Comments

Posts

Cove Director: Taiji Mercury Study Was Not “Real Test”

As we saw yesterday, the National Institute for Minamata Disease released a results of a study on mercury levels in the hair of the residents of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, a town that probably eats more whale and dolphin meat that any other in Japan. Of the 1,137 residents tested, a mere 43 were found to have mercury levels in their body exceeded WHO warning levels, but researchers could find no mercury-related health problems.

Here’s a report from FTV about the issue:

A Taiji resident, evidently happy to hear the results of the study, is shown proudly proclaiming that he will continue to eat whale meat. Whale meat lovers in Chiba prefecture express their satisfaction. One shopper buying whale meat wonders why so much focus was put on dolphin and whale meat, when other fish also contain mercury.

One of the central arguments of “The Cove,” a documentary produced by American animal rights activists, is that the town of Taiji and the Japanese government are actively encouraging the sale of whale and dolphin meat while failing to tell consumers about the “dangerous” levels of mercury in such meat. When interviewed over the phone about the new study results from the National Institute for Minamata Disease, Louie Psihoyos, the director of the film absolutely refused to acknowledge that the research might reflect reality. Psihoyos seems to believe that the National Institute for Minamata Disease, an organization staffed by researchers who devote their entire careers to protecting Japanese people from mercury poisoning, is falsifying its research. Supporters of “The Cove” will probably agree with this conspiracy theory.

The FTV report ends with an explanation on how methyl mercury exists in marine life, with mercury levels increasing as one goes up the food chain. The news anchor makes no judgment about the safety of eating whale, dolphin, or tuna.

—

Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

38 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - May 11, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Categories: Anti-Japan Tags:

cryptnotic

I love how the foreigners speaking Japanese (albeit foreign-accented) get subtitled in katakana.

Dumbo

Yes, sad, isn’t it, how we do it to the Irish, the Scottish, Welsh, Cockney, Geordie, Scouse, Manc, Aussie, NZ, as well as, of course, all non-native English speakers who are, seemingly, hard to be understood, on American TV. We’re so totally rude. It amazes me, that we, in America, who speak an English so far removed from the original English, that we have to subtitle those who speak it better than we do.

Dumbo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Psihoyos

A first generation American who ran away from Commies. Typical. Now look at his home country, in ruins because so many people ran away or spent the money in foolish ways.
Jay

American English is not so far removed from ‘the original’ (whatever that is, since languages change as they adapt); actually American English has maintained structure and word choice very close to when it was dropped off in North America while the English of the British Isles has adjusted and changed much more. Besides, no one language or dialect of a language is better or worse than any other. What a boring way to think about the world. And what does this have to do with mercury?
Darien Shields

You are missing the point. He is subtitled in katakana, one of the three character sets in Japanese. Normally speaking katakana are used for foreign words that have been adopted into Japanese, like “pen” or “terebi”(television). For native Japanese words like “doushite” you’d normally write them in hiragana. However, in the video they are subtitled with katakana because a foreigner is speaking them, even though they are perfectly ordinary Japanese words.

It’s not the fact that they’re using subtitles that cryptnotic is commenting on. It’s the way they’re doing it. It’s like if a Japanese person were on American TV, speaking English, but were subtitled in a psuedo Japanese font like the cover of excel saga, just to remind you that he’s Japanese.

LB

We must not be watching the same video, Psihoyos was not subtitled in Katakana.
Fat Tony

Yeah, only the word “test” was subtitled, and that’s pretty standard Japanese usage.
nagoriyuki

@Darien

It’s very hard to explain the nuance of the three Japanese character sets. You know, this blog often quotes topics from Japanese TV program “Nanikore Chin Hakkei” = “ナニコレ珍百景”. Why “Nanikore” is written in Katakana; “ナニコレ”? When young Japanese use some words like “Cho-sugoi”, why do they often write it in Katakana; “チョースゴイ”?

Katakana is not only used for loanwords.
It can also express something new, something cool, something strange, something unnatural, something unusual, and something unknown.

The man at the beginning of the video is subtitled in Katakana, but it’s not merely because “he’s a foreigner”, but supposedly “he’s not always speaking Japanese in his daily life,” and also because “he’s an unwelcome outsider for the people in Taiji”, maybe?
Mito_tourer

Sure, katakana is used for much more than loanwords, but writing entire sentences in katakana is pretty much exclusively reserved for foreigners speaking Japanese with a heavy accent. Which is strange, because writing subtitles in katakana actually makes it harder to read what is being said. Since the subtitles aren’t added to aid in understanding, they’re pretty much just there to emphasize that this person isn’t speaking Japanese very well.
nagoriyuki

Katakana is also used for Japanese sentences spoken by parrots, robots, ghosts, and extraterrestrial beings. And the reason is not only because they are not speaking Japanese very well, but also they don’t usually speak Japanese.

Zomahoun Rufin or Bobby Ologun doesn’t speak Japanese so fluently on TV, but they are rarely subtitled in Katakana. Because TV watchers have already known that those TV stars always speak Japanese. But the man in the video is not known to us at all, and arguing in front of the supermarket in a small town of Taiji is of a different nature. It looks even comical. And comicalness deserves using Katakana.　

… it seems to have gone too off-topic.
But I enjoyed. Thanks.

LB

Why not, they subtitle everything people from Akita say on TV, and those are native Japanese speaking Japanese with a horrible accent!
mito tourer

Wow everyone whooshed bad responding to this comment. The issue isn’t that they subtitle foreigners. They subtitle everyone in Japanese, even Japanese people. Watch any non-drama TV show. The issue is that they subtitle them in katakana which, among other things, is used for 1. foreign loan words 2. animal noises. Furthermore, subtitling in katakana actually makes it harder to read for native Japanese speakers (and non-native speakers as well of course).
LB

Odd, am I missing something? In the video Psihoyos was subtitled in Hiragana and Kanji, with Katakana reserved for words normally written in Katakana – like “tesuto”. He got the exact same subtitle treatment all the Japanese, who were also subtitled when they were speaking, received.

Mito_tourer

Didn’t watch the video for more than 30 seconds. Was Psihoyos speaking in Japanese? Because the original comment was about foreigners speaking in Japanese and being subtitled in katakana, which happened within the first 30 seconds.

LB

OK, got it – that annoying pop-up that seems to be infecting 90% of youtube and daily motion videos was masking that part.

yokakashi

He just sounds like a sore loser to me.
http://soundcloud.com/npc NPC

I heard a recent study from my nutrition teacher/dietitian that says most Japanese people have an extra digestive organism inside their bodies to help digest raw fish. Just taking a stab in the dark, but maybe it is possible this also gives them a slight tolerance to mercury found in fish and other marine life.

Dan

Is that the same organ that makes them good at math and karate?
Dumbo

Actually, they have 6 stomachs, and even cows are shocked to hear about it.

NPC, you’re a terrible person! Terrible!
http://aki-akiaki.blogspot.com Aki

Perhaps your teacher talked about seaweed-digesting gut bacteria that has only been found in Japanese people.

….. researchers have found that the intestinal microbes of Japanese people may be souped up for eating seaweed.

“In a marine bacteria, we identified an enzyme that is very specialized for degrading algal cell walls,” said Mirjam Czjzek, a biologist at France’s Station Biologique de Roscoff. “The only other place we find this enzyme is in the human-gut bacteria of Japanese individuals.”

Dumbo

That’s actually really fascinating, Aki –

because, I thought Ice Cream had seaweed in it? I suppose not all of them do, but most? But I guess by the time the seaweed essence turns into ice cream the enzyme is gone.

nagoriyuki

Go make a film; “The Gulf”. Not the Persian Gulf, but of Mexico.
How many dolphins have been killed by the worst oil spill now ongoing?
How much seafood have been polluted? Yah I’m really interested in it.
Please face up to what’s happening in your country, sir!

Dumbo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LpRiTvUfw

http://www.lingo-i.com/ Eric

Thanks for that link Dumbo. Now I understand why dolphins are thought to be so smart in America: some Americans make dolphins look like utter geniuses.

Ele

I wonder why this people spend time making documentaries about japan. Don´t they have other things to do besides showing that it is wrong to kill this kind of animal? why so much fuss about dolphins and whales? what makes them so special? of course they are beautiful and great to see in the wild, but no more than any other animal. I always think there might be other reasons behind… sorry I must be a little conspirationist
Well maybe it is because they have to say something to make a living, you travel somewhere, see what is going on there and make a video, then sell it and if you go to the next place…Nothing wrong with this, that is the way many good books have been writen. They should make it clear that it is just a point of view, not an absolute truth. Videos ussually fail in showing this.

Have a nice day.
flowby

Wow! – A lot of vitriol out there for poor 0ld Louie.

The mercury test results are far from conclusive and any medical scientist worth his or her salt should be bent on doing a more thorough examination.

Relying on “voluntary sampling” when peoples health is at risk is not good medicine.

Clear it up once and for all – either way – with a comprehensive diagnostic program.
OsakaBen

No surprises here… When faced with contradictory data, the extremists spit the dummy and turn to conspiracy theories and flat out denial–”screw research, debate, and dialogue; this is not the REAL test! THEY are hiding the REAL data!”

Maybe there is fault in the data or research methods, and maybe this controversial study warrants further peer review, but like a good extremist, Psihoyos feels the need to deny first and do the homework later. God knows why an established research institute dedicated to the protection against and prevention of mercury poisoning would falsify or withhold potentially crippling or fatal information from an entire population.

Not to mention, the same research institute which conducted the study (the National Institute for Minamata Disease) has been designated by the Director-General of the World Health Organization as a Collaborating Centre, “to carry out activities in support of the Organization’s programmes” (such as environmental health and food safety). Maybe the researchers just love whale bacon too much to release the REAL data.

Rest easy sea shepherds and environmental extremists, another loud, egotistical voice is here to justify your existence in the face of doubt and reason once again.

NIMD link: http://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/hs/minamata/nimd.html
WHO Collaborating Centres link: http://www.who.int/collaboratingcentres/en/

LB

What do you expect? They are like birthers or conspiracy nuts. They have invested so much of themselves, especially emotionally, in their belief that to actually look at the facts and admit that perhaps things aren’t as they’ve led themselves to believe would be too devastating for them. They’d have to, in effect, renounce everything in they have built their entire worldview on.

It is a lot like those people who think that even if we can prove there is other intelligent life out there in the universe, and especially if it shows up on our doorstep, it would be better to cover it up as a significant portion of the world’s populace would have such difficulties with facing the reality that humans are neither unique nor created “in God’s image” that entire societies would collapse into panic.
Dumbo

Well done.

All they’re asking for is their own deaths. The funny thing is, they’re all conscientious war objectors. What hypocrisy.

Comment

“One of the central arguments of “The Cove,” a documentary produced by American animal rights activists, is that the town of Taiji and the Japanese government are actively encouraging the sale of whale and dolphin meat while failing to tell consumers about the “dangerous” levels of mercury in such meat.”

After I watched the movie, I thought that the whole mercury thing was one of the more peripheral arguments. It was only briefly mentioned in passing.
Vilson

NEWS – THE JAPAN TIMES

MERCURY DANGER IN DOLPHIN MEAT
==============================

SAPPORO — The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, as documented in the film “The Cove” has sparked an emotional international debate, with animal rights activists decrying the capture and slaughter as unnecessary and cruel, and those in Japan who defend the slaughter as both legally permissible under international treaties and an ancient tradition.

But for Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, there is a far more important issue related to the hunt that the public and the government must address.
Dolphin and whale meat is high in mercury, and Endo, one of the world’s foremost authorities on mercury levels in dolphins and whales caught off Japan’s coastal waters, has discovered Taiji residents who eat the meat sold in local stores have extremely high concentrations in their bodies.

“Between December 2007 and July 2008, myself and a team of scientists and researchers took hair samples from 30 male and 20 female residents of the Taiji area. In three cases, the levels of mercury present were more than 50 parts per million, high enough that it was possible nerve damage, like that seen in victims of Minamata disease, could occur,” Endo told The Japan Times in an interview last week.

Endo’s tests revealed that one Taiji man in his 50s had a mercury level of 67.2 parts per million. The average mercury level of all 50 subjects was 21.6 ppm for the men and 11.9 ppm for the women.

LB

Shhh! You aren’t supposed to point out that the Japanese press is talking about this, or that the Japanese public knows about it. You’re going to ruin the argument of the tinfoil hat brigade, that “the government knows more than it is telling people” or “the government-controlled media never reports on this”.
Dumbo

Yes, but Vilson –

as evidence in this video and Minamata’s data research, the people who had this high mercury level seemed to have NO ILL EFFECTS and were functioning properly without problems. THAT’s the point here.

The bodies of the people of Taiji have ADAPTED and EVOLVED to incorporate mercury and be able to handle it. THAT’s the point.

Vilson

NEWS – THE JAPAN TIMES

MERCURY DANGER IN DOLPHIN MEAT
==============================

SAPPORO — The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, as documented in the film “The Cove” has sparked an emotional international debate, with animal rights activists decrying the capture and slaughter as unnecessary and cruel, and those in Japan who defend the slaughter as both legally permissible under international treaties and an ancient tradition.

But for Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, there is a far more important issue related to the hunt that the public and the government must address.
Dolphin and whale meat is high in mercury, and Endo, one of the world’s foremost authorities on mercury levels in dolphins and whales caught off Japan’s coastal waters, has discovered Taiji residents who eat the meat sold in local stores have extremely high concentrations in their bodies.

“Between December 2007 and July 2008, myself and a team of scientists and researchers took hair samples from 30 male and 20 female residents of the Taiji area. In three cases, the levels of mercury present were more than 50 parts per million, high enough that it was possible nerve damage, like that seen in victims of Minamata disease, could occur,” Endo told The Japan Times in an interview last week.

Endo’s tests revealed that one Taiji man in his 50s had a mercury level of 67.2 parts per million. The average mercury level of all 50 subjects was 21.6 ppm for the men and 11.9 ppm for the women.
k

Wait…how long have they been eating dolphins? If this is a traditional thing like Japanese people say it is on variety shows…doesn’t that mean they’ve been doing it for well over 100 years. If so… don’t you think that would rule out mercury poisoning as a huge problem? If people were eating dolphin for hundreds of years as a tradition and it was as deadly as the makers of the cove said it was, there would be a lot dead people.Right?

Stereo

Or the mercury level of the sea is worse than it was 100 years ago. That is a real problem than dolphin hunting.

Amanda

I’d like to point out that the study showed that the volunteers they did tests on showed 4-5 times the national average amount of mercury in their systems and that is was surprising how there was no health effects from this. The people of Taiji should be happy they aren’t currently getting sick, but they shouldn’t rest so easy and continue chowing down on whale and dolphin. It’s still not a good sign, it doesn’t mean they are immune.

The Faroe islanders in Denmark have been hunting pilot whales for 300 years. (Sea Shepard has payed them many visits) and recently all residents have been warned to stop the whale consumption all together as children started showing signs of slow neurological development.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/faroe605/interview_weihe.html
flowby

Amanda – thank you for the link.

What an interesting read. This should be mandatory reading for all posters here.

And the crucial point of the interview is, it’s not about politically correct standpoints, cultural rights, bashing or whatever, but rather more simply the health and welfare of people.

The fact that someone deemed it fit to give a thumbs down to Amanda’s benign post, tells a lot.

Cove Director: Taiji Mercury Study Was Not “Real Test”

Recent Comments

Further Reading

Bikini Atoll: Lessons For Fukushima?

Complaints From Loony Parents Cancel Event: Okinawan Children Not Allowed to Play With “Radioactive” Aomori Snow

Remembering the International Media’s Post-Fukushima Hysteria: Radiation Scare Stories Ignored Real Victims of 3/11

A Look Inside Osaka Prison

Dead Shark Found in Yoyogi Park

Japanese Fart Battle Scroll

Dinosaurs Wear Traditional Japanese Clothing

Canada Rejects Refugee Application From Japanese Who Feared Radiation

Ishinomaki: Then & Now

Radioactive Seafood? Miyagi Fishing Industry Works to Prove Safety of Their Fish

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs