After watching The Cove, I went to their site, clicked on “What Can You Do” which lead me to their sister site which gave “5 Thing You Can Do Now.” I went down the list and did them all and then created a 6th action. I emailed all my Japanese friends, students, and teacher friends I knew and I could find in my address book to ask questions and try to understand their perspective. After all they are living, working, and|or ARE Japanese. I asked their permission to share their replies, so we can each make up our own minds on what to do next, now that we know. (All responses will remain anonymous. I thank them for their honesty and truth.)
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More about The Cove:
"Off the coast of Japan dolphins and porpoises are driven to a horrible fate. The most attractive are chosen for a life in captivity, the others are brutally killed. Their meat which contains toxic levels of mercury is sold as food. The majority people of Japan don't even know this is happening. Please help us end this senseless slaughter. Please help us in getting the word out. Please join us in getting the word out. Help us get the word out. To find out more got to www.takepart.com/thecove. We are their biggest threat and their only hope." [~ My Friend is...]
Click here for the video My Friend is….
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The email I sent:
Subject:
I trust you and value your opinion so I come to you about this | The Cove
Hello,
I finally saw The Cove yesterday. And I thought of my Japanese friends and expats living in Japan….what is your perspective on this?
I just asked a few friends the same question and was a little disheartened by the reply. What are your thoughts. And I ask so I can help to understand. Never to point fingers. To really understand. Because one thing I take from this tour and traveling around the world is that there are many truths, many perspectives, and as Michael Franti sings…"the more places I go the less I know." so I ask you my friend, what do you say about The Cove?
Thank you in advance for helping me to understand from someone I value having met, who can make a difference...you.
Love, Twee
Http://www.thecovemovie.com/
Hey Twee,
Thank you your honesty. Yes, there are many perspectives.
1. A Japanese conservative says" I read the interview of the director, he insists that the problem resembles Auschwitz. That is ridiculous
And crazy. "
2. The other hand, my yogi friend says "Japan is wrong and I do have to say that we are all one energy and even if we are born in one country that does not mean that country needs our protection if they are acting against human or animal rights. "
And more and more.....
I am vegetarian and also proud of Japanese cultures and people.
So, i understand both aspects, and there is nothing good or bad, everything is perfect as you know.
It is really valued to listen humbly to a broad range of opinions for me.
Thank you very much again for giving an opportunity to think about it.
Much love,
(my Japanese friend)
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Hi Twee,
Good to hear from you. I feel privileged that you are seeking my opinion. I have not seen The Cove but I have read quite a bit about it.
I’m still struggling to make an opinion about the whole thing. I have been working more a
nd more in Japan (up to 2 weeks every month this year). The more time I spend there the more I understand we (with our western backgrounds) are wired in such a different way.
Our societies have evolved in different directions. Bizarrely I’ve been making a parallel between the Japanese society and the evolution of the animal kingdom in Australia. Both have evolved in total seclusion for centuries: Japan was closed to the outside world from the early 1600s until the second part of the 1800s during the Edo Era, which moved to a m
uch stricter society. The oddity of kangaroos, koalas and venomous everything else is quite easy to observe. The same trends in the intricacies of the organization and norms of society in Japan took place. I guess my point, is that during that time our societies evolved in a very different directions.
This difference in mindset also baffled the American generals at the end of WWII. When the U.S. started invading Japan, in Saipan, only very few Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. In the last, desperate months of the war, this image was also applied to Japanese civilians. To the horror of
American troops advancing on Saipan, they saw mothers clutching their babies hurling themselves over the cliffs rather than be taken prisoner. Not only were there virtually no survivors of the 30,000 strong Japanese garrison on Saipan, two out of every three civilians - some 22,000 in all - also died.
I’ve read that this observation was a deciding factor in dropping the A bombs in Japan. The idea of invading Japan and being faced with this behaviour across the entire country was barely conceivable. It would come at a great cost of life and finance for a very painful and draining process that would take years. I’m not justifying the use of the A bomb, this is more of a statement. [I have not had a chance to go to Hiroshima yet. I want to visit the peace memorial park and understand more the decision process and the ethi
cal aspect of the decisions that changed the world.]
That attachment to traditions and the way things are done are still very present today. We are taught to challenge, argument, plead, defend ideas and points of views from a very early age. That seed is not cultivated in Japanese education. My Japanese colleagues make a clear distinction between Japanese people educated abroad and those who were brought up in Japan. Those with western influence are looked down on, if you have a proactive (which usually comes across as provocative) you will be set aside. That attachment to traditions is very clear when you visit Kyoto. Tokyo is very modern because it has been destroyed by natural disasters and the Second World War, not because that is what society wants.
Mr. Kan was appointed last week as the new PM of Japan, as the previous PM Mr. Hatoyama resigned after just 8 months in office. He had been elected on the election promise of ge
tting rid of the American army base in Okinawa. A legally binding contract had been signed a few years prior between the countries. In addition the strategically relationship between the 2 countries made it clear to the rest of the world, that it would be impossible to revert the obligation the government had already entered into.
Pragmatism as we see it does not seem to be perceived in the same way by Japan. On the other hand by electing the a new party of 50 years of ruling by the conservative party, the voters are timidly saying they want a change at least from a 12 yr economic downturn and embedded corruption and a system plagued by political pressures from a selected few corporations.
I guess where I am going with this is the implied change from The Cove documentary go
es against every single instinct of their natural way of thinking. On the other hand, schools have stopped serving dolphin meat to children. So maybe change is coming, let’s hope.
It’s easy to point fingers at a problem that we don’t have and say you should change. So after having gone on for quite a while, I don’t what to think nor what we should do about it, or if we even have a right to point a finger and judge these horrors (that’s me judging).
All the best,
(my expat friend working in Japan)
Hi Twee,
I watched The Cove clip you sent...I was quite disgusted by what I saw (but I was not surprised)....I'm not sure what your question is...if your question is does this really happen in Japan - the answer is yes...I have read enough about this general topic....tuna is going on the endangered species list however it is still easily available in sushi sho
ps...whale meat can be purchased in food
stores etc. despite the hunting ban.... When it comes to fish, Japanese seem to have their own perspective -they believe they are different than other people in the world and can do what they want...they have little connectivity to a global community concept.
Love,
(my expat friend working in Japan)
I conclude by asking each of you to consider your relationship to animals, including these gorgeous dolphins (as featured in The Cove).
If you are currently eating animals, would you please considering eating animals only once a week. If you are currently only eating fish and no other animals, would you please consider eating fish only once a week. You will soon feel the difference that we, who have chosen a life of non-harming of animals have experienced, which includes increased health, vitality, compassion (for strangers, family, friends, ourselves + of course animals), and a greater clarity of inner vision and intuition.
And before considering any of this…can you please first ask yourself “What is my intention for doing so,” and “How will this conscious action add to my own happiness, the happiness of others, and the happiness of all beings on the planet?”
May we all continue to be change agents in our own unique way, to be open to change, and be open to others changing in their own unique way and at their own unique pace. May we give space for change to happen. May we continue to ask questions for the sake of peace, rather than go into battle with judgments. May we want to understand by asking questions and really listening to the answers. And may we all live freely with the animals on our planet who are also living freely as a reflection of our own embodied choices.
Om Lokah Samasthah Sukhino Bhavanthu
(May Peace + Happiness Prevail for All Beings)
Love, Twee
~ Eoin Finn, yoga teacher friend + surfer
