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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.Dolphin activist detained in Japan says he's 'political prisoner'
By Elaine Lies and Ami Miyazaki TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
167 Comments
Moderator
Readers, you are just going around in circles. Let's end the discussion.
tinawatanabe
cleo
I think they are sacrificing themselves so that those activists don't go harassing other locals.
But you heard the westerner woman saying the local girls would be future murderer, and saw SS burging into Taiji office, didn't you?
I think I have.
What do you expect from someone you are harassing?
cleo
Off the point, arrestpaul. Tina claimed she had seen video of activists in Taiji verbally abusing children, barging into the town hall and making impolite demands. As well as 'other rude acts'. It doesn't matter who took the video, if it shows what she says it shows. But she has not been able to produce any such video, taken by anybody.
arrestpaul
I guess that the animal-rights activists didn't video any of their supporters threatening anyone. What a coincidence. Or was it by choice? How much time did the animal-rights activists have to edit their videos?
I wonder if O'Barry taught the animal-rights activists how to properly edit videos? O'Barry currently has a lot of time on his hands.
michaelqtodd
Please understand something very clearly. Some things are debatable but this is not one of them. It is completely impossible that any human being could not be totally appalled by this daily slaughter of 2300 dolphins over a 6 month period in Taiji. There are a large number of people paid to support/ defend this dolphin hunting and other things like it. They visit places like this website and post in forums. You will see by looking at a history of their posts that this all they do. Do not pay them any mind. Ric O`Barry can appeal his deportation just like anyone else ordered to leave Japan. There is a 2 month process which he can end at any time by leaving.
tinawatanabe
You didn't see an activist calling a local girl future murderer in the video?
I didn't say they said anything racist. I said burging in town office and demanding the mayor withourt appointment is rude. Combined with other rude acts only in Japan is racist acts.
I told you that kind of things happened in Japan. So I asked you to produce burged-ined town office or calling local girls future murderer or deluge of abusing letter or fax with racist remarks or sending all household a DVD, etc.
All you can do is assume. How can you ask all 0.13 Billion people? I assume based on the five reasons above that the majority Japanese support the hunt.
(It was six) 1. Japanese posters are supporting Taichi postiion and angry at people like you. 2. TV people support Taichi postion. 3. Japanese govt support Taichi postion. 4. I never knew any Japanese who does not support Taichi postion except SS or Greenpeace member. 5. I only saw once news about rally of anti-Taichi postion with about 20 people. 6. J posters have opinions exact opposite from JT posters in just about every subject.
Most dolphins are going to aquariums, only small portion is on the plate.
They are not slaughtered inhumanely. They are not human.
Suicide because of internet harassment is typically seen in South Korea. I said it hasn't happened in Taiji town yet.
tinawatanabe
Try then this one for SS going to Taiji town office www.dailymotion.com/video/x36t7pv
I gave you five reasons above.
In democracy that means they accept the status quo. In any association, people don't bother to participate in annual assembly meetings if no problem with the status quo.
cleo
The first one I saw was 10 minutes or so of Cove Guardians pointing cameras at a couple of shady characters standing/squatting/walking around near the killing cove, asking them why they insisted on killing dolphins, did they get a thrill from the kill, if they objected to being photographed or filmed why didn't they just walk away. Not a child nor an office in sight.
The next one was footage of the Guardians standing in a circle on the beach, praying for the dolphins that were about to be slaughtered, followed by some nutter screaming and shouting (koraya! temeira!) and waving a hinomaru who had to be escorted off the beach and restrained by five or six policemen. Again, no sign of any children being insulted or offices being barged into.
The next one was something about a whalemeat barbecue that was about to happen on the beach. I noticed it was over an hour long and realised life was too short.
So tina, no children, no offices, no insults (telling a man who kills dolphins that he is a dolphin killer is not an insult; telling him that he has blood on his hands is not an insult; telling him he is an embarrassment to the whole of Japan is not an insult, just the truth. Then again, sometimes the truth hurts), no threats except from the flag-waving nutter.
You've said yourself that you cannot tell on the Internet what people are like or what they do in real life. By 'dealing with' perceived personas, you are tilting at windmills. Please address the argument, not the person.
I tried googling 'Wakayama Taichi suicide' and came up with not a single reference to anyone committing suicide on account of people trying to stop the dolphin slaughter. So I tried googling 太地町 自殺 and again, no mention at all of any dolphin killers committing suicide on account of people trying to stop the dolphin slaughter. But I did find a report of a mother dolphin that may have committed suicide when she was forcefully separated from her baby. Or she may have died from the sheer stress of the hunt.
http://banbihouse.blog69.fc2.com/blog-entry-3724.html
tinawatanabe
The Japanese means the Japanese in general, not every single Japanese.
I said at least 20 Japanese. We know there are at least 20 anti-hunt Japanese. Big difference.
Not necessarily. You and cleo for instance are different, should be dealt differently.
I don't say you are directly harassing Taichi people, but people like you are supporting animal activists who are harassing the entire Taichi town
There is no way knowing your nationality or whether you are actually acting for fox hunting. That is a tricky part in internet. You can effectively use internet for harassing a particular group, Taichi town until give in. Many people are commiting suicide because of that kind of harassment.
There are many foreigners activists who have destoryed fishermen facilities in Japan for a long time not only in Taichi town. But what I'm more concerned about is the fact that the entire Taichi town not only fisherment is being harassed.
Start from here, you can find many in the right side.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3VQszI_Ces
arrestpaul
O'Barry is not an innocent man. O'Barry is not wanted in Japan. O'Barry is not legally in Japan. O'Barry has no legal reason to be in Japan. The only reason O'Barry is still in Japan is because he won't leave a country that doesn't want him and has ordered him to leave. The whole world is not watching. Everybody is not watching. On a global scale, very few even care about O'Barry, Flipper, or animal rights activists.
Fadamor
As the article clearly states, his appeal was "struck down" (i.e. "rejected") two weeks ago. Japan stopped listening to his appeal at that time. The only reason he's still in Japan is because of the bureaucracy involved with a deportation.
Wc626
I agree. Slaughtering all those dolphins so violently is wrong. Cows, pigs and chickens are good though. Its more "normal" and acceptable. Most world cuisine feature "normal" things rather than dolphins or whales.
The japanese in Taiji and the japanese authorities who barred O'Barry are just straight-up wrong.
cleo
No one is telling 'the Japanese' to do anything.
People who hate to see innocent animals tortured and abused are telling people who regularly engage in the torture and abuse of innocent animals to drop the perception that torturing and abusing innocent animals is OK.
I don't care what nationality a person is, I don't care what colour their skin is, I don't care what colour their passport is, I don't care where they live. Abuse of the innocent is wrong and indefensible.
Rick O'Barry is fighting to stop abuse, whether it's in Japan, in the Faroes, in the Solomon Isles, wherever.
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
I do. Great girl. Your problem, your problem, is that you fail to understand how far to the right you are. Its no surprise you do not know any Japanese people opposed to Taichi, because you do not like these people.
Where is your proof they DO support the hunt? Come on now, if Japanese people love the hunt so much, surely you can find a link showing such. And forget the "but, Iam not accusing," this is,not a court. If you want your point to be taken seriously here, or anyehere for that matter, prove it!
I'll admit I am not completely against the hunt or whaling doe that matter, but I am tired of hearing the moaning of the forum's most vocal members complaining about racism and double standards. If most Japanese support the hunt, then prove it. Shouldn't be too hard.
tinawatanabe
You are telling Japan to stop many things.
Why do you assume you know better than the Japanese about what the Japanese should be doing in Japan? Your postion is hardly neutral considering other subjects as well.
I didn't say all I said the majority. .
Japanese posters are supporting Taichi postiion and angry at people like you. TV peple support Taichi postion. Japanese govt support Taichi postion. I never knew any Japanese who does not support Taichi postion except SS or Greenpeace member. I only saw once news about rally of anti-Taichi postion with about 20 people. most posters here have opinions exact opposite in just about everything.So what is your evidence that you said the majority support anti-hunt?
Why not? As some posters said above, you cannot single out the Japanese. You have to think if your country is not doing any bad thing.
Your link does not show SS member burgen in city office or calling the local kids Future murderer or telling the local fishermen Go home or sending abusing letters or faxes. I was talking about such kind of harassment shown in video or picture.
Yoshitsune
I am not telling the Japanese anything. I do have a polite suggestion that I believe would benefit Taiji while simultaneously protecting dolphins, but that doesn't amount to me "telling the Japanese to drop their perception". Once again, you need to disabuse yourself of this fantasy notion that all Japanese share the same perception, and that that perception is what you say it is.
Completely pointless question. No one has said anything about wildlife protection only having to do with Japan. A British helicopter pilot was this week murdered by elephant poachers in Africa, and today I've also been commenting on news sites about that. It's your own fault that you fail to consider or be aware of wildlife protection efforts in other countries, and in any case there's still no relevance to the discussion of dolphins in Taiji.
Obviously. I don't visit any of them. What's your point?
The links show that SS and O'Barry are active in the Faroes; SS does the same thing in the Faroes as in Taiji. You're trying to argue that their activities are somehow worse in Japan than they are in the Faroes, and that therefore they're racist? It's completely illogical. If they only opposed Japanese dolphin hunting, then they wouldn't be active in the Faroes. But they are, and you have now seen proof yet you still insist they are racist. Based on what? The fact they said some bad things to Taiji residents? Can you show me anything racist that they said?
In fact, SS has used more aggressive tactics in the Faroes, as they have actually physically disrupted hunting there - something they haven't done in Japan. You might find this interesting, especially the comments section at the end - it isn't about Japan, but you will find many of the comments to be very familiar in nature, just aimed at Faroese rather than Japanese:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/25/sea-shepherd-anti-whaling-ship-bob-barker-refused-entry-to-faroe-islands
Let me know your thoughts.
Christopher Glen
Japan would prefer he leaves of his own accord. Forcible deportation of an innocent man would have further negative repercussions
tinawatanabe
Any country has legal grounds for deportation. Japan is listening to his appeal.
You are telling the Japanese to drop thier perception and adapt yours without any legal ground. It is obvious you believe your perception is more important than that of the Japanese.
And what does willdlife protection have anything to do with only Japan? There are many aquarium in the world not only in Japan.
None of your link show any harassment of Faroe people by animal activists.
nath
How do you know it is?
Yoshitsune
@paul
Fair points. I wouldn't call him a political prisoner either. I do wonder why they haven't already deported him though. Do you (or any other readers) have any further information? I wonder if perhaps they don't actually have any legal grounds for deportation, as he hasn't committed any criminal acts other than the passport in the car incident which does not appear to be a factor in this situation.
Tina,
No, it is not. This is about wildlife protection, not race. If you think it is about race, then that is in your head and may explain why you won't listen to anyone that isn't Japanese. And I'm not harassing anyone, I'm just making polite and reasoned points on the internet.
http://www.seashepherd.org/faroes/
http://faroeislegrind.blogspot.com
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/the-faroese-culture-argument-and-why-i-disagree/
There is a lot more too, just google "Faroes, dolphin project", "grind, sea shepherd", etc, and read your heart out. You could also read about O'Barry in the Solomon Islands:
https://dolphinproject.net/campaigns/solomon-islands-campaign/
arrestpaul
Ric O'Barry is free to leave Japan at any time. It's O'Barry's choice to stay in Japan, where it's obvious that he's not wanted. And it's O'Barry who chooses to call himself a "political prisoner", which is simply not true. However, even O'Barry would find it rude to claim that Japanese speaking Japanese in Japan should be considered to be yelling incoherently.
Fadamor
You can't be a "prisoner" of ANY type if you have the option to leave but refuse to take it. He's in detention by his OWN choice.
WilliB
He is being refused entry for political reasons, yes, but "political prisoner"? That is a different ballgame. I don´t know why some people think they need such hype.
Moderator
Readers, you are going around in circles. Posts that do not focus on O'Barry's detention will be removed.
Yoshitsune
@paul
Tina has claimed a couple of times on the thread that westerners oppose dolphin killing in Taiji because it is being done by Japanese people, whereas they don't oppose dolphin killing in the Faroes because it is being done by European people. The implication is that those opposing Taiji's dolphin hunts are racist against Japanese. This is a totally bogus claim and the person making it is trying to make this into a race-related issue. It categorically is not, and I agree with Cleo that if someone tries to paint it that way then it says more about their own racist tendencies than anyone else's.
This is not a race-related issue. The 'grind' slaughters in the Faroes are opposed by activists, including the SS activists that Tina was referring to. Posters like myself on JT don't much talk about the Faroes, not because we are racist but because this is 'Japan Today' and I live in Japan, and this is not 'Faroes Today' and I've never even been to the Faroes. But I still oppose what they do there.
@tina
And it has been pointed out to you that that is not what they are doing. Saying prayers does not reduce the stress causes to the animals, and the stress caused by this slaughter method is clearly extreme. The method in Taiji fails to follow the Japanese laws that Cleo has indicated to you which cover cows and pigs. Do you agree this law? If so, why do you think the law shouldn't cover dolphins even though you have repeatedly argued that they are they same as cows and pigs?
cleo
They being the dolphin killers? That is most emphatically NOT what they are doing. The animals are submitted to extremely high levels of distress and pain for long periods of time. Perhaps you'd like to explain in what way you think they take into account the physiology, ecology and behaviour of the dolphin and how you think the method they choose - using fear and confusion to herd the terrified pod into the cove, incidental asphyxiation of some animals by interfering with their ability to breathe, severing of the spinal cord and driving a wooden peg into the wound to stem the bleeding and thus incidentally lengthen time-to-death, in close proximity to other screaming and dying members of the pod - and how this method could be considered even remotely close to the optimum means of not causing distress.
This is NOT the way cows, pigs, etc., in an abattoir are treated. Please explain why you think it's OK for there to be such a huge difference.
The UK does not butcher dolphins. At all. There are strict regulations governing how animals are treated in an abattoir, and only people with a government-issued Certificate of Competence are allowed to handle animals in an abattoir. How many of the butchers of Taiji have government-issued certificates showing that they are competent in animal welfare?.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-meat-slaughterhouses-unloading-handling-and-holding-animals
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-meat-slaughterhouses-restraining-stunning-killing-animals
tinawatanabe
I told you that's what they are doing. and let me ask you UK is doing too?
cleo
No, I call myself superior to amoral animal abusers and corrupt politicians. Whatever their nationality.
People who deliberately cause pain and suffering to an animal are barbarians. Whatever their nationality.
Because I love this country and most of the people in it are nice people. The people I love most in all the world - my family - happen to be Japanese.
What frustrates me is that you claim that your opinion is shared by every other Japanese person, but when it's pointed out that your opinion is not shared by the majority of the population, you start name-calling like an elementary schoolchild in the playground.
I asked you before, and got no answer, so I will ask you again: please explain why you think Japanese people (as indicated in the laws of Japan) disagree with your ideas regarding the way animals should be treated.
https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/2_data/laws/shobun.pdf
動物を殺処分しなければならない場合にあっては、殺処分動物の生理、生態、習性等を理解し、生命の尊厳性を尊重する ことを理念として、その動物に苦痛を与えない方法によるよう努める (When an animal is to be killed, the principle being to understand the physiology, ecology and behaviour of the animal and to respect the dignity of life, an effort must be made to choose a method that does not cause the animal distress)
Christopher Glen
Ah, the typical knee-jerk reaction. If we criticise aspects of Japan's affairs, we are automatically anti-Japanese. Far from it. A true friend tells you when you are in the wrong. And that is the case with Taiji. What is happening there is wrong
tinawatanabe
You call yourself superior and the Japanese not squeaky-clean or barbarians. Why do you live in Japan? Maybe that is your frustration. If you believe yourself squeaky-clean, you should live in squeaky-clean country UK? wherever it is.
cleo
I wasn't the one to make the erroneous and racist claim that 'western' activists don't protest against 'western' dolphin killers on account of them being 'fellow westerners'.
Strange you should notice that. I didn't notice myself doing any such thing. Where did I say it was good manners for anyone to yell at anyone anywhere?
arrestpaul
You're welcome. I notice that you were the one who introduced claims of racism/racist to this thread.
I also notice you excuse the actions of English-speaking foreigners who yell at Japanese IN JAPAN, but condemn the actions of Japanese IN JAPAN for speaking the native language.
cleo
No matter where you are, if you yell at a person you know doesn't understand what you are saying, you are yelling incoherently. In the incident I am referring to (I'm sure you've seen the video) the man is not 'speaking' to anyone, he is advancing on a protestor and screaming fit to burst a blood vessel. tina was worried about he protestors being impolite. I'm suggesting the dolphin killers for their part are far from being Little Miss Etiquette. No need for you to start throwing in claims of racism, thank you.
Is that supposed to prove anything? Other than that the dolphin killers have the ear of the authorities? We know that already. Being backed by a politician is hardly a mark of squeaky-cleanness.
arrestpaul
And by the phrase - "Yelling at them incoherently", you mean the Japanese were speaking to the protestors in Japanese, while in Japan. Some people might consider a Japanese speaking Japanese in Japan to be perfectly normal. Some racists might consider a Japanese speaking Japanese in Japan to be yelling at them incoherently.
And in 2007, another Hollyweird actress with nothing better to do decided to harrass the Japanese. The end result was that Japan issued arrest warrants for her and the other animal rights activists.
http://www.eonline.com/news/56756/hayden-panettiere-wanted-in-japan
And Panettiere hasn't been back since.
FYI -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_Panettiere
cleo
I'm sure you've seen the videos of what happens in the cove. You know there is nothing respectful about it. You have had the killing method explained to you in gruesome detail, yet you still think it's 'reasonable'? Please explain what exactly you think is reasonable about it. Would you be happy to think a cow was treated the same way in order to put the steak on your plate? Would you be happy for a pig to be subjected to a slow, painful death in a bloody field full of pigs after being driven in terror and panic into that field, in order for you to have your daily breakfast bacon? If not, why not? What's the difference between a dolphin and a cow, or a pig? Why is it OK to subject one to torture and abuse, and not the other?
If you're going to tell me that in fact you would see nothing wrong in cows and pigs being treated the same way the dolphins in Taiji are treated, then please explain why you think Japanese people (as indicated in the laws of Japan) disagree with you.
https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/2_data/laws/shobun.pdf
動物を殺処分しなければならない場合にあっては、殺処分動物の生理、生態、習性等を理解し、生命の尊厳性を尊重する ことを理念として、その動物に苦痛を与えない方法によるよう努める (When an animal is to be killed, the principle being to understand the physiology, ecology and behaviour of the animal and to respect the dignity of life, an effort must be made to choose a method that does not cause the animal distress
Yoshitsune
Prayer? Sorry but saying a prayer isn't what makes a slaughter method humane - in Japan it is unacceptable to ram a spike into a cow's spinal cord and then chop it to pieces, as that is considered inhumane; a slaughterhouse would be shut down for doing that, regardless of whether prayers were said or not. So why is it acceptable to do this to a dolphin? Prayer has nothing to do with it. You talk of respect, but the dolphins are shown no respect at all with this slaughter method. If you can't slaughter an animal humanely, it shouldn't be slaughtered. Don't even try telling me this is a western principle, because it is the same in Japan.
Foreigners? Most tourists to Taiji would be Japanese, so they'd have little to be afraid of.
Christopher Glen
Well it is high in mercury. They can get tranquility by developing eco-tourism
cleo
On the site you link to, he is. No name, no explanation.
So, where's the video?
It isn't in Denmark, it's the Faroe Islands, located between the UK and Iceland. I doubt anyone in SS or anyone else who is concerned about dolphin welfare considers those who participate in what is known as the 'grind' to be 'fellow' anything. If you think it's natural for people to refrain from opposing heinous acts committed by a group of people simply because they happen to share a general ethnic background, then I think that says more about your racist tendencies than it says about Sea Shepherd or anyone else opposed to animal abuse.
...and jabbing people with boathooks, yelling at them incoherently, is polite?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24LF3vI24BA
I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the number can only increase, because it can't get any lower than the current zero.
tinawatanabe
whatever they are doing would be reasonable. I trust those people are doing respectfully with prayer.
What's the point of giving up a choice of food? If they want to start tourism in addtion to what they are doing it is their choice but from the way they are harassed by eco-terrorist, I think they are afraid of foreigners. I think they want to go back to the quiet life they had before the film the cove.
Yoshitsune
Tina, you're being very focused on SS here. I am not a member of SS, have never contacted them or been contacted by them, have never donated money to them, etc. I agree with them that it would be good if the dolphin slaughter stopped, but I disagree with their methods and I am not SS, and the vast majority of people who oppose the Taiji dolphin slaughter are also not SS. O'Barry is not with SS. You can't dismiss all people who dislike the dolphin slaughter as terrorists on the basis that you consider SS terrorists.
Again, I'd like to ask why you think it's ok to kill Dolphins in a manner which would be illegal for cows and pigs?
And I'd like to ask you again why you are so resistant to the suggestion that eco-tourism would be a positive move for Taiji?
tinawatanabe
He is not some nameless person, he is Scot West, the leader of SS in Japan. I saw in a video where he was responding as "because it's fun" when asked by a crying woman why he harassed Taichi people.
He and other SS member burged into Taichi office and demanded the mayor without appointment. Very impolite. I can't believe they did something like that in Denmark, fellow westeners. .
If you insist. I'll look further for the video of the picture.
I don't know but the number will increase as long as you and SS keep doing what you are doing.
cleo
tina, your link is to a nationalist rag that calls a Japanese lady who opposes the dolphin hunt a 'terrorist', and that rants on about those wicked, wicked faxes and tries to tie the WAZA ultimatum to an attack on 'Japanese food culture'. On a page with that much bias, do you seriously imagine that a picture of some nameless person with 楽しいからprinted on it carries any weight whatsoever?
I may as well give you a link to the SS website where it says that the killing of dolphins and whales has to stop. Would that 'prove' anything at all to you? No. Either come up with the video, or admit that it doesn't exist.
Holding the hands of the Taiji butchers certainly isn't helping them.
You really should stop believing everything the ICR tries to tell you.
(As an aside, if everyone in Japan supports Taiji as you claim, how many of them help out by, for example, sending in donations?)
tinawatanabe
Hi, cleo. This is not the video I saw but the picture in this link shows the SS leader said "because it's fun" 楽しいから
news.mikimedia.net/entry/2015/05/22/053849 - キャッシュ
but helping SS is not helping dolphin. SS is terrorist group and helping them make you criminal accessory before the fact.
Say that to SS who are making money by harassing Taiji people.
@yoshi
I meant it as one example. There are lots of video about SS harassment. Look up for yourself. They are even calling the local little girls "Future murderer", telling the local fishermen "Go home" at home as if Taichi town belongs to Americans with tourist visa. How do you think they feel by being told by foreigners "Go home" but the fishermen didn't say "You Go home" (which I would) but just enduring the abuse
It is well known fact that SS is a terrorist group who are making money by harassing Taichi cho. It seems that it is easy to get west media attention if you go to Taichi town. Your rank as activist in SS organization up.
You said exact the opposit of what I said: "The majority of Japanese are indifferent which in fact do not support Taichi town."
Yoshitsune
Suffering from faxes, good lord how terrible. I have a polite suggestion; stop chopping live dolphins up and start running dolphin watching boats, and those horrible faxes will stop, replaced by a deluge of tourists, both international and (mostly) domestic who would come and stay in Taiji's hotels (they'd probably have to build some extra new ones and employ people to work in them) and pour money into the local economy. Do you still insist on resisting this suggestion because it's coming from a foreigner?
What? That's your reason for not wanting eco-tourism in Taiji? Even as a sarcastic statement it is completely nonsensical.
Do you genuinely believe that? Why? They don't get much fame or money.
Race-related nonsense. This is not about Japan vs "The westerners". As you yourself mention, there are other nations doing similar things... but you are wrong to think they get a free pass; of course they are also criticised for it. The fact that that doesn't hurt your personal feelings doesn't mean that it doesn't happen; it's just that you notice it in Japan more.
The point is not that they are breaking a law in Taiji; the point is that if a slaughterhouse (anywhere) in Japan killed pigs or cows that way, then that slaughterhouse would be breaking the law. It is not acceptable to kill pigs and cows this way in Japan, so why is it acceptable to kill dolphins this way?
There you go again, claiming to speak for the whole Japanese. You do not and can not speak for all 126 million Japanese and their opinions. We've already had this discussion on this very page; again, most Japanese are indifferent, and indifference is not support. Many Japanese oppose dolphin slaughter. Not all Japanese think the same as you.
Also nothing wrong with changing what you do, especially if you change to something constructive instead of destructive which revitalises your town instead of leading it down a dead end. An obvious alternative exists which would be a good outcome for everyone.
cleo
If I didn't have an interest, why would I bother to write so much about it? I'm an animal lover. I have an interest in stopping cruelty to all animals.
You mean, like your totally false charge that I paint all Japanese people with the same brush?
Please do not presume to tell me what I should or should not think.
Comparing the butchers of Taiji to pigs is an insult to all pigs.
Anything to turn a penny is OK in your book? Child exploitation, people smuggling, drug pushing, fraud, political corruption, blackmail, torture, war-mongering, bank robbery, it's all OK so long as there's a profit to be made?
nath
No they don't. Most Japanese people don't even know about it.
Why do you think all Japanese people are bad? I think most of us here would disagree with you.
tinawatanabe
It is not fair for someone like you who has no interest in Taichi position to tell them what to do.
So it is no illegal Do you understand the feeling of being harassed when not doing anything illegal? I think It is the kind of feeling only the people who have experienced false charge can understand.
I couldn't find it with quick search now I'll try it later again. There seem to be many video taken by SS.
Japan does not consider it a bad thing and supports their practice, so you should consider the whole Japanese are bad people.
You shouldn't expect bad people to behave like superior people like you. It is like expecting pigs to walk on two legs and wear suit and speak Englsh.
Nothing wrong to work for profit, which bring food to a table.
cleo
tina, I don't give a toss how much 'torment' animal abusers suffer. All they need do is stop the torture, and the harassment will stop.
They escape breaking the law because they don't do what they do in an abattoir, and they don't do it to cows or pigs. It is to the shame of the Japanese lawmakers that this kind of behaviour is not illegal in Japan.
BS. Have you got a video link to that?
Thought not.
I do not think 'Japanese people' are barbaric. Most of my family are Japanese, ferkryssake. They are not barbaric. They are nice people who do not torment and abuse animals for either fun or profit. They are nice people who do not lie about how much they are put upon. Most Japanese people are nice people. Most Japanese people would shudder to hear how the dolphins at Taiji are treated. It is a very, very small minority of people who do the bad things in Taiji. Criticising those few people is NOT criticism of Japan or of the whole Japanese population. Grow up.
Darn right I'm superior to a bunch of animal abusers. Heck, a slug would be superior to them; a slug doesn't deliberately subject another living being to a long, slow painful and terrifying death for profit.
tinawatanabe
cleo you don't seem to know the extent of torment Taichi people are suffering because of the harassment. It is a good thing that nobody hasn't commit suicide yet.
I don't believe they are breaking any law. What law is that? I saw a Taichi woman asking "Why do you do this harassment although we are not doing anything illegal?" crying to a SS member, to which he only said "because it's fun"
The Japanese don't consider it barbaric. I don't think Japan mind that you decided Japanese are barbaric because you often call them so. You are so superior that Japanese can never be ones like you. Can't you accept that and leave them alone?
cleo
Not the hunting method, they still terrify the dolphins, coral them in the cove and leave them confused and terrified until they're ready to kill them (after they've taken out the pretty ones to sell to dolphin shows). Some animals are tethered to boats by the tail so that they cannot surface to breathe; these die from slow asphyxiation.
The killing method now involves cutting the spinal cord and driving a wooden plug into the wound, to prevent blood loss into the water. This method means that the animal is paralysed yet still conscious, and bleeds slowly, internally. It is a slow, painful, horrific death. It takes place with the dolphins in close proximity to each other, fully aware of the distress of their fellows - a condition that is illegal in any abattoir in the civilised world, including Japan.
The killing method is barbaric.
Don't they?
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/24/protesters-film-slaughter-hundreds-whales-faroe-islands
Seven protesters, mainly from European countries, have been arrested this week for allegedly interfering with the the traditional community hunts, known as “grindadráp”.
tinawatanabe
another threat..but FYI, you can't mix Japanese blood with dolphins' in Taiji sea because there is no dolphin blood in the sea. They've changed the hunting method.
The westeners don't harass Denmark as much because they are westners. They just want to make the Japanese give in.
Taiji is small town of 1500 or so households. It is very easy for the westerners to torment them. They are sending each household a DVD which means nothing but "I know your address". They burge in town office and demand mayor come out without an appointment. Insult the locals with all possible ugly words.
nath
Not as much as the dolphins!
tinawatanabe
It'll never happen. As I said it is counter productive what the terrorists are doing. But they don't care because they are doing this for fame and money not for the dolphin.
The locals are crying.
Christopher Glen
Bully for them. Once other aquariums stop buying Taiji dolphins their "tradition" will dry up pretty fast.
tinawatanabe
Taiji people now stick together with even greater resolution to fight back against the greedy fame seeking activists, who are harassing not only fishermen but ordinary locals, and one by one ended up being denied entry to Japan. .
nath
No, it's like entering someone's house, finding out they are attracting stray cats by putting out food, then crushing them cruelly under their feet, and telling them that this is wrong.
Christopher Glen
Not exactly a job. They are all volunteers.
Media is how things happen
Nope. Dolphin hunting in Taiji - masquerading as tradition is what is rude. Once that stops, the rest of the world will stop taking offence.
tinawatanabe
then the eco terrorists would lose jobs. It seems that the activists who have come to Taiji have easy access to the west media and higher position in their organization like SS.
They are so rude. It's like you entering somebody else's house without taking off your shoes and walking around the house demanding the host what to do
Christopher Glen
Oh dear.............well if they promote eco-tourism instead, that won't happen
Danny Bloom
@trouble, humour helps. I see it this way: the dolphins are right, the people of Taiji are right and Ric O'Barry is right. Let's all get along, shall we?
trouble
Anybody hungry for a dolphin sandwich with cheese?
He's going to be in big trouble when he tries to enter the US. I heard they confiscated his US flag lapel pin, so he may not be able to get through US immigration.
Nessie
He came as "tourist", then starred in a movie shot here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/
That's a visa violation. His other visa no-no was political activism, which is grounds for getting you kicked out of plenty of countries. And not having his passport. That's three visa violations, four if you count his current tall tale about coming again for "tourism".
If you don't want to get kicked out of a country, don't commit visa violations. If you don't support the whale and dolphin hunts, which I don't, fine. But let's not be naive about the legitimate grounds immigration has to send him packing.
Fadamor
Mr. O'Barry needs to refresh his recollection of what the term "political prisoner" means. He's making a mockery of all the REAL political prisoners out there who WISH they had the option to leave the country they're imprisoned in. I was rooting for him until he shoveled this pile of male bovine feces on us. He's scum.
tinawatanabe
No freedom of expression? Taiji people have been harassed, insulted, stormed, deluged with faxes from foreigners. They are greatly suffering. The activists are threating to theat the locals every year. When US Ambassador tweeted about dolphin, Taiji town received more than 300 complaining faxes.
nath
Changing your tune now are you? This is what you previously claimed:
And this...
I love how people call me a Japan hater when I point out problems with Japan, and an apologist when I point out incorrect criticisms of Japan.
When the haters call me a Japan-lover and the Japan-lovers call me a Japan-hater, it just proves that I have a balanced opinion and don't choose my lines along one extreme or the other.
noypikantoku
Strangerland
the freedom of expression here is obviously not bad as North Korea or any countries run by dictators, but for sure there are lot's of issues with freedom of expression here. And of course apologists like you will not see it.
arrestpaul
Or, "probably", he didn't have his passport and his son only "claimed" to have found the passport in the car. It doesn't really matter where the son found the passport, what matters is that O'Barry didn't produce his passport when authorities ask him to produce it.
fxgai
WTF?
This guy sounds like a lunatic and it's better for residents of Japan that he is out than in.
Ralf Stinson
A tourist does not make documentaries! So he got a tourist visa while he should have gotten a journalist visa. So he lied on his visa application. OK, he sneaked in. But then he said to the media he did not do anything illegal! That was an outright lie to the public! So he lied to us about his activities, so that puts a question on his documentary. Is it a lie also? I don't think his documentary is a lie, but it comes from a person who lies to the public.
I tremendously dislike the killing dolphins and whales. The town maybe could do better with eco-tours seeing dolphins than killing them. And I think the whale research that Japan claims to do is just an excuse to kill whales. But if we want to hold Japan or others up to higher standards, we must maintain the high standards for ourselves. He did not. I can excuse using the tourist visa to gain access, but not the lie saying he did nothing illegal.
Christopher Glen
Hard to disagree with him
nath
And if your premise were true, the government would have your post removed, if not have the site shut down.
And yet, people criticize Japan on this site every single day.
noypikantoku
Strangerland
that's the reason why global policies on immigration stinks.
This is an on line new site bro, I can comment here even if I am outside of Japan.
Have you heard about Secrecy Law implemented 2 years ago? How about the lady Artist who was sent to jail for making a boat sculpture of her vagina? The absence of Real history books tackling about WW2 and the rejection from publishing companies Of Japanese writers who writes about comfort women and other war crimes from the past?
Admit it Japan is not open for criticisms, you can only express things here that doesn't cause negativity to their image, and when expressions is limited and filtered you don't call that a freedome anymore.
Admit it! this film maker is an unwanted person by the right wingers that's why he is in this Situation now.
Yoshitsune
@Kaori Georges et al
Is that what the article says? Don't think so. Everything I've read suggests that he was denied entry for lying about his activities, nothing to do with the passport in the car incident. A lot of people here are talking about the passport incident and saying it's his fault for breaking the law... has it been announced that that was the reason for denying him entry? Or are people just getting confused and conflating the two seperate stories in their heads? If that isn't the reason then it's irrelevant to the present situation. If it is the reason, I missed the announcement.
Yoshitsune
That is most definitely not what democracy means. And being indifferent to hunting is not the same thing as supporting it. You support it. Most Japanese are indifferent to it. Those positions are not the same thing.
You said that out of 130,000,000 Japanese I would struggle to find 20 who don't support dolphin hunting. I think that's a fantasy, because the majority position is indifference. By definition, someone who is indifferent to dolphin hunting does not support it, and that is what the majority in Japan think - so where is your respect for those Japanese who don't support hunting? You speak for all Japanese and declare that all but 20 of them support hunting, but you are incorrect to do so.
nath
The majority do not feel the way you claim they do. So where is your respect for the majority? You disrespect them by saying they feel the way you do, when they don't.
Frank Thornton
@AsianGaijinYesWeExist Yes. You may very well be correct. That is the way things work with the police in Japan. "Bekken taiho" is what they call it. They'll find something else to harass you about, if they have to. And, he couldn't find his passport. He let his guard down. He slipped and they were there. That's the way things work. But, the fact remains the same... He couldn't produce his passport. So, they ate him alive. The JP have their ways. It is meant to teach him a lesson and to tell others to not f&ck around. Next time, be more careful.
tinawatanabe
Let me repeat. In the democracy, people who do not voice their opinions are considered the same as the majority.
I said the majority, not all. At least about 20 people are against hunting in Japan. So where is your respect for the majority?
Yoshitsune
I'm unsure if it's incorrect logic or a linguistic misunderstanding that leads you to say that, or if you're just attempting to twist my words, but that is not what my sentence means. You did not initially argue that the majority support the status quo; you claimed that all Japanese people support the hunt. My reply was that the majority don't care if the status quo remains or changes; being pro-hunt and being indifferent are clearly different positions. No, I do not agree with your claim that all Japanese are pro-dolphin hunting.
I am very certain though that the number of Japanese visitors to Taiji would increase enormously if the town offered dolphin (and whale) watching tours instead of hunting them. Most Japanese like seeing dolphins, and most Japanese don't eat them. In 1998, 390,000 people visited Taiji. In 2009, it was down to 245,000. If the town wants a brighter future, eco-tourism is probably a better choice than what they're doing now:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/09/22/issues/kaikoura-taiji-tale-two-whaling-towns/#.VqjKZq9XerU
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
It wasn't entrapment, but it was police harassment.
He probably had his passport in his pocket in the car, it slipped out and fell to the floor of the car. Now he's technically breaking the law by not having his passport on his person. And they nailed him with something, anything, like they had hoped.
Frank Thornton
You seem to want to make it sound as if it were some sort of entrapment or something. It would be interesting to know where you get your info. According to the article link you at attached, was detained after he could not find his passport and later discovered. How can you lose your passport in your car when you are in another country?? Your link makes things smell "fishy".
Kaori Georges
It's a very amazing to "certain kind" of people become so less low-abiding when it comes to dolphins/whales, while complaining about some muslims not abiding the local laws but their own one, sharia. It's like complaining about being stoned while intentionally flirting with a married woman in those Muslim countries. When in Rome.
choiwaruoyaji
With this episode, Japan has move a step nearer to this:
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/swedish-rights-activist-deported-from-china
It's a pity.
I used to have an image of Japan as a nice, free and easygoing country.
In those days, it seemed to be a country that accepted the right of people to criticize, even if it didn't agree with them.
That is changing. It is becoming more authoritarian, it seems.
Criticism from abroad or even from Japanese citizens themselves seems not to be accepted.
Look at how, even on this website, we have many Japanese posters rabidly attacking anybody who dares to criticize the Japanese government or Japan.
It's a bit scary, actually.
Danny Bloom
Remember how long the Bobby Fisher chess guy thing went on with J immigration? Ric could be in detention center for months, if he doesn't suffer myocardial chests pains that bring him closer to the other dimension of existence.
Richard Wood
@ misunderstood, FYI I retired from TWO jobs in the United States. I am living in Japan on MY American earned retirement from 50 years of continuous work in the US. Therefore, Japan is not providing me a single thing but I am in turn bringing money into the Japanese economy, so yes YOU misunderstood once again.
Frank Thornton
You may not feel so but, what you are doing everyday is illegal. Whether you like it or not. That's just the way it is. And, how do you know whether it was done in a language he understood or not? Apparently he understood that they wanted to see he passport and he failed to produce it. Drunk or not. Elderly or not. Gentleman or not. If he cannot produce his passport, they police have every right to haul him away. The law says that you are to have it in your possession at all times. Not at home. Not at the hotel room (maybe unless you are eating at the restaurant in your hotel...)
5SpeedRacer5
Troublemakers making trouble.
Oh sure. The authorities think they got what they wanted, which is to throw this guy out of the country. So let's complain about that. Cry OUTRAGE, and let slip the bile of the JapanToday comments section. Please donate today.
But this guy (forgot his name already) got a lot more than 15 minutes of fame this go-round, simply because he is getting pushed around and kicked out of the country. To be perfectly honest, he got a lot more publicity than he would have gotten otherwise. A LOT. He should be thrilled, and I bet he is. In fact, like the Sea Shepherd guys, if the authorities had not reacted, then flat-out making stuff up to get headlines is the next best thing. He will milk it for all its worth. Please donate today.
People will care less about the dolphins next year than they did this year, and this guy will not be allowed in the country. Maybe Hayden Panatierre can bring her kids and get some photos. Barring that, it is hard to imagine the Taiji bashers doing better next year. Please donate today.
They should pay Miley Cyrus and Thor/Hemsworth to make a visit to Taiji. That would be a winner. Double the per diem if they go for a swim! Quadruple if they wear duct-tape bathing suits. Please donate today.
tinawatanabe
No. he said he "was so upset" being stopped by the police that he "forgot" he had his passport in his car. He is an activist, who could never be upset or nervous just by J police questioning. It is natural to think he made the police arrest him so that he would be news that night. He knew he would be released quickly but he couldn't predict there would be no entry next time.
Kaori Georges
I know that. Canada does the same, thank you very much for going back and re-reading my comment. Harass the local persistently, then you'll see.
That's what YOU say. What this article says is he tried to enter Japan while being denied to do so since he's got a criminal record for not having his passport with him in the past, thus, detained now. You must be so less law‐abiding.
What I'm saying here is no different than what Farmboy says above:
cleo
He wasn't trying to immigrate. You wrote about people Immigrating to Canada.
Sigh. He was not 'out without his passport'. He was in his car. His passport was in his car. He was stopped and removed from his car. Now he was without his passport because he complied with police instructions.
I'm out without my passport (or residence card) every single day. The local police know me, they know I have the right papers at home and that home is not far away and that i don't bother anyone. I imagine the police in Taiji also know O'Barry, very well. He certainly bothers them in Taiji.
tinawatanabe
So you admit the majority support the status quo. That's how the democracy works.
In my entire life in Japan, I only saw once the news about anti-hunt rally, which was of less than 20 people (whoes nationalities unknown)
Kaori Georges
His main purpose was to do his political activities against the local, not tourism. Once you harassed the local on a "tourist visa" to accomplish their personal agenda, it's natural that the immigration keeps an eye on you, like Canada.
Just in case you've never heard of this; In ANY country, you can't complain about being detained if you are out without your passport. period.
cleo
Maybe they could have checked that he understood what they were saying, in a language he probably doesn't understand, instead of arbitrarily dragging an obviously elderly gentleman (who was not drunk-driving, which was what he was stopped on suspicion of, from a 'tip-off', not any erratic driving) off to the local jail for questioning overnight?
What makes you think O'Barry was trying to immigrate? On a tourist visa?
He wasn't strolling anywhere, he was in his car and he was taken out of his car to the local jail.
Kaori Georges
Stupid. This is what any country would do. Canada checks wether you have done any political activities before when you immigrate there. You could complain about the environment of the detention center, but you wouldn't complain about being detained when you were strolling without your passport.
Yoshitsune
It is obvious that you cannot logically draw that conclusion from what I've said. You're just showing again that you assume that all 0.13 billion Japanese must automatically agree with you, as if all those people all have the same opinions about everything. I have a residence card issued by the Japanese government which says that I live in Japan and in any case, where I live is irrelevant.
I've spoken to plenty of my Japanese friends and co-workers about this issue and have definitely found 20 Japanese people who don't support the killing of dolphins in Taiji. Though I would say that the majority of Japanese neither support nor oppose it; most don't really care about it.
Frank Thornton
The link says...
and is also says...
"The missing passport was later found in O'Barry's car, his son said."
So, what are you trying to get at? That the police should have helped him search the car?
tinawatanabe
It is obvious you don't live in Japan. You would have hard time finding even 20 Japanese people who don't out of 0.13 Bilion pupulation in Japan.
frontandcentre
Given the option, he refused to leave the country and now he's calling himself a "political prisoner"?
You have to understand that if you make trouble in Japan, whether your cause is just or otherwise, then you may be denied entry. He knew this and is playing it up.
He obviously didn't come into the country as a tourist if his aim was to make a political protest against killing dolphins, so he's effectively defeating his own argument here.
FnC
wtfjapan
Dolphins are fish. Get over it. seems like you failed biology 101, whales, dolphins are mamals, warm blooded, like humans and the most intelligent creatures in the oceans. Might be time for you to read up on some biology again.
nakanoguy01
barry is crazy like a fox! all he wanted was attention, and now he's got plenty of it. if j-officials were smart, they would just leave him alone, and let him go about doing what he wants. then there would be little if no publicity.
on the other hand, barry should know that japan will hunker down once it feels threatened, so this dolphin hunt will go on forever.
wtfjapan
ah Japanese pride is as fragile as a origami, Its amazing what steps the authorities here will go to stop you speaking ill of them or Japan even if your not even breaking any laws, but as Mr O’Barry has said his plight will just make more come, "on tourist visas" and theyll protest in his place. Actually detaining him is just adding free publicity to there cause.
Yoshitsune
What a baffling comment. I'm not. I'm not guilty of inhumane dolphin slaughter, or of fox hunting, or of animal cruelty generally.
Balderdash. On the specific issue we are discussing - dolphin hunting - there is nothing to be discussed re the UK. If you're trying to widen the debate to animal cruelty in general by including fox hunting, well we did fix that. Furthermore, accusing someone of being a hypocrite, while it may feel like some sort of moral victory, in fact in no whatsoever constitutes a rebuttal of their arguments. That is a logical fallacy.
The govt clearly does, but you cannot claim that 'the people' do. Some do; some do not. Once again, you are not the spokesperson for the entire Japanese nation.
I'm not forcing anything. And in fact the value that I've been talking about here - that if we are going to eat animals, they should be slaughtered humanely - is a value that Japan already holds. That's why you have laws regulating slaughterhouses. To kill a cow using the Taiji dolphin killing method would be illegal in Japan. That isn't my value, it's Japan's own value - so why are dolphins not covered under the same laws as cows and pigs?
fds
uhh, and so how is he being "detained"? you don't like it, don't come, instead of trying to impose your views.
roughneck
Hmmm, coming to Japan as a tourist but actually filming a movie to earn money....may be that is not breaking the law in his mind! :D
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
Is the U.S. guilty of dolphin hunting?
tinawatanabe
It is commonsense that you shouldn't criticize what you are guilty of . You should fix your country first otherwise hypocrite. In Japan's case, the govt and people support Taiji town practice. It is very insulting of you and O'Barry and other anti-hunt people to force your value on Japan.
Yoshitsune
@gokai
That statement is scientifically, factually incorrect. Dolphins are not fish; they are mammals. And even if they were fish, it wouldn't mean that people would suddenly not want to protect them; sharks are also 'only' fish, yet shark finning is also a major environmental / cruelty issue.
@ossan
The fact that that can be said for other animals is not a problem at all; in fact that is why it is considered unacceptable to hack cows and pigs to pieces while still alive after paralysing them by shoving plugs into their spines. Why should dolphins not be covered by the rules covering slaughter of cows and pigs? I don't eat beef, but if I did I would never eat meat from a cow if that was how they were killed. Veterinary study of the Taiji dolphin killing methods: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888705.2013.768925#.Vqg1Ta9XerU
If you're going to argue that dolphins are just mammals like cows and pigs so it is okay to eat them like cows and pigs, surely you must agree that they should also come under the same requirements for a humane slaughter method? And surely you must see that the Taiji hunt is nothing of the sort?
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
Don't count on it. Japanese officials are hoping he would leave voluntarily, so they don't have to look like the bad guy that they are.
Christopher Glen
So he hasn't been deported yet. That's excellent news. Hopefully common sense will prevail, and Japan will allow him to continue on his journey of justice
GW
O'Barry if you see someone approaching with a muzzle, be careful!!!
Japan is stupid again, they make themselves look bad, all they had to do was let him in & IGNORE him, but now, they got to keep on looking stupid & similar to China & NKorea!!! The fools that run this place are so clueless
misunderstood
@Richard Wood AND YES, I am an American, residing in Japan, and no matter how screwed up I may or may not think Japanese laws are, I am going to respect their laws as I respect their beliefs and customs. Seems funny how many negative comments I see posted "about Japan" from foreigners working in Japan. Quick to take their money and to criticize
Nobody here is taking anything I would only assume they are working for what they are rightfully getting in Japan! But it's great to read that you are very honest about taking the money and critiquing your thoughts about what every one else is doing! I guess you are true to your own words!
BNlightened
So...if a tourist comes here on a tourist visa, then decides to attend or get involved in one of the many, many anti-Nuke, anti-corruption, pro-Article 9 or pro-Peace demonstrations that Japanese citizens freely and legally participate in here...they should expect to be denied future entry to the country? They should expect to be deported for "breaking the law?" And what about long-term foreign guests-I'm sure some of you, like I, have participated in a "march" or "walk" for or against something of a political nature-might we not also be deemed to have "broken the law" for "stirring up trouble" in our chosen "free" country of residency?
If so, I think the world would be very interested to hear about how "free" foreigners are to practice the same rights in Japan that they grant Japanese in the West without fear of reprisals. Famous instigators like Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, who have come to Japan and attended protests against the US military in Okinawa contrary to the government's wishes...should "expect" to be detained or denied entry to the country, huh? I have a feeling that some might not find this kosher, regardless the flimsy excuse being bandied about that it "attacks Japan's culture."
And while hundreds if not thousands of Japanese citizens have already been welcomed to protests in the US, France and elsewhere, free to show their support or opposition in public (in support of hostages taken by terrorists, or the victims of Paris attacks, or against...you guessed it-animal mistreatment abroad, for example) without fear of foreign government reprisals, the same can't be guaranteed for foreigners here in Japan, correct?
Sounds perfectly "free" to me. Uh-huh.
Say what you want for the virtues of "Japanese culture," "reciprocity of rights" between Japanese and the rest of the world certainly isn't one of them.
A Realist
"Political prisoner?" How could he be a political prisoner if he is free to leave Japan at any time?
David Blue
They eat them and killing is where that process starts. There is no one killing them for sport! Deport him and be done with this nut.
Danny Bloom
Richard is not a political prisoner. He's a cultural prisoner. At 76, his days are numbered, but he is using his sunset years to raise his voice for something he feels deeply. He is an empathy. He is a hero. I salute this old geezer for standing up for non humans. Bravo O'Barry. May the wind be always at your back as you transit Japan's mysterious ways. It's a good country. Good people.
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
@arrestpaul
A little presumptuous here, aren't we?
I, for one, care. And I'm grateful that O'Barry is raising a stink about the dolphins. And that Sea Shepard is raising a stink about whale hunting. And that Korea is raising a stink about sex slaves.
Japan needs to confront its ghosts. Ignoring things don't make them go away.
arrestpaul
I agree with OssanAmerican, mu-da, and hokkaidoguy posts. Japan doesn't need or want him. And the "world" doesn't care about dolphin's, O'Barry, Flipper, or O'Barry's detention. O'Barry is a liar. O'Barry should get out and stay out of Japan. He is free to leave voluntarily, at any time. .
cleo
You could try reading the link....
nath
That's how immigration works in all countries, and it's the discretion of immigration officers.
If that were true, you would not be able to express the above sentiment.
CH3CHO
O'Barry can voluntarily leave Japan at anytime, so the person who is making him detained is O'Barry himself. We, the tax payer of Japan, have to pay for his accommodation and food.
SensatoJAN. 27, 2016 - 08:15AM JST
I, as well as most of the taxpayers of Japan, want him leave "voluntary" because, otherwise, we have to pay for his air ticket.
What is he doing after his appeal was turned down? Leave Japan at your cost, Ric.
noypikantoku
hokkaidoguy
They FEEL!? so it's all about the feelings then? so any decisions done by immigration officers must be base on their feelings?strange ...
stop being hypocrite and be straight forward , why don't you just admit that there is no freedom of expression in Japan? Japan doesn't want criticism, from the WW2 denials , Fukushima power plant cover ups to this Dolphin stories?
No need for the long winding road, Japanese Immigration didn't want him because of his work which challenges and exposed some negative things about Japan that ruins the must be "perfect" image of this country that's why they deported him and didn't welcome him. Period! Yup indeed Japan can do whatever they want in their country, but admit it Freedom of expression doesn't exists here.
Richard Wood
"He was stopped and asked to get out of the car. The passport was in the car..." If you read MORE closely... "He passed a roadside breath test but was detained after he could not find his passport — an alleged violation of immigration laws requiring foreigners to carry passports or other acceptable identification." Particularly where it says "HE COULD NOT FIND HIS PASSPORT"..... Also "Leaving Japan would be heartbreaking, O’Barry said, but efforts to stop the hunt would not stop." So he pretty much convicted himself about lying about reason for entry.
"The missing passport was later found in O'Barry's car, his son said." After the fact...a statement of "he said, she said" variety.
Leads me to believe the "A Political Prisoner" statement is a bit misleading... He, himself caused his arrest. Lincoln O'Barry, who manages the organization's public relations and spoke to his father by phone Tuesday morning, said the tip may have come from a local reporter who saw him at dinner. "It was set up by paparazzi," the son said.
Police received a tip he may of been drunk. Set up by the paparazzi??? REALLY??? Does he honestly believe he is that freaking famous or important?? He did NOT have his passport readily available to show the authorities which every VISITOR to Japan knows they must have readily available. I am quite sure he was on a "watch" list for his previous infractions to Japanese Law. By his own admission from jail, he states ulterior motive for being in Japan other then "Site Seeing". And look at all the free publicity this no account is getting. Hopefully, any law suit that he brings against Japan will be quickly dismissed..but knowing the United States... their court system ignores most of the constitutional law anyways so they probably will attempt to try the case for more notoriety. AND YES, I am an American, residing in Japan, and no matter how screwed up I may or may not think Japanese laws are, I am going to respect their laws as I respect their beliefs and customs. Seems funny how many negative comments I see posted "about Japan" from foreigners working in Japan. Quick to take their money and to criticize.ClippetyClop
It seems that in this country proposing that people be kinder to animals is a subversive idea that makes the locals absolutely furious! How dare he!
Citizen2012
How would you know ? The emigration officers do not discuss individual cases, this is their policy. Remember ?
cevin7
@ hokkaidoguy
If it's true, that's terrible.
hokkaidoguy
@citizen2012
Yes, it can happen to anyone.
Anyone who repeatedly lies to immigration about their visit can find themselves denied entry to any country in the world.
Get the proper visa, tell the truth, or be prepared to find another way home.
nath
Any country has the right to deny entry to anyone for any reason they like. This has nothing to do with democracy. Neither does it have anything to do with his age.
Citizen2012
Fascinating to see people discussing why dolphin should be protected or not, why in this territory but not that one, while totally missing the big picture in here => an old man detained for his believes in a democratic country in 2016. I know people are going to say, he is a criminal, his passport was not in his pocket he must be sentenced to death, if you do not think this is abusive then nothing will never be and I guess you would want the govt to arrest people for almost anything, be warned, it might really happen if you want it that hard.
hokkaidoguy
Cevin7
They said that he couldn't enter Japan because he was lying about his reasons for coming.
He told immigration he was coming as a tourist, but they feel he is here in his role as an activist. Which isn't really a stretch of the imagination.
He refused to leave voluntarily, so he is being held pending deportation.
cevin7
What did the Japanese side say to detain him anyway?
hokkaidoguy
Citizen2012
He hasn't been arrested.
He has been denied entry. The two are very, very different.
Right now, O'Barry is free to go. He can get on any plane out of Japan, any time he wants. They'll even help him but a ticket and carry his bags through the airport.
Lloyd Weems
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency last year issued a report on the analysis of cetacean products purchased in Japan. It's called Dangerous Diet and it makes frightening reading.
https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Dangerous-Diet-FINAL.pdf
"Independent EIA analysis in 2015 found all of the 20 products tested were above the Government’s recommended safe limit for mercury in marine food of 0.4 parts per million (ppm). One sample of long-finned pilot whale contained 19ppm total mercury – 47 times the safe limit. Of the 341 cetacean products tested by EIA between 2001-15, 56 per cent contained mercury levels in excess of recommended limits.
Clare Perry, Team Leader of EIA’s Oceans Campaign, said: ”Every government has a basic duty of care to its people, a duty the Government of Japan shamefully abdicates each time it permits a citizen to buy toxic whale and dolphin meat in ignorance of the serious health risks and, in many cases, of the species they are buying."
https://eia-international.org/toxic-whale-dolphin-meat-shows-japan-still-gambling-with-human-health
Absolutely disgraceful.
danalawton1@yahoo.com
I think this guy should clean up his own backyard first. Plenty of animal cruelty in the food industry in the USA to keep him occupied. Not that I approve of the Dolphin hunt tactics but not a fan of anybody that crosses borders when there is work to do within.
Citizen2012
I think he is right and his arrest seems purely arbitrary, in violation of the signed International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Hope he can raise a case. One should not be detained because of his believes, this put a real precedent in Japan in my opinion.
tonttu2012
Detaining and send him back makes this old man ever more triumphant and as a consequence, irrecoverably humililiates some Japanese, myself not included. I suggest that he be released and allowed to travel around Japan freely. Disappoint him :-)
Henry Lee Stradford II
Hear hear, mu-da...
glasshouse
He did not come here as a tourist he came here as a activist....hes has no ties with SS yeah sure..then he got told to leave and refused..he put himself in this situation and only has himself to blame.
cleo
He was stopped and asked to get out of the car. The passport was in the car. (There is no 'alien registration' any more, it's a 'residence card'.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/activist-ric-obarry-freed-japanese-cops-after-start-dolphin-hunt-n419571
mu-da
He was offered to leave voluntarily. Calling himself a political prisoner is preposterous.
Frank Thornton
For a foreigner to not be carrying either a passport or alien registration is considered "breaking the law".
Jason Santana
Gaijindesu "It's a free country as long as you don't say anything that will cause them to lose face. Kinda like, you know, Russia, North Korea, China, and other dictatorships." Japan isn't a dictatorship. If only they heard you comparing Japan with Russia, North Korea and China. You have the understand the thinking of people before running your mouth. It's all about saving face. This filmed has done nothing but embarrassed those who wish to keep on hunting Dolphins and this probably does go all the up to the government level.
bruinfan
Unless you are talking about the dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippurus), dolphins are mammals, I hate to break it to you... In any case whales are not fish either (more closely related to bats than to fish).
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
No difference? So would you eat human flesh? Why not? It's just animal muscle, no?
Disillusioned
There is no doubt O'Barry has been singled out because of his anti-dolphin hunting stance. The charges he is being held on are just malarkey and his poor treatment is to make sure he never wants to come back to Japan. However, Japan is only increasing their negative image internationally by doing this. If they intend to deport him he should have been on the first plane back to the US and not subjected to confinement in a detention centre.
I love that comment, "whales and dolphins are fish. Get over it!" No doubt this was written by a Japanese person. I guess the fact that, dolphin meat has extremely high levels of heavy metals and pesticides and that it has been declared unfit for human consumption by the WHO must not be part of Japanese education. Nor the fact that the people of Taiji who eat dolphin meat regularly have more than ten times the safe limit of mercury in their body. These little points seem to get forgotten on the predecessor of "it's culture!" Is it culture to poison your kids? Awesome!
cleo
Cows in the abattoir don't get treated anything like how dolphins in the cove are treated.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2013.768925
This killing method does not conform to the recognized requirement for “immediate insensibility” and would not be tolerated or permitted in any regulated slaughterhouse process in the developed world.
The regulations and guidelines governing the humane treatment and slaughter of animals in the United States and the United Kingdom prohibit the killing of an animal in the presence of other animals (Humane Slaughter Act, 2003; Welfare of Animals [Slaughter or Killing] Regulations, 1995). From a scientific, humane, and ethical perspective, the treatment of dolphins in the drive hunts sharply contradicts current animal welfare standards employed in most modern and technologically advanced societies.
If you treated a cow like they treat the dolphins, you would be prosecuted, if not sectioned as a dangerous psychopath.
Kagemusha
Somebody else said it already but it deserves being said again. When a country refuses you entry and requests you leave and you refuse, then they order you to leave and you appeal the court order, then they seek to deport you and you resist...you are not a prisoner. You are illegally and obstinately over-staying your welcome.
No matter how worthwhile your message might be you are coming across as a bit of a tool when you consider your own refusal to leave a country as imprisonment.
browny1
Ossan - that's right.
Cortes Elijah
Dolphins are cows of the sea..... What's the difference? Supply and demand. No money to be made in dolphin meat.... So people make a big deal. First world problems lol.
OssanAmerica
""If you look into their eyes, you can tell someone is home"
The problem is that the very sam thing can be said for just about many other animals as well. And that includes cows and pigs.
Sensato
The immigration officials obviously want O'Barry to leave "voluntarily" because forcible deportation looks bad on their record. Their inhumane tactics against O'Barry such as subjecting him to endless hours of interrogation and sleep deprivation are obviously intended to break him down so that the officials can save face by causing him to leave "voluntarily."
This is all standard operating procedure for Japan's immigration and law enforcement authorities, and clearly a violation of Japan's international agreements on human rights.
A report by Human Rights Watch on Japan's prisons and immigration detention facilities found that: "Japan routinely violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as the basic provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
Dolphins and whales are mammals, just like humans. Their youngs are born live (not hatched from eggs, except for sharks), they need to come up for air, they don't have scales, and their tail fins run horizontally (side to side), not top to bottom,
Orcas, another marine mammal that I'm more familiar with, can live as long as humans, up to 80 years or more. They form strong familial bonds. Aunties help take care of their nieces and nephews when the mother is unable to. When youngs are captured inside nets, the adults refuse to leave.
There are people who say 'animals are animals', but if you look at how some of them behave, you may see it differently. I remember in the movie Blackfish, someone said (I paraphrase): "If you look into their eyes, you can tell someone is home"
shonanbb
Good
OssanAmerica
This subject becomes news too often because certain foreign news agencies thrive on anything that riles up anti-Japan sentiment. True most Japanese people are indifferent as are most people in very other country as well.
hokkaidoguy
No, you aren't, Ric. A prisoner is someone who can't leave.
You're more of an unwanted guest.
Thunderbird
I did some voluntary work along with some Jehovah Witnesses in a Immigration Center in Japan, helping with language barriers and legal assistence, on how to get a free lawyer through the Bar Association to get out and fight for your visa outside, only to bring problems for myself, they denied my visa renewel for a stupid reason I KNEW it wasn't the real reason and had to get my visa through court myself. The guys might have got pissed with so many people getting out and losing the power to deport people and turn families apart. What a joke of a democracy!
Kabukilover
Dolphins and whales are not fish. They are mammals. What O'Barry is torture. Leave it to Japan to make a bad situation worse. Killing dolphins is one thing. Subjecting an old man to the sort of mistreatment described above is an outrage.
Het tourists, avoid Japan.
Schopenhauer
This subject becomes news too often on this site while most Japanese people are indifferent. Because we rarely eat dolphins and whales in today's Japan. Animal protection movement is OK as people love cats and dogs. No more than that.
gokai_wo_maneku
The dolphin activist came over to harrass Japan about dolphins. Dolphins are fish. Get over it. And so are whales.
katsu78
Look dude, I'm sympathetic to your plight and I agree you shouldn't have been detained, but "war on dolphins"? Seriously? Seriously?!
Gaijindesu
It's a free country as long as you don't say anything that will cause them to lose face. Kinda like, you know, Russia, North Korea, China, and other dictatorships.
Moonraker
Ah, we will just call opposition a tradition then. In fact opposition on behalf of the environment and animal welfare probably has a longer history than this dolphin hunt.
Yubaru
Funny, this guy should know it's not a free country, all he has to do is take a look around at all the others in the detention center.