Hayden Panettiere in Japan to Aid Dolphins
"Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere and her boyfriend, world champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko, received a chilly reception Friday in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, where they called for an end to its annual dolphin hunt.
The celebrity couple arrived in the morning with a small group of environmental activists.
Panettiere said she wanted to meet the mayor and representatives from the local fisheries union, but she and Jeff Pantukhoff, an anti-whaling activist from the U.S., were blocked by two officials at the door of the town hall.
"We are trying to peacefully come up with better ideas as to how to generate income and utilize the nature here," Panettiere told reporters. "We've been to Taiji before and it's a beautiful place with beautiful wildlife."
The group then moved on to the fisheries union, but it was closed. Local fishermen also refused to talk to them.
"We just wanted to have a very peaceful and relaxed conversation," Panettiere said.
Her visit to Taiji comes just weeks after "The Cove," a gory depiction of Taiji's dolphin slaughter, won the Oscar for best documentary.
Fishermen in the village on the rocky coast of southwest Japan consider the hunt a proud legacy. But it has long been targeted by hardcore environmentalists and animal lovers, and the Oscar has given the opposition more mainstream attention.
"This is going to be a tourist centre for dolphin killings," said local activist Steve Thompson, who helped organize the trip.
Panettiere, who plays an indestructible cheerleader on the hit U.S. TV series "Heroes," is also the spokeswoman for the "Save the Whales Again!" campaign, which wants to halt Taiji's dolphin hunt. The campaign cites studies that show dolphin meat contains dangerously high levels of mercury and is unsafe to eat, and says killing the animals is cruel and unnecessary.
The 20-year-old actress also protested the Taiji hunt in 2007, when along with five other surfers she paddled out into the cove where the hunt takes place in a peaceful protest that was broken up by fisherman. Scenes from that encounter are briefly shown in "The Cove."
The Japanese government allows about 19,000 dolphins to be killed each year. Taiji hunts about 2,000 dolphins every year for meat - less than other places - but is singled out in part because of its "oikomi" method of herding and killing them near the shore. Some are captured and sold to aquariums and dolphin shows at water parks.
Residents once welcomed foreign visitors, but in recent years have grown weary of what they feel are one-sided portrayals and grisly snapshots shown out of context. Overzealous protesters and photographers are occasionally approached and scolded by rough-and-tumble locals looking to defend their town's reputation.
As the group arrived, a truck of right-wing nationalists blasted slogans, saying Japan should not be singled out for whaling and dolphin hunts because Westerners "are killing cows." They also demanded President Barrack Obama apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
There were no clashes between the environmentalists and the townspeople.
Klitschko, the six-foot, five inch (196 centimetre) heavyweight boxing champion, who just last week recorded his 48th knockout in defending his WBO and IBF belts, towered over everyone as he quietly took in the day's events.
The group was due to talk to reporters on a beach in the afternoon, near the cove where the town herds dolphins to harvest them. John Quigley, an "aerial artist" who creates large works of art that can be viewed from the sky, planned to make a giant outline of a dolphin on the sand.
While Panettiere seemed likely to give the one-day protest a strong publicity boost, some questioned whether it would have any affect on persuading locals to abandon their hunt.
"The more pressure we put on them, the more they will pull back and cut us off," said Chiho McBennett, a Japanese mother who travelled with the group out of concern over the mercury issue.
AP The celebrity couple arrived in the morning with a small group of environmental activists.
Panettiere said she wanted to meet the mayor and representatives from the local fisheries union, but she and Jeff Pantukhoff, an anti-whaling activist from the U.S., were blocked by two officials at the door of the town hall.
"We are trying to peacefully come up with better ideas as to how to generate income and utilize the nature here," Panettiere told reporters. "We've been to Taiji before and it's a beautiful place with beautiful wildlife."
The group then moved on to the fisheries union, but it was closed. Local fishermen also refused to talk to them.
"We just wanted to have a very peaceful and relaxed conversation," Panettiere said.
Her visit to Taiji comes just weeks after "The Cove," a gory depiction of Taiji's dolphin slaughter, won the Oscar for best documentary.
Fishermen in the village on the rocky coast of southwest Japan consider the hunt a proud legacy. But it has long been targeted by hardcore environmentalists and animal lovers, and the Oscar has given the opposition more mainstream attention.
"This is going to be a tourist centre for dolphin killings," said local activist Steve Thompson, who helped organize the trip.
Panettiere, who plays an indestructible cheerleader on the hit U.S. TV series "Heroes," is also the spokeswoman for the "Save the Whales Again!" campaign, which wants to halt Taiji's dolphin hunt. The campaign cites studies that show dolphin meat contains dangerously high levels of mercury and is unsafe to eat, and says killing the animals is cruel and unnecessary.
The 20-year-old actress also protested the Taiji hunt in 2007, when along with five other surfers she paddled out into the cove where the hunt takes place in a peaceful protest that was broken up by fisherman. Scenes from that encounter are briefly shown in "The Cove."
The Japanese government allows about 19,000 dolphins to be killed each year. Taiji hunts about 2,000 dolphins every year for meat - less than other places - but is singled out in part because of its "oikomi" method of herding and killing them near the shore. Some are captured and sold to aquariums and dolphin shows at water parks.
Residents once welcomed foreign visitors, but in recent years have grown weary of what they feel are one-sided portrayals and grisly snapshots shown out of context. Overzealous protesters and photographers are occasionally approached and scolded by rough-and-tumble locals looking to defend their town's reputation.
As the group arrived, a truck of right-wing nationalists blasted slogans, saying Japan should not be singled out for whaling and dolphin hunts because Westerners "are killing cows." They also demanded President Barrack Obama apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
There were no clashes between the environmentalists and the townspeople.
Klitschko, the six-foot, five inch (196 centimetre) heavyweight boxing champion, who just last week recorded his 48th knockout in defending his WBO and IBF belts, towered over everyone as he quietly took in the day's events.
The group was due to talk to reporters on a beach in the afternoon, near the cove where the town herds dolphins to harvest them. John Quigley, an "aerial artist" who creates large works of art that can be viewed from the sky, planned to make a giant outline of a dolphin on the sand.
While Panettiere seemed likely to give the one-day protest a strong publicity boost, some questioned whether it would have any affect on persuading locals to abandon their hunt.
"The more pressure we put on them, the more they will pull back and cut us off," said Chiho McBennett, a Japanese mother who travelled with the group out of concern over the mercury issue.
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But they did not want to talk to her.
We have to understand those local area men are not really communicate free.
And they are usually not so easy for even Japanese people.
The fact many Japanese did not know some local minorities ate dolphins.
The fact many Japanese aquariums have dolphins , and many people might be so shock this issue
just like me.
what can I do for them?
I don't want somebody eat dolphins too. It's weird to me who grew up in japan.
China tries to ban to eat cats and dogs because they start to have dogs and cats as pets.
They became richer and they don't need to eat dogs and cats anymore.
with this reason, Taiji fishermen also not necessary to keep continue on fishing dolphin.
I wrote Japanese history which erea 's samurais were against Japanese old edo shogun also
USA in 17 centuries.
Whale hunters leave from Yamaguchi pref. the place used to produce anti- Americans when American first visited Japan with black ferry.
I believe why those people don't want to reduce hunting whale numbers, because they are not easy to
accept western people say just like those minority samurai of Yamaguchi used to attack American black ferry.
But not all Japanese do this way.
Some samurais in the Kyusyu and tohoku area , they are foreigner friendly even in 17 centuries.
japanese are not all same.
and each area has each history.
It might help you to understand why minority whale hunters and supporters are not easy to talk.
...and I am sure they appreciate it...especially all the cameras...
Better to try at something you belive in than to do nothing at all.
I do agree with porcine_aviator about the Japanese nationalists. Japan showed no concern--we might say Zero concern with their Zeros--for other cultures in Asia during WWII. Japanese citizens need to come to terms with their history in Asia, including in Singapore/Malaysia (1940s Malaya). At that time, the Japanese were slaughtering people--not just dolphins. The ethnic Chinese in Malaya were some of their victims. "Operation Clean-up" was a Kempeitai ???, Japanese military police payback for Malayan Chinese support for supporting China in its resistance to the Japanese militarists. Many families in Singapore/Malaysia have missing loved ones in their family histories. The Japanese militarists of the period--and now these nationalists with their denials--can be held accountable for trying to put the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing in place of the full-record of Imperial Japan's actions in Asia.
But again, on the issue of Westerners showing up in Japanese communities. They need to find more prominent Japanese citizens to take the lead. Otherwise, it's just going to backfire.
Dear Japan:
When you actually atone for Pearl Harbor, the rape of Nanking, the forced prostitution of 400,000 Koreans and Chinese, the Bataan Death March, etc. etc. etc. then maybe just maybe we'll consider talking about doing what we had to do to shut down your war machine.
Until then, just consider what happens if we decide to abandone your sorry @ss to take on the North Koreans and Chinese yourself. Best of luck morons.