Save Japan Dolphins !!

Why do I say "Save Japan Dolphins" on my food blog?! 
It's a very food related topic. I'll explain the reason why.

I do want you to watch the Oscar-winning movie "The Cove". The movie was created to "save Japan dolphins" by exposing what was and is happening at the little cove in Japan. I couldn't watch without tears. It's a great but sad documentary movie to show horrible dolphin slaughters in Taiji, Japan. The cove is purposely hidden and guarded from the public - even to Japanese. I'm a Japanese from Tokyo who used to live there 20 years. I'm a big time foodie as you know. I know there's few places you can eat a whale in Japan but it's rare. It's a tradition in certain areas. But I've NEVER heard of eating dolphins in Japan, I swear!! In the movie, they interviewed many Japanese in Japan whether if they knew about the dolphin slaughter in Japan or not. They all said no and wanted to stop this like me. I didn't know this is happening in Japan till I watched the movie. I was embarrassed and shamed of it as a Japanese. This movie torn me hard... I'm a hardcore animal eater and foodie, but it makes even me think about becoming a vegetarian, which is so crazy to me.... 

I don't know why but somehow I always love dolphin since I was a kid. It's not just cute. I love the shape, the way they move, and how smart they are... I'm fascinated by them. Dolphin is my dream pet - I always wish I could swim with my dolphin like the movie...lol. When I body boarded in Australia, 3 dolphins included a little one swam right next to me!! I was so scared when I saw them at first because they could be sharks. They were so playful and jumped a few times close to me. Especially water in Australia was crystal clear and you can see EVERYTHING. I still remember their big bodies and the little baby dolphin swam right underneath me... It was so great...;) Every summer my family went to Okinawa, which is in a southern part of Japan, for vacation. We always went to "Kaiyo-haku", which is one of the greatest aquariums (at least for me) in Japan. They got a big dolphin pool with a window. I loved to stand right in front of the window to watch the dolphins for a long time... They always came to the window and smiled at me - they seemed so happy to see me ;) I do believe they were happy to interact people. 

Let's get back to about the movie:
In Taiji, the largest dolphin slaughter is happening - more than 20,000 dolphins per year. Taiji is known as the biggest dolphin seller to the world - aquariums, resorts and the dolphin entertainment venues. There's certain specifics to train the dolphins easier. Those dolphins that meet the requirement are sold like $15,000 or something like that per dolphin. But the rest of the dolphins that didn't meet the standards are slaughtered as a meat and are sold for $600 or 700 per dolphin. As I told you, eating a whale is rare in Japan, which drives the meat price high. Nobody knows about eating dolphins in Japan, so the dolphin meat must be cheap, I assume. (In the movie, it seemed like only little areas around Taiji eat dolphins.) The movie exposed that some bad fishermen sell dolphin meats labeled as a whale meat for higher profits. I'm sorry if the numbers were wrong. But I believe those are about right. The point is dolphins for dolphin entertainment businesses drives this cove and the dolphins here crazy. 

The way the fishermen capture the dolphins is horrible. They capture them with huge nets, force them to get closer to the cove. The captured dolphins were crying for life. It's not a few - TONS OF THEM at a time. The sounds are quite horrifying... After they made them close to the edge of the cove, they pick the ones for selling to the dolphin entertainment business - more expensive ones. The rest were poked by the long sticks till they die. They don't die instantly. It's a slow and cruel slaughter. The cove is quite small in size by the movie. But the little cove gets so red because of the dolphin blood as pictures shown. I've never seen "RED ocean" like this.... NEVER. It's real and happening in Japan, which disgusts me a lot more as a Japanese... You can also watch this video: Dolphin slaughter video

As you know, dolphin is in a higher food chain - they eat tons of fish and sea shells. Dolphin contains a toxic leveled mercury. Eating dolphin IS NOT SAFE. In the movie, they even tested how high the toxic level the meat was. It was kinda funny and ironic that the person who encouraged the dolphin slaughter (and of course eat dolphin!) on the goverment level had a very high mercury in his body!!!!! You know how horrible what mercury does???? Mercury caused one of the 3 biggest industrial diseases in Japanese history - "Minamata disease" (Picture on the left). In the mid 50s, people in Minamata who ate fish from the bay got sick. People had numbness in their limbs and lips. Some had difficulty in hearing and seeing. Others developed shaking (tremors) in their arms and legs, difficulty walking, even brain damage. They didn't know what was happening to them till they figured out the chisso corporation, which is a large petrochemical plant, dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compunds into the bay.... Do you still want to eat dolphin with high level mercury???


Like I said, this is not just about the dolphin slaughter. It's also a warning how dangerous to eat dolphin. Dolphin is not some food that we must eat and can farm-harvest like cows and pigs. WE DON'T NEED IT, and WE SHOULDN'T EAT IT - it's dangerous to your body!! 


As a Japanese and foodie, I want you to know these facts and spread the word to the world so that we can stop this madness. I'm ashamed of this as a Japanese. But I'm the one of the many Japanese who are against this - most of us won't allow this. We just didn't know... till now. I'll support this campaign as a Japanese and dolphin lover. Help us stop this - if we can get together, we can stop this quicker. Petitions, donate, spread words etc. It's very easy to do. Dolphins are our friends, not a food. Please help me to save Japan dolphins. 


What you can do to stop this: 
Official Ric O'Barry's website
SaveJapanDolphins.org
Petition for the Cove
Donate and petitions