Tag Archives: Japan

BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

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BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan

Kate Nelson Thursday, February 13, 2014 1:52 PM

 BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart who documents the bloody dolphin hunts in Taiji is reportedly locked up at Osaka airport claiming he’s accused of being an ‘eco-terrorist’.

Stewart, who films documentaries about the dolphin hunts in Taiji, said his conditions and the way he has been treated was ‘nothing short of criminal’.

He posted on his Facebook account: “I am locked in a cell room at Osaka airport waiting on an appeal to the high minister regarding my entry into Japan.

“I’m accused of being sea shepherd and an eco terrorist. My footage is not liked in Japan apparently and have been accused of assaulting members of the public.

“In 4 years of being here for the dolphins I have maintained the law and abided by their rules. My words and pictures did the rest. The government of Japan will do anything to protect the rights of the fishermen of Taiji and the barbaric treatment of the animals involved.

“Please share far and wide to bring awareness to this corrupt government and those that want to continue to brutally treat these amazing animals.”

Stewart has visited Japan several times to film the dolphin hunts in Taiji where hundreds of animals are wrestled into nets. Some are killed for meat, others are trapped and sold to aquariums.

Japanese fisherman say the annual hunt is part of their culture.

Writing on his blog last year, he said: “What I learnt from these visits was that we (westerners) cannot stop this war on the oceans. Japan and most of its people have to end this and in some way, make them believe it was their idea. Pressure from outsiders only gets their goat and they become stubborn. I got the impression that if you tell the fishermen to end this atrocity, they tried harder to kill. They are now actually being blasé about the capturing and killing. Yes, tarpaulin is still being used heavily but they are not as vigilant in stopping people from seeing the odd dead dolphin or tail draped outside of the boats that carry the corpses to the butcher house anymore.”

Celebrities Want to Tie Trade Pact to Dolphin Hunt

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http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/celebrities-tie-trade-pact-dolphin-hunt-22385320

WASHINGTON February 6, 2014 (AP)

Associated Press

A group of American celebrities and other activists want President Barack Obama to refuse to sign an international trade agreement until Japan bans the capture and slaughter of dolphins in the fishing town of Taiji.

Backing the effort are Oscar-winning performers Sean Penn, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Charlize Theron as well as TV stars Ellen DeGeneres and William Shatner, and many others.

The Oscar-winning 2009 documentary “The Cove” chronicled the dolphin roundup in Taiji and helped spark protests over the annual hunt and ensuing slaughter. Japanese law allows a hunting season for dolphins, and fishermen defend it as a tradition.

In a letter dated Wednesday that included dozens of names, hip-hop producer Russell Simmons asked the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, to urge Obama not to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, until Japan bans the hunt. Kennedy recently tweeted that she was deeply concerned about the dolphin hunt, which has drawn widespread news coverage.

Simmons’ letter said those signing don’t oppose the TPP but seek to make stopping the dolphin hunt a key factor in negotiations. The free trade agreement is being negotiated by 12 nations that account for about 40 percent of global gross domestic product.

The letter said that corporations have spent the past two years crafting language in the TPP “to serve their interests.”

“Should human compassion not be afforded the same privilege as business interests?” the letter stated. It added: “The world is looking to you, Ambassador Kennedy, and to our government to send a clear message to Japan that this atrocity must be banned now.”

After Kennedy’s tweet, a State Department spokeswoman told reporters that the U.S. was “concerned with both the sustainability and the humaneness of the Japanese dolphin hunts.”

Simmons said more than 600 dolphins have been slaughtered since the hunting season360_yangtze_dolphin_0810 began Sept. 1. Anti-hunt activists reported that dozens of fishermen helped to herd about 250 dolphins into a cove one day last month. Of those, about 40 were eventually killed for their meat. At least 50 others were kept alive for sale to aquariums and others, and the remaining dolphins were released.