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Worldwide anti-dolphin, whale hunt rallies planned for Tokyo, 8 other cities

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To get the attention of Japan and it's people over the issue of hunting and slaughtering dolphins, I suggest that all of us start a "do not buy anything made in Japan month" and see what happens rather than merely talk about it. When you hit people in their wallet they usually take notice more than listening to a bunch of greenpeace protesters with bullhorns.

1 ( +14 / -13 )

Sadly, Taiji isn't the only place in Japan that hunts dolphins and other smaller toothed whales. Hopefully, there will be enough support for this protest to bring an end to the dolphin hunt and the farcical whale 'research' in the southern oceans. - I also support indigenous whaling.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

Hope it all throws a dent into Japanese opinions on this issue

5 ( +10 / -5 )

@ Hawkeye,

It's already happening in Europe, I work in tourism in Okinawa and always get to hear stuff like, we are not visiting Japan until they stop hunting whales etc. It's 200$ contra productive for Japan, the environment and it's citizens.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Hawkeye A big thumbs up for you!!! There is just one problem. That does not seem to work here, or the island ordeal with China would have been solved by now. The whale and dolphin hunt is the most shameful part of this society and it is really sad that only very few people are for the hunts but every one else iseems to be just indiferent! No matter how opposed the rest of the society is, if the only people speaking are the hunters, that is the only voice that will be heard. Hopefuly this event will help change that perspective of the Japanese culture. Unless the only people to show up are gaijins....

2 ( +8 / -6 )

This title is really awkward. It sounds like these people have a vendetta against dolphins and whales, haha.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Wait till you see the over the top security at the Tokyo demonstrations. The riot police will be out in full force.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Hawkeye:

" To get the attention of Japan and it's people over the issue of hunting and slaughtering dolphins, I suggest that all of us start a "do not buy anything made in Japan month" "

So, instead you want to buy products made in China?? I think you soon run out of options if you want to be that ethical.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

WilliB surely that's not ethical, but ethnical. Punishing a whole people for the sins of one industry.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It is rather amazing that in this time of many challenges and world problems a small radical group who use sensationalist methods of self publicizing get so much attention. I hope eventually we will see more important issues recieving energy and focus. I dont see anyone attacking the American public for their annual ritual slaughter of thousands of elk, deer, bears, and other mammals ...indeed such activity is glorified and protected as a national right. Hardly a good argument for trying to tell other countries what to do.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

These ultra environmentalist don't see the damage that their solutions would inflict on the Dolphin population. What they want is Govt protections for Dolphins, namely moratoriums and bans. Of course rather then saving the species it would hasten their demise. The reason for this is because of how prices would sky rocket in the black market and poachers don't have to worry about preserving any business. Businesses how ever have an economic incentive to breed Dolphins, lest they go bankrupt for a lack of Dolphins to serve in a free-market.

How ever you just can't argue with a unruly mob that turns to Govt imposed violence to meet their goals and relies heavily on emotions and sensationalist characterizations. Then add the fact that if you click on the picture above, the protestor clearly doe's not know how to spell "***

stopp

***".

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

CrisGerSan:

" I dont see anyone attacking the American public for their annual ritual slaughter of thousands of elk, deer, bears, and other mammals "

So many holes in that comparison. Firstly, are any of those endangered species? Secondly, would you feel the same way if elk, deer, and bear hunters came travelling from the other side of the world with their mobile factories to kill those animals in your territory? Thirdly, ask PETA if "nobody" is protesting.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

rather then saving the species it would hasten their demise. The reason for this is because of how prices would sky rocket in the black market and poachers don't have to worry about preserving any business.

if you were talking about bluefin tuna I might agree with you. There is a huge market for bluefin tuna, and I'm sure lots of mindless people would pay black-market prices for it. But there is no huge market for toxic dolphin meat. The people of Taiji eat some (and have mercury levels that are over 4 times higher than the national average, and a 50% higher mortality rate as a result), but the rest of the meat is turned into fertiliser and pet food (One reason to avoid any pet food with unspecified 'meat' mentioned in the list of ingredients). The money is in the animals that are sold and shipped to aquacircuses around the world.

The dolphin killers also claim that dolphins are pests that compete with humans for fish, and state that they would kill them even if the meat was not put on the table. If the stated intention now is to get rid of all the dolphins, how would making it harder to kill dolphins 'hasten their demise'?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

JT nice to see and read this article be so factual, lets call a loophole a loophole! It's also encouraging to see this rally appears as it will be well supported, and as someone who does what I can (which is sadly little) to bring attention to the situation in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary it's just so nice to be able to have a dialouge in a positive way. The whales and all Cetaceans best hope now is for the Japanese public's opinion to change.

Punishing a whole people for the sins of one industry.

This is the struggle many of us have who fight for the sanctuary. The whaling industry uses their propaganda to portray the anti-whaling movement as being eco-terrorists, racist, and violent when in truth the vast majority are thoughful caring people who want wants best for the planet, environment an definately all people. There is a call for a boycott within the anti-whaling movement, but there is also many people who don't want to take that route yet , especially considering recent hardships the public has endured, but I think people are getting weary of the battle and dead whales. I have never in the couple of years I have been involved in this heard of the Jap. gov. wanting to seek a comprimise so I think eventually most get to feeling that diplomacy is hopeless. SSCS is well equipped technologically and in numbers and may very well be able to shut the whalers down completely this year with the intention of delivering such a critical finatial blow that the entire industry will close shop ... I hope they are successful but again it's the publics tax or relief dollars that will go to waste. My dream for Taiji would be that they bacame the the world leader in cetacean research (non-flipping-lethal) and Asia's premier whale and dolphin watching sites: not only would the tourist industry create many more times of jobs than the few whalers that indutry employs but the sky would be the limit for tourist dollers. The cherry would be that Taiji would became an example of mans evolution socially, spiritually, intelectually, compassionately .... etc etc etc, to become such a wonderful place where our species connect to celebrate the beauty of life rather than it being dolphin hell would be amazing.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I hope JT considers leaving this up, this is the twitter link for the the Taiji dolphin hunt and a link to watch a live strem on occations where the whalers trap pods and lead them into the cove. It is not graphic as the SSCS has limited viewing, but I know constructive dialouge would be fantastic.

tweet4taiji http://taiji.ezearth.tv
-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The Japnaese gov's propaganda tweets are absolutely hilarious and a must see!

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The Japnaese gov's propaganda tweets are absolutely hilarious and a must see!

the problem is the japanese sheeple buy it... :-(

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Where are the propaganda tweets?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@AriesKJJ - once again here's a comment about turning Taiji into a dolphin/whale-watching destination. I agree that the town - and the greater Kumano region - is in many ways perfect for much further development as a tourist destination. But activists have to do more than talk about the tourism revenue and jobs as if they were a given. SJD, SSCS and all the rest have the money and/or connections to the kind of money to fund a full-scale feasability study. Ric O'Barry and others rightly cite the islands of Mikura/Miyake as an example of where dolphin-watching is already being done right, but on a fairly small scale because of accessibility issues. Time-consuming though it is to get to the southern Kii peninsula, you don't have to rely on overnight ferries - there is decent public transport and expressway access is improving. Extending both the Ise and Hanwa expressways and expanding train schedules would be central proposals of any wide-ranging feasability study but even a plan that didn't require that degree of government cooperation would have considerable persuasive power. The economic benefits to the region and protection of wildlife would of course have to be balanced against the environmental impact of new infrastructure and hordes of tourists.

IMO, people need to stop saying that tourism can save Taiji until they have some solid numbers to back it up. If you can show some nice big numbers to the populace of those coastal communities where young people see no future for themselves, then watch as the tide of public opinion changes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I just wish if Japan claiming whale and dolphin hunting as a cultural and historical right, I wish they would hunt them in the traditional way as their ancestors did. If they did that I wouldn`t deny them the right to hunt these animals. I do realise that would mean a change to the whaling rules, which probably will never happen.

And it just irks me to no end that they travel to southern oceans to hunt the whales, which is also sapping money away from the earthquake affected areas in Tohoku.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Where are the propaganda tweets?

at Twitter #tweet4taiji

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Whales and dolphins are beautiful, rare creatures that have poison in them - what the hell is wrong with anyone who eats them? They'll eat them just to spite the world?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

If someone were to start a dolphin-watching business right near Taiji, then the economic claims of the new one might just clash and override the economic claims of the former, especially if the profits were obvious... but then that would be considered non-Japanese, for a short time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Whoever started such a business would probably have to abide scrupulously both to their remit (no value-judgments) and to Japanese custom, and in the end thyy might just win a great victory.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@NagoyaOya - In terms of selling the idea to the public I agree, but changing the minds in the whaling industry doesn't seem like a possibility. If a cetacean research center could be the primary replacement yen wise to the town of Taiji then the tourist dollars could be thought of as bonus and good will.

Proof for feasability of a "whale watching industry" vs a "whale hunting industry" is readily available as the industry has kind of passed through it's toddler stages here in North America and other places. whether that success could translate across cultural differences, I could not say.

My favorite point is that a live animal is valuable for quite a bit longer than one served up in a restaurant.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Firstly, are any of those endangered species? Secondly, would you feel the same way if elk, deer, and bear hunters came travelling from the other side of the world with their mobile factories to kill those animals in your territory?

If he was talking about the dolphin hunt, your points are completely invalid.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Stranger_in_a_strange_Land:

" If he was talking about the dolphin hunt, your points are completely invalid. "

Obviously, we were talking about whaling, and not about the Taji issue.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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