It has been seven years since the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove thrust a Japanese town’s annual dolphin hunt into the spotlight and brought international condemnation. Now fishermen from the town of Taiji are speaking to the Western media about how they feel they have been wrongly portrayed.
Their voices are emerging just as the usual battle lines are being drawn this week at the International Whaling Commission as it stages its biennial commission meeting in Portoroz, Slovenia.
As the world marks the 70th anniversary of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the 30th anniversary of the global ban on commercial whaling, there are nations that fiercely oppose any changes to these agreements, and there are those wanting a relaxation of the rules.
The IWC meetings attract intense interest from environmentalists, not least for the broader conflict with Japan. Despite the ban on commercial whaling, Japan continued what it called a “scientific” whale hunt. It then lost a ruling on the issue at the International Court of Justice in 2014, but continued its hunt this year on a reduced scale only to face renewed criticism.
Dolphins also fall under the IWC mandate, which is where Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen and the fishermen of Taiji, Wakayama prefecture, come into the equation.
There’s a delegation from the coastal Japanese town in Slovenia this week, as they face continued pressure from environmental groups such as Dolphin Project and Earth Island Institute to end an annual dolphin kill the fishermen say is part of a 400-year-old unique culture.
Taiji gained global notoriety in 2009 when The Cove documentary caused a sensation with its footage of the slaughter of the dolphins after they are driven close to the shore and the sea turns red with their blood.
We don’t necessarily want people to agree with what we do. We just want them to hear our voice
— Kazutaka Sangen
But the fishermen remained quiet, even as the film was criticized in some quarters for the singular way in which they were cast.
Seven years later, though, and Taiji mayor Sangen and the fishermen are speaking to the western media about the impact The Cove had, and about how they feel they have been wrongly portrayed.
They realize the weight of public opinion — internationally at least — might be against them, but they want to have their say.
“We don’t necessarily want people to agree with what we do,” Sangen said. “We just want them to hear our voice. Kids in Taiji grow up wanting to be a hunter, a whaler. We never imagined growing up this way was a bad thing.
“But in today’s world we realize showing the slaughtering of any animals is a bad thing. That’s why you never see the slaughter of cows or chickens. We’ve learned and we are trying to understand people’s sensitivities. We are an isolated area and this change in thinking hadn’t reached us until recently. So maybe The Cove was a wake-up call.”
Sangen was among a delegation from Taiji that traveled to the 21st Busan International Film Festival earlier this month, there for the world premiere of A Whale Of A Tale, which featured in the event’s main documentary competition.
Its director — New York-based Japanese filmmaker Megumi Sasaki who was behind the movie titled Herb And Dorothy on art collectors — said she had seen The Cove, and had thought there was more to the story.
“It’s such a powerful film I knew it would affect world views,” said Sasaki. “I totally understand where The Cove comes from, but the world should know there is another voice.
“There was no voice, no information about this rich culture. I knew it was such a touchy and sensitive subject, but I was really frustrated about why nobody on the Japanese side spoke up.”
Sasaki makes considerable effort throughout her film to present both sides of the story, but what becomes increasingly apparent is that while there are rational arguments presented from both sides, there’s no common ground found for discussion.
“I didn’t want to impose my ideas,” she said. “I wanted to present both sides and let the audience think and feel and decide. It’s a very complicated issue. Not accepting another point of view is a dangerous thing, and it’s happening all over the world at the moment. We have to coexist.”
Yoshiharu Kai, head of the Taiji Fishermen’s Union, was also in Busan and has since traveled on to the IWC gathering in Slovenia.
He said the relatively small annual kill — 2,000 dolphins out of the 20,000 allowed annually under Japanese law — and the fact none of the species targeted were on endangered or threatened lists meant the practice was sustainable. More so, they were part of the fabric of Taiji society.
“This is our culture,” said Kai. “We want people to appreciate this and to listen to our side of this story.”
Wish the entire town learn to coexist with nature and try to encash using Whale n Dolphin sea trips instead of senseless killings.Lean to respect nature or someday nature will strike back
Actually you are mistaken – westerners do protest and try to stop the finning of sharks, the killing if rhinos and elephants, the killing of rays and pangolins….the dog meat trades D bear bike farming . There are so many that fall victim to the Asian appetite for status and "traditional" medicines. It’s fact.
Dolphins and whales are not fish as said prior. The meat is poisoned with mercury and is no longer needed to supplement the Japanese diet! It’s that simple. #NoHonor #KnowShame #Taiji
Catherine HoyThat is pure vegan lies, if our ancestors had not eaten meat, specifically cooked meat we would not be the way we are today, there is a ton of things we need that is in meat, that just is not avialable in plants, I know you will argue your point till you re dead no matter how wrong you are, but a plant based dieat involves a ton of vitamins and supplements to ctually be healthy, I will Agree we all should eat less meat you and I know the vast majority of people who try to go vegan fail becuase of health reasons from listening to people like you who will say all you need is plants and nto say shit about the vitamins and tons of other supplements they will need.
Is the slaughter of a cow any different to killing a dolphin? NO, I hate the meat eaters, hope they all got malignant cancer at the end of the day as KARMA which human really deserve it
if they want to claim it’s traditional. ket them do it the traditional way,no engines on their boats and so on
#DontBuyATicket to a dolphin show.
These "fishermen" afford traveling from their tiny town of Taiji Japan ONLY because the real story of dolphin hunting in Taiji is the big money they get for pretty dolphins they take away from their family pod and train to do unnatural shows in aquaria and dolohinariums in Russia, Japan and China.
We love dolphins,,we dont want u to kill them,,,please stop
Well first of all dophins are not fish! Second why even hunt dolphins? Their meat is toxic for human consumption like shark and whale! 3rd just because they are not on the endangered list doesn’t mean you should hunt them, because very soon they will be on the endangered list! Whales, dolphins and sharks are all very important to the ocean and reefs without them the sea will be dead. And you just don’t kill something that would most likely save you from drowning or being eaten by a shark! And this is not a tradition thats a load of crap! The ancient race called the dophin and whale spirit and guardian of the sea.
There is no 400 year old tradition of selling dolphins to theme parks etc. If there wasn’t the huge money in the selling of live animals, there would be no need to defend the ‘fishing’, it would simply be uneconomic to continue ‘fishing’.
400 Years old dolphing killing tradition!? Please tell this story for little kids. Maybe, just maybe they believe.
Michael Klopman sorry but human physiology is adapted for plant based diets. human socailly conditioned mentality is another kettle of fish, so to speak.
We cannot change the Japanese government’s stand , but we can perhaps petition the US and other governments to pursue litigation against Japan.
I find shark slaughter repulsive, as most is done just for the fin, with the sharks left to die slowly.
In general, East Asians treat animals abominably. South Asians are certainly more civilized in that regard.
But unless one is willing to go vegan, which is not justified by human physiology, a line has to be drawn somewhere.
Even if the dolphins were just "stupid fish" the meat is highly contaminated, and the Japanese government is extremely irresponsible for letting them sell it for human consumption. If it were properly labeled then no one in Japan would buy it and the fisherman would stop.
Cowardly westerners attack the Japanese but remain silent on Chinese catching sharks. Most of the same westerners probably eat beef and pork, too.
These are not poor fishermen but very rich ones who profits from the misery and slavery of centient beings. They earn millions of dollars each season by selling captured dolphins to marine parks. There is no need to kill and yet they continue to do so. It’s their killing lust. I have nothing but digusts for these so called fishermen when they laugh as they slaughter/drown the dolphins shown through live streaming by the cove monitors and guardians. Or how the trainers laughingly decides the fate of the captured dolphins. if this is culture, it’s high time to end it. It had no place in the 21st century. Miss Sasaki claimed to be fair in her portrayal of the other side. I think not. This is film paid for by the rich fishermen for Taijias the IWC meets shortly.
You are right and they need to be stopped! These people are hideous and disgusting.
I’m no eco-nut, but we’re not talking about "fishermen" here.
Cetaceans are not fish — they’re intelligent mammals.
It’s time for the people of this town to chart another course. Humans are allegedly the most intelligent beings on Earth, so doing that should be a piece of cake.