I have sided with China and North Korea in the past. I was staying at the Friendship Hotel when I taught in Beijing, then suffering from the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. I heard that their restaurant was going to serve dog meat. As I went to look atContinue Reading
In the interview, Dr. Ohsumi emphasized that “sustainable whaling” with responsible human management of the whale resources is the ideal option, if one considers the overall issues in the global environment. Discussing Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, he elaborated on the organization’s future
Following its withdrawal from the International Whaling Committee (IWC), Japan started having an active commercial whaling industry again starting in July, but only within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The decision to withdraw from the IWC offers Japan a golden opportunity to awaken from its postwar illusions about international organizations. Undoubtedly, Japan will be bombarded with criticism by the anti-whaling countries and radical environmental groups.
The movie Behind ‘THE COVE’ presents the audience with facts about how the Japanese have lived alongside whales since the ancient times as well as the historical context of the whaling culture.
In the great ocean, a lamafa (whale hunter) engages in battle with a whale to humbly and gratefully take its life. This intense scene was captured by Japanese photographer Bon Ishikawa,
Japanese film director Keiko Yagi got the award for Best Director at the 2018 London International Filmmaker Festival for her documentary film ‘Behind THE COVE.’ Ms Yagi produced the film in 2015 to counter The Cove, which received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010.
People from the US, the UK, and Australia—countries that are especially concerned about the whaling problem—have told me that the film was eye-opening.
It happened in the lush woodland area of Khimki, near Moscow, late at night in July 2012. Someone set the heavy equipment on fire in the construction site for a new highway leading from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the second capital of Russia.
After the announcement of Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, the media in Europe, the United States, and Oceania all criticized Japan with emotion-based arguments presented in the editorials of internationally-renowned newspapers.
