Season's first dolphins killed in annual Taiji hunt

Peter Qinghai

Whaling has very little to do with the drive hunt of dolphins, which in Taiji goes back as far as heavy metal music does in the West.

For anyone who doesn't know,

Many people oppose whaling because whales are endangered. They were traditionally hunted by the West as well. Many endangered animals in Japan are protected, so the concept is understood.

Many people oppose the drive hunt of dolphins and dolphins in captivity because they think they are cruel. Unlike whales, dolphins are not endangered.

Different activities with a different set of issues.

The idea that this slaughter is "traditional" may be more based on the money allocated to Taiji. If they do not use it, they lose it. So it continues. Why no one in Taiji can think even a little bit outside of the box and negotiate for funding for dolphin/whale watching tours is beyond me. Hawai'i recently decided to cut dolpin tours as the demand exceeded the dolphin ability to cope. Come ON, Taiji people. Stop the slaughter and change your tactics.

On a rainy May morning this year, I bicycled past a junction on Route 42 in Wakayama Prefecture marked "Taiji". Within sight of the turn were adverts for whale watching and, along the road, decorative representations of dolphins. Resort hotels were in view. I wondered if this could be the setting of "The Cove". It being a greatly indented coast, the touristical area could be some distance from the slaughter: out of sight, out of earshot and out of mind. Then again, this might have been a different Taiji. If correct, it illustrates that Japan is as much a land of contrasts as any.

the town is proud of 'culture' and the hunt, but are also so embarrassed by it they don't want people seeing it?

I don't see anything that said they are embarrassed.

"The scene was featured in the documentary, drawing unwanted attention to the little coastal community."

So, hang on... the town is proud of 'culture' and the hunt, but are also so embarrassed by it they don't want people seeing it? Sounds about right.

@kohakuebisu,

Source please.

From Wikipedia:

Residents of Taiji have been refining whaling techniques and have had significant whaling operations since the early 17th century,[3] and became known as a center for whaling in 1675.[4] Hunting dolphins for commercial purposes in Taiji continues.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_dolphin_drive_hunt#History

And yet, no one feels the same way about Peru.

http://www.bluevoice.org/news_perudolphinhunts.php

The first drive hunt was in 1969. It's about as traditional as heavy metal music.

Incredible that this continues year after year. Is simply disgusting and terrible for the reputation of Japan around the world

There were no clashes between ant-whaling activists and fishermen on Friday

Because they are so small, nobody even noticed them

This makes for bad optics and leaves the world wondering what gives with Japan.

Rabbit are cute ... but we do eat 'em ... so what's the buzz bout dolphin

There sure is plenty of hate speech here aimed at Japanese.

I sure hope that was sarcasm.

There sure is plenty of hate speech here aimed at Japanese.

Furs are now cool. This will be soon too.

Why is there no coverage of this annual cultural event by national television networks?

All i can say in this situation is be it a whail or a dolphin being killed for food or for science. You do not need to kill an animal to study it and almost all of the fish in the ocean is contaminated with pollutants and mercury. And with all of the disasters happening around the world its called KARMA for a reason.

@ Louis, The difference is that cows and pigs etc were bred and engineered over time to be food animals. That is a lot different than a wild Dolphin that is being killed simply for a "tradition" that has no place in the current age in a 1st world nation.

what makes dolphins any different to millions cows, pigs that get butchered every year? are they not life?

why are ppl feasting animal meat acting like they were on some moral high ground because others prefer a different kind of meat

Defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition

Oh...so that's ok then. Lets revive the Roman Games then where Gladiators fight each other or animals to the death. Or the great sport of capturing Greeks and putting them in the arena to be ripped apart by Lions...a great laugh to see intelligent, artistic and gentle people humiliated and treated with contempt by those with little else going for them other to scorn those who aspire to better values.....its a tradition. Ok.....lets start a 'tradition' and chase a Japanese Dolphin Hunter around Taiji and poke him with a pointed stick until he bleeds to death....what a great laugh that would be.

C'mon.....the Japanese have far better values than that....you with those values fight to defend them and not watch yourselves sullied by barbarism. There is no need to even eat the poor creatures let alone kill them in such an inhuman manner.

The rest of Japan does not know about it? They don't want to know is the real problem. There are those that do unspeakable things and there are those that let them. Who share the most guilt.....those that know no better or those that do? Maybe such words will save a Dolphin or two from such misery.

I read somewhere that, unlike humans and other creatures,Dolphins breath because they want to....everty breath they take. 'We' breath automatically. If we become depressed and feel life is not worth living we still breath. If a Dolphin becomes depressed and feels life is not worth living he may simply not take the next breath. Let us hope those super intelligent creature stop breathing before the worst of the butchery is practised on them.

"Environmental campaigners visit the town every year to watch the gruesome event "

Does anyone consider that people in the area are making bank from this controversy? Disneyland has raised its admission quite a bit in the last few years, and they are using the funds for new STAR WARS attractions. I wonder if the Taiji people have caught on to that. I bet if they expanded their sadistic rituals, they could draw in a wider audience, with free balloons for the kids. COME ON DOWN!

Which brings me back to an idee fixe that is hitting me in the face these last few days. Pumping up the media hysteria is not really looking very productive in any area these days. I had never heard of the Taiji killings 10 years ago. Now it is all over the place, with movie premieres and crowd funding and Hayden Panatierre, and yet the killing continues. The barbarism of a few yokels has been elevated and legitimated. They are world famous!

Instead of drawing wide attention to this, why not ostracize and avoid the town? Why does nobody interview the sadists? Why not picket their shops and public buildings? Why not put pressure on local and prefectural governments?

The fact that these things are not being done, and/or that they are ineffective, leads me to suspect that this whole dolphin killing cottage industry is hooked in with the whole dolphin killing outrage cottage industry. They need each other. And so does the local economy. I guarantee that if Disney put an attraction there, the killings would stop.

Defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition and point out that the animals are not endangered

Why did you climb the mountain? Because it was there!

Shame! I won't ever understand the desire to kill dolphins.

I think factory farms in western countries warrant more attention than a dolphin hunt in a bay some place in the inaka of Japan.

Killing these "innocent" creatures to eat is totally ludicrous. We (some) are living in the 21 Century, but some are still living in the Dark Ages. It is time too stop killing innocent living beings!

Always with the current year argument, a non-sequitur really. Like dude, really? it does not matter if were in the year 1850, 1999, 2016 or even 2122, people have different diets. Get used to it, For people like you, it does not matter what people are eating, you will find some way to justify some kind of none sense about eating x in the current year. Just who do you think you are labeling others as living in the dark ages just because they eat dolphins?

And then lets feed it to the school children. Mercury poisoning anyone? A third world practice that only benefits a select few.

Despicable. If it's "Japanese culture" (the go-to justification for the indefensible), let's watch you do it. Oh, that's right, we can't because it would shame you in front of the Japanese, who remain largely ignorant of this disgrace.

Killing these "innocent" creatures to eat is totally ludicrous. We (some) are living in the 21 Century, but some are still living in the Dark Ages. It is time too stop killing innocent living beings!