use. Oh sure their religion mentions waging war against unbelievers no less than 120 times in the Qu’ran and it’s a practice they’ve waged unchanged for 1,400 years. But if they can cast themselves as “victims” they deflect attention onto their accusers. Different facts, same tactic here. It’s just funny that this guy is using the “mind your own business, the country that attacked Pearl Harbor does,” tactic.

In the end you can ask yourself one simple question. If there is nothing wrong with what they are doing in Taiji then why would they go to such lengths to conceal their activities from not only the world, but their own people? They are brutal, inhumane and deceitful and if that doesn’t warrant being “attacked” then I don’t know what does.

meddling foreigners! Arrr!

What is wrong with foot binding? “I do not like it” is not an answer. Some people do all kinds of ugly cosmetic surgeries, that I hate to see, but I do not have any right to stop them.

Some people circumcise their baby boys. Do you think we should stop them? Some people let their babies go though medical surgery without the babies’ consent “for the best interest of the babies”. For arguments sake, if Chinese parents bind their daughter’s foot for the best interest of her, can we blame them?

Leave them alone. You do not have any right to peek into every household on earth to dictate do this or do that based on your preferences.

The local people know the mercury issue of the dolphin meat. They buy the meat knowing the facts. What is the point informing people hundreds of kilometers away from the store about the mercury issue that the potential buyers already know?

Are you also raising the “it’s their culture” issue?

Foot-binding is part of Japanese culture, too.
If Taiji started practicing foot-binding, would you support them? It’s been a practice for hundreds of years, just like dolphin hunting.

The viewer will think “He wouldn’t deny entry unless he had something to hide.”

All sea animals have mercury, dolphins just so happen to have 5-10 times the safe amount set by THE GOVERNMENT. Therefore, it’s toxic. Full Stop.

What is Japan’s wrong? Maybe the 26 fishermen of Taiji are wrong for killing intelligent animals, but that has nothing to do with the nation as a whole.

US military stays in Japan based on agreement, whereas those activists are uninvited. There should be difference in welcoming attitude of local people.

You say, “American military forces do not assimilate.” Are you trying to say that the Japanese dislike foreigners if they do not assimilate? I can say assimilation has nothing to do with likes and dislikes of Japanese. The people in Taiji are against them just because they are against the dolphin hunt. If a Japanese anti-hunting group comes to Taiji, the local people will surely dislike the group.

There are a large number of Japanese who want to end US Japan security treaty and want US troops out of Japan. Their reason is not about assimilation but about US imperialism. US may start invading small countries like it did in Nicaragua in 1983 and 1984, or in Panama in 1989. Certain numbers of politicians in DPJ are against US imperialism. Now that DPJ took majority of the Diet, we will see how things develop.

In summary, just because you have a interest in Japan and her society (which I hope most do) you should still be able to see a wrong is occurring from both parties.

This is just a guess.

2) If he was really committed to this cause, O’Barry would travel the world. Sure, he can’t be in two places at once, but he can go to Norway next week and Iceland the week after. The bottom line is that he targets Japanese because it’s easy to attack another ethnicity.

The store owner in the video is just trying to run a business, selling 100% legal products. There is no need to harass him, and it won’t bring about any change. Like I keep saying, it’s easy to attack these people and look superior. That’s all this asshole is looking for.

They dont even bother to have a Japanese title for the movie. So is he trying to “educate” the Japanese, or attack on their hundreds of years old tradition? You cannot just say, “oh, this is wrong because we said so, and you should stop this”

This is like if Indian Hindus tell Westerners to stop eating cows.(because its wrong, they are sacred, yada yada yada) This is Westerners telling Japanese to stop eating what they have been eating for hundreds of years. Not that i condone dolphin hunting- but people shouldn’t stick their noses in places they dont belong in.

2) Glad to see people are still busting out ye olde “well he’s not doing” misdirection. One person can’t be everywhere so don’t look at their inability to solve all the world’s woes as denigration of their efforts to solve one of them.

He should just get kicked out of Japan. He’s there to cause trouble and nothing else. The dolphin hunt sucks, but if I’m not mistaken, it’s 100% legal. Taiji is a town of about 3,500 people, but he’s making it appear that Japan as a whole condones, and participates in this hunt.

It’s easy to target people who don’t look like you. I don’t see him going to Norway and Iceland and protesting their hunts.

But nobody ever thought a clam was cute and sharks have terrible PR.