"Gaiatsu" -- definition: A Japanese term for foreign pressure of an economic or financial nature to force changes in Japanese policy. Captain Paul Watson responds to an article by a Japanese activist Toshiaki Morioka, and makes the case for the presence of SSCS Cove Guardians in Taiji. A Message to Toshiaki Morioka from Captain Paul Watson Article by Tosiaki Morioka follows this commentary I am sorry you feel this way, but you do not understand what the Cove Guardians are doing, if you think they are there simply to lecture Japanese fishermen. They are not. They are there to focus international attention on the slaughter of the dolphins and when the Cove Guardians come to Taiji they are there to bring the images home to their respective countries. Sea Shepherd is not anti-Japanese and never has been. We are pro-dolphin. We are in Taiji to support the dolphins and the truth is that these dolphins do not belong to the Japanese people. They are a nation onto themselves and the fishermen of Taiji are viciously assaulting the citizens of this nation of dolphins, killing them, capturing them, torturing them and that Toshiaki, makes what they are doing very much our business. Are you saying that if the Cove Guardians were not in Taiji, the killing would end? I wish that were so but if the Cove Guardians leave Taiji, the only thing that will end is the continued international exposure that the Cove Guardians bring to this cruel massacre. You say, “It is not seen as normal, legitimate or even acceptable for overseas activist groups to operate in this remote corner of Japan as if it were their own backyard.” Yet Japanese whalers go to the Southern Ocean, to an internationally established whale sanctuary and treat this sanctuary like it is their own backyard. Tell me Toshiaki, why is it okay for Japanese whalers to treat the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the Australian Whale Sanctuary like it is their personal slaughterhouse, yet it is not acceptable for the Cove Guardians to bear witness and document and expose the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji? We are not creating a Japanese puppet organization and we have no intention of doing so. We welcome the participation of Japanese citizens but we are not in Japan to create an organization, we are in Taiji to continue to focus worldwide attention on this obscenity that takes place there. We are opposing IMATA and we are opposing the shipment of dolphins by airlines. We are opposing the slaughter of dolphins and pilot whales in the Danish Faeroe Islands and we are opposing whalers in the Southern Ocean and in the North Atlantic. We do not give a damn about what nationality the killers are, and we never have. We have fought dolphin killing, whale killing sadistic killers worldwide from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and what we oppose is the hand that holds the harpoon or knife. The colour and nationality of that hand is unimportant and irrelevant. The killers are homo sapiens and we have a responsibility to oppose any homo sapien that slaughters these intelligent and socially complex sentient beings. This is not about racism. There is only one race and that is the human race and the killers and we are of the same race. It really is between people who kill dolphins and whales and people who wish to stop the killing. It is as simply as that, and tossing accusations of racism into the issue is nothing more than a tactical way of defending the indefensible. Before we came to Taiji in 2003 there was not a single Japanese voice opposing the slaughter. The media did not mention it and the Japanese people were oblivious to it. That is no longer the case. We have made Taiji, this town without pity into a household word around the world, a place now considered with respect to dolphins as every bit as vile as Treblinka or Dachau were to humans. The Japanese government receives tens of thousands of e-mails and letters every year from all around the world and that carries more weight than a few people holding up protest banners in Tokyo. What the Japanese government responds to is “gaiatsu.” This means foreign pressure and every single piece of Japanese legislation dealing with marine conservation has been passed because of gaiatsu. If people in Japan feel that there is rising anti-Japanese sentiment because of the slaughter of dolphins the answer is to stop slaughtering dolphins. We are not creating this anti-Japanese sentiment. It is the slaughter that is creating this animosity. We are merely exposing the horror that is the truth of Taiji. Do you wish to chastise us for being the messengers of truth. If Japan is being viewed by many with anger and even horror it is because of the slaughter, it is not because of us. What you are asking is for us to not speak truth to power. You are asking us to draw down the curtain over Taiji so that the world will once again be blissfully ignorant of the killing. This we will not do. We will not abandon the dolphins. Our objective is to make sure that every dolphin that dies in Taiji is killed before the eyes of the world. We cannot allow the killing to resume in silence. You want us to view the problem from the other side through the eyes of the fishermen of Taiji. That is like asking is to view the crimes of serial killers through the eyes of the psychopaths. Toshiaki, Have you seen the slaughter, have you heard the screams of the dolphins, have you smelt the blood in the air, have you seen the bay turn red with the blood of these beautiful creatures? Do you really think we can simply turn our backs on these dolphins and walk away? If we are being offensive to the fishermen it is because what they are doing is offensive to us, to decency and to our collective dignity as a species. What has been happening in Taiji is a crime against nature and the future of humanity. We will not walk away from it and we will never abandon these dolphins. Yes we have to stop the cruel performances by dolphinariums where these intelligent creatures are enslaved. Movies like The Cove and Blackfish have gone along way in educating people worldwide about the horror of this viciously cruel industry. The Japanese right wing nationalists have seized on this issue to espouse their agenda of hate. As incredible as it seems, they seem to think that linking their cause to slaughter and torture is the most positive media strategy they can deploy. Oh wait, I’m sorry, I forgot that the Japanese right wing nationalist have always been aligned with slaughter, bloodshed, slavery and torture. I’m sure that many Chinese citizens would agree. The Cove Guardians are not hiding their light as you say in a remote corner of Japan. What they see and document is sent out to the entire world and people are noticing, and more so every year. Before we went to Taiji in 2003, no one, absolutely no one knew of this. Today the world is aware of it so you cannot say our efforts in Taiji have not been successful. From an educational and media position the campaign has been hugely successful. You say there is nothing left to do at the cove that requires overseas activists. I am sorry but you are wrong. If the overseas activists leave, the opposition to this slaughter will end. The advantage that overseas activists have over Japanese activists is that the Japanese government cannot intimidate the non-Japanese activists and they have and will continue to intimidate the Japanese activists. Our loyalty is 100% with the dolphins and we will not be intimidated into abandoning them by nationalistic indignation because of the color of our skin or the nationality of our passports. We will not submit and surrender to discrimination. The slaughter of dolphins at Taiji must be ended. It has no place in the 21st century, no place in the civilized world and no place within any human culture. It is a cruel and remorseless senseless immoral waste of life, an obscenity that every human being should oppose if they have any self-respect for themselves as human beings. Thank-you Toshiaki for opposing the killing. You obviously have empathy for these wonderful marine mammals and we appreciate that. We really do, but please do not presume to dismiss us on the grounds that we are not Japanese. The dolphins are not Japanese either. They belong in those waters. It is their home and we as their defenders have every right to be at their side. Statement by Toshiaki Morioka Toshiaki Morioka September 29 [A new focus for dolphin activists visiting Japan?] Like many Japanese activists, seeing the Academy-winning documentary “The Cove” was, for me, a wake-up call to the horrible problem of the dolphin drive hunt in Japan. Until then, we Japanese knew little more than the rest of the world about what went on in that cove in Hatajiri Bay. In this regard, we are deeply grateful to, and hold in high respect, Ric O’Barry and the other activists who created the movie. It is no exaggeration to say that the Tokyo-based group “Action for Marine Mammals” owes its foundation to the enlightenment that their activism brought us. Currently our work centers on opposing the dolphin drive hunts, ending whaling in the Southern Ocean and saving captive marine mammals forced to perform for entertainment. One fundamental difference between the situation in Tokyo and that in Taiji is that Japanese activists are working independently to end the dolphin drive hunt. It goes without saying that the center of dolphin drive hunting is Taiji in Wakayama. However, regardless of how closely the activity in this remote village is monitored, the situation remains unchanged. For foreigners to lecture the fishermen on the inhumanity of the hunt is meaningless. While there is demand (dolphin shows), there will also be a supply (drive hunts). While they have permission to kill some, they will continue to eat dolphin meat. The source of that permission is the government in Tokyo. If there is no change in Tokyo, there will be no change in Taiji. If we cannot reform the center of the nation, awareness and institutions in the provinces will not change either. Sad to say, that’s what kind of country Japan is these days. There is something I’d like to say to the Cove Monitors of SJD, the Cove Guardians of SSCS and other such organizations active in Taiji. It is not seen as normal, legitimate or even acceptable for overseas activist groups to operate in this remote corner of Japan as if it were their own backyard. The current presence and activities of monitors do nothing but contribute to anti-Japanese prejudice, discrimination and hatred. This is neither necessary nor even useful. If you think you are supporting Japanese activists, you are gravely mistaken. Some of your efforts have already been interpreted as an attempt to create an apparently Japanese puppet organization. If you were to view the problem from the other side you would easily understand why the people of Taiji have so far resisted your efforts. Isn’t it time to give serious thought to the sad situation that the efforts of overseas activist organizations in Taiji are having the reverse effect? Instead of hiding your light in this remote corner, why not come to Tokyo and boldly address the government in Kasumigaseki? How about protesting the dolphinariums that are the root of the problem? Why not enlighten the general Japanese public to the problem? There are other places to go and work to be done. Attention needs to be paid to the fact that the root of the crime is not the same as the scene of the crime. In fact, there is nothing left to do at the cove in Taiji that requires overseas activists. I beg you to leave Taiji. If you wish to save the dolphins of Japan, I hope you will cross the fences between organizations and the walls between nations, and combine your efforts with those of Japanese activists here in Tokyo. Together we can change Japan. Action for Marine Mammals representative, Toshiaki Morioka
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 23:39:47 +0000
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