What do the Japanese people think of the Taiji dolphin hunts?

[Sarapva]

I've read some previous posts about this, but there is another video on the web of the annual Taiji dolphin hunt at glumbert.com/media/dolphin (I don't have enough posts yet to put the web site up). There is also a petition to sign that will be sent to the Japanese prime minister at petitiononline.com/golfinho.

There have been more than 280,000 signatures so far on the petition from numerous countries, but not many from Japan. What do the Japanese generally think of this? I've heard the younger generation doesn't want to continue whaling.

[Dudley]

Perhaps you could put the link to the petition up so those that want to sign up are able to.

[Sarapva]

I tried that, but I don't have enough posts to add web site addresses yet. I'll try it again after 20 posts!

[TeriyakiPinoy]

Why hunting a Dolphin? Dolphins are MEN's best friend in the waters! Dolphins are great so why hunt them? I'm against whaling!

[Sarapva]

Yes, so am I. I'll try putting up the web sites now. The video of the Taiji dolphin hunt is at:

www.glumbert.com/media/dolphin

The petition to try to stop the dolphin hunts:

www.petitiononline.com/golfinho

I think it's not so much the hunting itself (though that is a problem) that people dislike as much as the way it's done, with no regard to the suffering that the whales and dolphins obviously go through while being slaughtered slowly and thoughtlessly.

[Taiko666]

I've mentioned the dolphin hunt (in the most diplomatic way I could) to a number of Japanese friends, and none of them had any idea the hunt existed. In fact, some of them were angry that I would even suggest that such a hunt exists. When I furnished them with proof, their reactions ranged from shock & disgust, to anger with me for 'criticizing Japan.'

It's the same with many of Japan's less agreeable aspects: the Japanese media doesn't mention them, so most Japanese are completely unaware of them.

[Sarapva]

Thank you, Taiko - it does seem that regular Japanese people somehow need to find out more about these hunts. What do you think would happen if suddenly, let's say, most of the population of Japan found out about the whaling and dolphin hunts? Would there be an uproar, writing to the government, etc?

[dolphin_slaughter]

Dear japanese people,

please sign the following petition against the terrible slaughtering. Please show your politeness that is known worldwide also to these animals.
Here the short movie to the petition can be seen:

www glumbert.com/media/dolphin

And here you can sign the petition. Please help us fighting against this cruelty against animals that cannot fight back themselves.

www petitiononline.com/golfinho/petition.html

Please!


PS: Please add - when you copy the link - the dot after the www

[Sarapva]

The petition now has over half a million signatures!

www.petitiononline.com/golfinho

[made of stone]

Thank you for posting a link to the video, Sarapva. Unfortunately, I think it's similar to one I saw before, and I won't be able to watch it - the last one broke my heart.

I shall certainly be signing the petition.

Actually I don't ever remember hearing why they hunt the dolphins, can anyone enlighten me? Is it for dolphin meat? Or is it a 'by-product' of the whale hunt (similar to the tuna-fishing problem)?

As for whaling itself, it's a rather complicated issue, isn't it?

My experience in Japan is that many of middle-age or over remember whale fondly from their school lunches, but very rarely have it now, if at all. Younger folk aren't that much interested.

I believe that there is very little reported in the Japanese media about the realities of the hunts themselves, just about the international opposition. It's in that sense that i've understood the reaction of some Japanese friends who don't articulate much more than 'Japan has always eaten whale, but the world doesn't want it to anymore'.

My guess is that for most Japanese it's something to be worked out between their government, and those of the rest of the world.

With that in mind, it's important to be very careful about how to approach this topic with Japanese friends and acquaintances, as Taiko says. I've seen foreigners in Japan who constantly had whaling on their agenda and were really quite aggressive when they brought it up, that doesn't help the cause one bit.

This topic has got me thinking about things closer to home, too. Perhaps it's somewhat hypocritical of foreign governments to single out this issue when many of them tolerate conditions for farmed animals at home that would be classified as torture in a human sense?

Will the human race ever get to an 'enlightened' (?) point where there is a Bill of Rights for animals, I wonder?

I'm sorry for going off-topic here. I think I read on another thread that there are many old posts on this theme. If you find interesting comments on any of those, perhaps you could link to them here, Sarapva?

[Sarapva]

Thank you, mos, for your insights on this. I'm not sure that discussing other animals rights in other industries is off topic, though, as it's all about the welfare of living things that can feel pain physically and emotionally. The video does have people around the world shocked and dismayed, as other videos taken undercover at farms, slaughterhouses, etc. Yes, I think it's all interrelated.

I'm not sure how to post particular comments from threads, but these are related threads: Earthangel tells an interesting story about a whale getting rescued from nets in his thread "Another Reason Not to Whale" http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23300

And WhaleRider's thread "Whaling" http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17208 discusses the issue of the suffering of other animals.

In the U.S. there is an Animal Welfare Act where people can get fined or jailed for mistreating an animal, but it doesn't apply to animals on farms that are destined for slaughter. There is also a Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, but that doesn't apply to fowl (chickens, ducks, geese, etc.). There are lots of animals rights groups trying to get this changed: www.peta.org , www.farmsanctuary.com/ , www.upc-online.org/ (United Poultry Concerns)

I think it is a matter of when we, as citizens of the earth, become enlightened, as mos said.

[Sarapva]

The petition now has 642,000 signatures!

www.petitiononline.com/golfinho

I myself find hunting a complicated issue. I like to hunt animals, but would not hunt creatures of the sea such a dolphins or whales.

I am against dolpihin hunting. I am for fox hunting.
. Yes I will sign when I get home. Where I am, I cannot go onto the site as it is an 'Advocacy Group'. Damned websense.

[Sarapva]

Yes, hunting is a complicated issue. I don't have much against hunting for food, but commercial hunting of whales and dolphins and the way they're slaughtered just doesn't seem right. Fox hunting would be okay if it was done like other hunting, but the boxed hunting seems extremely unfair - caging a fox and then letting it go, then hoards of men and dogs going after it - where's the sense of sportsmanship?

[Taiko666]

Originally Posted by Sarapva

Thank you, Taiko - it does seem that regular Japanese people somehow need to find out more about these hunts. What do you think would happen if suddenly, let's say, most of the population of Japan found out about the whaling and dolphin hunts? Would there be an uproar, writing to the government, etc?

Hi Sarapva, sorry for my late reply.

Just about all Japanese know about whaling, and amongst my group of friends, most either approve or just don't really care. In fact, some otherwise completely reasonable friends of mine become almost fanatical in their defense of whaling, citing all sorts of rubbish (in my opinion) like

* It's Japanese tradition! (so what, it was European/American tradition too, but we've moved on because it was *bad* tradition)

* You foreigners are telling Japan what to do!! (yawn)

* When you foreigners hunted whales, you only took the oil then destroyed the carcass. We eat them too! (again, so what? We're talking about *now*)

I've only met one Japanese who *hates* whaling- and that's my girlfriend

As for dolphin hunts- I'm certain that nearly all Japanese people would be disgusted to learn about this. That's why the government/media (the one controls the other) keep quiet about it.

[pipokun]

I don't have much against hunting for food, but commercial hunting of whales and dolphins and the way they're slaughtered just doesn't seem right.

One simple way to overcome the double standard is that you just realise, no matter how many reasonable friends Taiko666 have, they are arrested if they hurt Taiko under the name of pro-whale hunting.

I will never hunt an animal in a boxed way, or with dogs. Arrows, spears and trapping is my sort of thing.
Hunting has become a controversial issue. People did it all the time 100 years ago. Nowadays, people who live away from the countryside just find it horrible.
There is no need for the slaughter commited on dolphins or whales.

[Iron Chef]

I grew up learning to hunt early in my adolescence. Hunting is a big part of my family's heritage. My father was a devoted hunter and in his prime tracked and caught pretty much every major predator you could imagine across the globe. As the years set in and he retired himself to hunting easier game like white tail bucks in northern Michigan where he lived, he spent the better part of 15 years (up until his passing at 73) attempting to bag a trophy buck with ONLY his compound bow and arrow kit. No bait piles, urine scents, etc. Only himself sitting in the blistering cold for hours on end waiting for that single pristine moment of opportunity. It never came... Nevertheless my respect for the man as a hunter was immeasurable because he refused to use a firearm of any sort citing "That would just be unfair to the deer.", heh. Anyways, just thought i'd throw that little anecdote out there.

[Sarapva]

Thanks for all the replies! Taiko666 - Your description of how your friends defend Japan's hunting reminds me of how it is in some other places of the world. In Alaska, which is a state but separate geographically from the rest of the U.S. (like Hawaii) people seem to have that same attitude, only against the rest of the country (instead of the rest of the world), saying that the government and others are trying to tell them what to do. When I lived there I saw lots of instances of people defending their "right" to hunt or do what they wanted without interference or rules.

Dark secrester - I think you're right that people who don't live in the countryside find hunting a terrible thing, when people used to do that all the time. But it's the industries that seem terrible to me - farms that keep thousands of animals in cages their whole lives and kill them in an assembly line kind of way. If I was an animal to be killed, I'd rather be killed by a hunter than live on a factory farm.

Iron Chef - Your father's way of hunting is admirable, to actually think of the animal's point of view in that firearms would be an unfair advantage. It's ironic, in this modern world, where I'm as much to blame as anyone for having a car and contributing to pollution and killing animals - I accidentally hit a deer only a few weeks ago with my car, injuring it badly enough that it had to be put down. It was a big deer, and loomed in front of my car at night before I had a chance to avoid it. I swerved but still hit it, then the car spun around and ended up in the ditch facing the opposite direction. Police and an ambulance came, but I was completely unhurt. I even ended up driving the car home. But of course the deer was a different story. It didn't have a chance against this metal missile going 60 miles an hour. (I'm driving slower at night from now on)

[leonmarino]

Wow, the video has given me shivers. It is indeed a sight we do not seem often. I believe that they have similar hunts in Norway, I saw some newsclip on Dutch tv about that a few years ago.

Anyway, I think the little docu could have done without the depressing music. Also, I highly doubt the fact that "school childeren" walk by as if nothing unusual is happening; it's probably some fisherman's kid. Finally, the fact that "dolphin meat is often packaged as whale meat".. I didn't believe it.

So I did some Googling!! There are actually some restaurants that serve dolphin meat in Japan!! Here is a example. Pretty incredible..

Ah well, if I may be so free to stir thing up a little: I once saw a docu on I believe it was the National Geographic, about group rapes of dolphins. Although they are cute, cuddly and friendly most of the time towards human beings, some species of dolphins (I believe it was the "Flipper" kind) can be very brutal towards its fellow dolphins.

In this docu I saw a group of these dolphins went to a group of spotted dolphins, singled one out, raped her and then pecked her to death. Pretty brutal. So much for my idolized Flipper image.

[Sarapva]

Interesting, leonmarino. I've also heard of apes being violent toward each other, even murdering each other. What could possibly cause animals to do these things to each other? For humans, if you watch murder mysteries (like I do), there's always a motive for murder like money, jealousy, to cover something up or a "crime of passion". Maybe animals also have these dramas going on??