Japanese Citizens Save a Whale, While Government Promotes Slaughter

In case there were any doubt that the Taiji dolphin hunter’s activities are not known, condoned or encouraged by the rest of Japanese society, a recent occurrence involving a stranded whale should put these doubts to rest.

On January 21st, Japanese locals rushed to the beach to come to the aid of a stranded sperm whale. Over the course of many hours, the people kept the whale alive, towed her back out to sea, rescued her again after she became entangled in ropes, and kept an eye on her progress. Watch the video below.

Over the course of the Save Japan Dolphins campaign, many people have questioned why the Japanese people do not stand up to the horrors of Taiji. Some even go so far as to blame the entire nation for these crimes and spout awful racial slurs.

But cases like this stranding demonstrate that, as in many other places, there are Japanese people who love and care for cetaceans great and small. The people who rescued this sperm whale took enormous efforts to save this individual. It is unlikely that they condone the killing of dolphins in Taiji or consume the spoils of the annual and illegal whale hunt in the Southern Antarctic Sanctuary (especially given that cetacean consumption in Japan is decreasing by the year). When Japanese people were shown footage of the dolphin slaughter, they reacted with horror and disgust.

The reason these tragedies continue is not because the Japanese people are cruel, bad people. The vast majority either do not know of what is going on, due to media blackouts on the issues, or they feel powerless in the face of the formidable Japanese Fisheries Agency, the well-organized and intimidating Fisheries Union and the frightening Yakuza, Japan’s gangsters.

Racism is especially inappropriate when one considers the many parallels that exist in other countries. In the United States, for example, cows occasionally escape from a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. People come together to rescue the cow, and sometimes send them to sanctuaries. Yet factory farming continues unabated. The meat lobbies in the US have deep ties to Congress, and for years they have modified the FDA dietary guidelines to their liking, instructing everyone to eat more meat so that they can grow their profits. And they quash opposition wherever they can, for example making it illegal to film inside slaughterhouses. Are we to say that each American is to blame for this? Or is it those special interests and government helpers that pulls the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting?

I would argue that most people are inherently good, and will do the right thing when given all of the information – information that is often kept hidden by corruption at the higher echelons of society. The Japanese people who rescued the whale that day had the best of intentions, just as people who support farm sanctuaries and go vegan in the US do. But let’s not forget that places like SeaWorld continue to thrive in both countries.

No one is in a position to lay blanket accusations on citizens of other nations, and that should never be forgotten. We can confront the dolphin hunters and the Japanese government for the slaughter in Taiji, without tarring all the Japanese people with the same brush.

Watch this news clip:

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