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The Destruction of Kesennuma, Japan’s Shark Fin Town

About a month ago, The Guardian published a sensational piece about Japan’s “messy, blood-spattered” shark fin trade. The report focused on the city of Kesennuma, where most of Japan’s shark fin industry was centered. The industry was described as carrying out “genocide” against shark species.

Kesennuma is back in the news now. It was among the cities that suffered the worst damage from Friday’s tsunami. Most of the town has been reduced to ruins, and capsized and damaged fishing boats litter the ground among the debris of buildings:

Black smoke belched from fires that continued to spread even after daybreak in this city on the Sanriku Coast with a population of 75,700.

All but the platform of Minami-Kesennuma Station on the JR Kesennuma Line was swept away by tsunami as if it had never existed.

Also hit by tsunami, the city’s central community center near the station was flooded to the second-floor ceiling, forcing people evacuated there to stay overnight on the third floor, community center officials said.

Many wrecked cars and trucks lay amidst heaps of rubble, while broken houses were swept down the Okawa river along the JR line. The water continued to ebb and flow with waves from the sea.

Wood and other debris blanketed the street leading to the city’s fish market, making it impassable at a point near the railway station. A medium-size fishing boat and clumps of dead fish also had washed up there, covered with mud.

The terrifying tsunami strike has been caught on video by someone on top of what appears to be an embankment:

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37 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 14, 2011 at 3:08 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags:

Hamachiman

I’m thinking the reason why no one has been gloating over this city destruction is because for the most part people don’t know about it. Many associate shark fin with China/Chinese and shark fin soup.

But I’m sure soon enough word will spread.

Nothing is too low for the Japan haters.

peter

Revenge of teh sharks
Andy

I was sorry to read your comment that you expect people to be gloating over the terrible tragedy in Japan. You are confusing, perhaps deliberately, people that hate whaling; dolphin hunting; shark-finning and other animal cruelty with them hating Japan itself. This is simply not true.

Do you hate England because of fox-hunting, or America for hunting bears, or Spain for bullfighting? No, hating animal cruelty does not mean you hate an entire country and its people. You hate the cruelty, not the people. I have campaigned against whaling for many years, and everyone I know in the anti-whaling movement has a great respect for Japan and its people and our hearts go out to those that are suffering in this appalling catastrophe.

Elly

Thank you Andy,
Your comment shows an understanding, benevolent, compassionate and tolerant soul as well as informed personed and clever mind.

If the majority of people were like you, understanding and communication between people on this earth would be so much easier. And humanity would progess quicker.

I could not have put it better myself. You must be a great person to know.
http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

There’s no confusion or obfuscation.
Reading around such places as SSCS forums it becomes clear very quick that they openly encourage racists to join their cause.
You don’t really think a renowned Republican like Jack Metcalf opposed whaling? One look at his record on Native American issues reveals his true motivations.
It’s the exact same with SSCS and the rest of the AR movement. They’ve discovered that it’s socially acceptable to express their racist sentiments so long as it’s prefaced with “I just love animals so much”. Paul Watson writes more about WWII than he does about anything regarding whales. What does WWII have to do with whale hunting? Absolutely nothing. But it has a lot to do with how he recruits and validates racists and bigots to his movement, and how he raises money by fomenting racism against Japanese.

KDog

Yeah, I hear you.
jcpb

People celebrating the demise of Japanese lives arising from this event make me want to break things.
http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

Was it shark finning, or shark fishing?
Shark finning is the practice of catching a shark, cutting off the parts you want, and throwing it back into the water to drown and/or die of starvation. A complete waste.
I was under the impression they caught and used the whole shark? In which case, I don’t see what the obsession is over — except that sharks are “narly” ?
Kind of like whales are “magnificent”, dolphins “spiritual”, and seals “cute”.

Cat

The issue is that many shark species are on the brink of extinction and the health of the whole marine eco system depends on the shark, the apex predator. The issue is the unbelievable masses of sharks that where processed here every day. It certainly is less wasteful and cruel than shark finning, but still unsustainable. It has nothing to do with being “narly” or “magnificent” or whatever. It is a questions of the ocean’s (and thus humanities) long term survival.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

“many shark species ”
“but still unsustainable”

The only relevant species is the one(s) they hunt.
This is so typical for Animal Rights …
“some [whale,dolphin,seal,shark] are endangered, so hunting all [whale,dolphin,seal,shark] is evil!!!1541541!!!1412!!11″

Obfuscating the situation like that might work in some forums, but it’s not very effective when people check the facts.

Similarly, you allege it’s “unsustainable” with no proof other than that you don’t like it.

Mark

Too late.. the two cities at the center of Japan’s shark fin trade have been wiped off the map. Sharks now get a break from Japan.
Karl

Sharks getting a break? Having radioactive fish? Imagine wildlife animals with radiation desease or even cancer….

>_

My apologies- but consuming anything animal-related is disgusting. Hence why I do not care whether the animal is a fish, cow, pig or bird. Also, the facts are in, and the consensus is that anyone involved in shark fisheries is insane. It’s clearly destroying the ecological balance of the ocean and consequently causing trophic cascading effects. It’s not a matter of “shame on shark finning”, rather “shame on fisheries” altogether. What’s the deal with describing animals? All life is charismatic, it’s people like you who throw labels on them that create this issue! I don’t care if your against these labels- just don’t ever mention them and perhaps there is a small chance that someone, on this particular day, won’t perceive them in this way. You are contributing to a problem, not helping it.
Marc

Unfortunately it is shark finning. Only 2-5 % of body weight is consumed, the rest thrown away as waste. Shark fin has no nutritional value, it is cartilage. An entire species of apex predator is being hunted to extinction because of “texture” and because certain people feel eating it gives them status. Education is key.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

Any source for those percentages?
Any source that the species hunted are being driven to extinction?

Neil

I can’t quite understand why Kujirakira is so un aware of the studies and statistics concerning shark fishing as there is an absolute wealth of material out there, why not do some research rather than asking for verification? as an example: http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/sharks-are-in-trouble/705-shark-finning.html, which references UN studies, will that satisfy your determined ignorance?
http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

there is an absolute wealth of material out there

Your source doesn’t mention Kesennuma or even Japan.
And that’s ignoring the fact that it’s from an organization with an ax to grind and seeking donations.
Chrophe

Any sources for your doubts and assertions that scientific facts published around the world isn´t true? The responsability of having to prove already well known facts to the doubter who doesn´t know how to relate to them, is always in the uneducated doubters favour, as it is with the people arguing about a climate change and its validity. How about you reading a book and educating yourself about the ocean´s eco system instead of doubting the ones who have already read up.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

sharksavers.org isn’t a scientific source.
It’s apparently not “already well known” and there are yet to be any facts whatsoever presented.
Why the need to detract and deflect with character assassination?
Is it because you’ve all been caught in a web of misinformation and lies? Methinks so.

butakun

UK news crew hired me as a guide while I was at an evacuation camp for the third night, and we visited a few towns near Sendai which were wiped out by the wave, witnessed the rescue effort (sadly nobody was rescued) first hand. Some of the victims were volunteer firefighters who were circulating the neighborhood till the last minute shouting out the tsunami alert so everyone get the message. There are many small towns which are yet to be reached by rescue workers.

(there is no gas available in sendai, thus I ran out of options to get home any time soon, so I decided to do something productive while being an evacuee)
Derrick

I want to send my deepest thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan during this terrible event. I encourage everyone who reads this message to take some time to pray for the people of Japan and to donate what you can.

Below is a link to the Red Cross.
https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052
Justino

Although the human tragedy is terrible, a setback in the Japanese shark fin industry may be a small silver lining.

yankdownunder

“a setback”
Did you see the photos?
Either you’re blind or …

Cat

The issue is that many shark species are on the brink of extinction and the health of the whole marine eco system depends on the shark, the apex predator. The issue is the unbelievable masses of sharks that were processed here every day. It certainly is less wasteful and cruel than shark finning, but still unsustainable. It has nothing to do with being “narly” or “magnificent” or whatever. It is a questions of the ocean’s (and thus humanities) long term survival.

yankdownunder

“many shark species”
“unbelievable masses of sharks”

Were you Justin’s fact checker?

imwithjapan

insane scenery…

i hope they can prevcent the meltdowns… they have to! too close to tokio …
the “forbidden” area in chernobyl has a 260km radius… that would include tokio too

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

Chernobyl was built without containment.
Nuclear Plants today are designed such that even if they experience a full meltdown it would be contained to the reactor.
This is why Three Mile Island had little to negligible effects on health, despite experiencing half of a meltdown. So far Fukushima reactors have had significantly less catastrophe than Three Mile Island — though they are very serious issues which will lead to decades of health case studies and further revolutionizing aspects of nuclear design, there will be no chernobyl-like event.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

“So far Fukushima reactors have had significantly less catastrophe than Three Mile Island”

This part ceases to be the case as of yesterday/today.
The rest, however, remains true.

http://twitter.com/cobradoll Caroline

The video of the shark factory ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHVrF2nL_iQ&feature=player_embedded ) was shot by the people behind http://www.manandshark.com/ and it was horrific. I don’t condone any ill wishes on the people of Kesennuma, Taiji, or any of Japan & have a love for the culture & people. It isn’t Japan bashing when one is just concerned for our environments.

Japan isn’t the only culprit in shark finning. I believe Kesennuma was only visited as it was a famous town for shark factory. Costa Rica, Spain, Indonesia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen, India, Mexico…

brief note:
In shark fin soup, the fins themselves are virtually tasteless. The taste comes from the soup, while the fins are valued for their texture. Keith Bradsher of The New York Times describes it as a “chewy, sinewy, stringy” texture.[1] Krista Mahr of TIME called it “somewhere between chewy and crunchy.”[5] Dave Lieberman of OC Weekly wrote that it is a “snappy, gelatinous texture.” Westerners reaction to eating shark fin soup for the first time is that it has almost no taste. However, Asians prize texture as much as taste in their food.

^note that a lot of taste if at all is from a beef or other broth used to flavour it.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

The video seems to show them all having been gutted beforehand.
There’s no need to gut them if you’re just taking the fins.
This is the reason a lot of shark finning occurs directly on the vessels as they’re caught — they cut the fins on the spot and dump the shark overboard.

Tom

A couple of points:

first of all, shark fishing is one aspect of the broader fishing industry in Kesennuma, which also has a major tuna fleet, bonito fleet, squid boats, etc. And fishing is the major industry there, but there is a broader economy in that city. To blame the whole city or even the whole fleet for the reprehensible practice of shark fishing is not appropriate.

Second, I disagree with the person who claimed that they are practicing shark “finning” there (not that I think catching and using the whole shark is any better). You can see the shark corpses on the docks, some of the meat is actually used for pet food and such (Japanese don’t eat shark meat, except sometimes fishermen in Kesennuma bars eat the heart as a ‘macho’ thing. I’ve had it, it’s disgusting).

To blame fishermen, whose livelihood is getting tougher all the time, for responding legally to a market demand is pointless. As another poster noted, education, and laws, will help.

Kesennuma was a quaint, fun little city, I will miss what it was and so many I knew there who are gone.

BB

Actually the Japanese do eat shark meat. It’s usually ground into fish paste and mixed with those of other fish to make products like hampen, kamaboko, etc.

MA Moore

This is the Sharks, whale and dolphins revenge! KARMA!
matt7321

My sister is in kesennuma city and all u people talkin bad on a something like this and jokin around.. IT’S NOT A JOKE!!!! this is real what if it was ur sister brother fauther mother??????????

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

If you haven’t already, I pray you get news from her soon and that she’s alright.
It’s a lot easier said than done, but I’d try to just ignore all the hate-filled people.

You can’t change them because they don’t want to change, they want (need) somebody to hate and vilify. Unfortunately that happens to be this city, and for some anything remotely related to it or Japan in general.

The best anyone can do is continue to live in a respectful manner.

mangara

Wether its karma or not I’ve never understood why hundreds of people have to pay for what some idiots do. I hate what they do to sharks but that doesn’t mean all japan must be destroyed, but then again, maybe this episode will make them reflect on what they’ve done, not only japanese but all those morons who enjoy playing “Who’s got more nuclear plants?”

P.S. following the logic of those who talk about karma, the only solution would be to erase humankind off the planets surface, that way all animals and plants could take a break from our nonsense.
GTA351C

PLEASE LEAVE THE SHARKS ALONE AND LET THEM KEEP THEIR FINS ! ! ! Go and find different work please and eat something that does not destory the whole animal for your selfish pleasure!

The Destruction of Kesennuma, Japan’s Shark Fin Town

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