Our Activism in Taiji: Present and Future

My name is Ren Yabuki from the Japanese environmental NGO Life Investigation Agency (LIA). I would like to take this opportunity to talk about LIA’s campaign in Taiji Town.

Since 2017, LIA has been working with Dolphin Project to try to end the dolphin drive hunts in Taiji Town, Wakayama Prefecture. The small, coastal town is one of the most infamous towns in the world for its atrocities against wild dolphins migrating along the coast of Japan.

Since 2020, I became a resident of Taiji to document the hunts on behalf of Dolphin Project members who were unable to come to Japan due to the border closure caused by the pandemic. Every day during the 6-month hunting season, we stood on the front lines, live streaming the hunts as they happened on social media platforms, hoping to raise awareness of the issues to people in Japan and around the world. We also gathered information including the number of dolphins captured and slaughtered, what type of species and how many, and also investigated all aspects of the dolphin trade business in Taiji Town.

We also responded to media interviews, pitched information to encourage the media to cover stories, and wrote opinion pieces for major media outlets, hoping to inform as many people about the reality of dolphin hunting that continues to this day. We also managed to write an op-ed for a major Japanese news online publication. This was the first time such a story went out on major local media from the perspective of an activist. It was viewed by millions, and received a great amount of response on social media. Many of the comments were, surprisingly, very sympathetic to our message and many actually voiced opposition to dolphin hunting. We felt that the times were gradually changing, even in Japan.

Japanese activists protest the dolphin hunts, Taiji, Japan. Credit: Japan Dolphins Day/Facebook

In addition, over the past few years we have seen many Japanese people stand up for animals, become activists, protest in front of aquariums and in the streets all across Japan every week to inform people about the reality of dolphin shows. LIA supports Japanese citizens working to spread this information. We are very proud of them.

All of these are the result of the dedication Dolphin Project has been pouring into Taiji Town since 2003, when very few of the Japanese people cared about the issue. We would like to express our sincere respect once again to Dolphin Project, who has spent a great deal of effort and money working on behalf of the Japanese people to address the problem of Japan and for working with many Japanese to accomplish this.

Unfortunately, reality is not that simple. Dolphin hunting is still going on and will resume again this year for a new season starting September 5. We believe the main reasons for this are: people still pay to attend dolphin shows, the Wakayama Prefecture and the Japanese government still issues permits to hunt wild dolphins, and most major media outlets have become government propaganda machines.

We feel that simply live streaming the bloody reality of dolphins in Taiji Town within our social platforms, at this point does not really spread information beyond the inner circle of people who already know the issue, and the speed of change will be too slow. No matter how many countries ban dolphin shows, unfortunately in Japan, new aquariums are still being built, and the awareness of animal rights has not improved enough. If we wait for the change to spontaneously occur with the passage of time, it will be too late.

In addition, I can say with certainty that the root of this problem is not only the dolphin hunters. It is also the aquarium industry and dolphin trainers who are deceiving people using live animals to make money, people in power who are profiting from selling wild dolphins, Taiji Town, Wakayama Prefecture, and the Japanese government who are complicit in this industry, even though they are supposed to be neutral serving everyone in society.

Ren live streaming during typhoon September 18, 2021. Credit: LIA

Dolphin Project and LIA have been discussing such concerns since the previous season and concluded that a different approach should be taken to combat this problem.

One such approach is prosecution and lawsuits.

Dolphin Project and LIA have already filed several complaints and lawsuits against Taiji Town, the dolphin hunters, Isana Fishery Association, and dolphin attraction facilities.

One such lawsuit is against Taiji Town over their decision to redact its documents. In September 2021, I filed a request to Taiji for disclosure of public records related to the town’s dolphin trade, including the data stored in Taiji Whale Museum. However the town responded with a large volume of documents that were mostly redacted. I filed a lawsuit to the Wakayama District Court in April 2022, claiming that they are violating the law, and after a year and five months of legal battles, I won the case. Taiji shamefully appealed to the Osaka High Court, but again they lost the case, and in May of this year, the court ruled that Taiji’s response was unconstitutional.

Taiji has begun disclosing information, and we are currently discussing with Dolphin Project about the next steps. Please be patient while we finalize this strategy.

A lawsuit against dolphin hunters is also ongoing. In February 2022, a dolphin hunter took down a drone that I was flying to film illegal activities related to dolphin hunting. I filed a lawsuit against the hunters and the Isana Union, which is responsible for supervising the hunters, seeking compensation for the lost drone and other damages. As a result, in March 2024, I won the case in Wakayama District Court and the hunter was ordered to compensate me. However, some of the damages I was seeking were not approved by the court, so I appealed and the case is still pending at the Osaka High Court.

Ren in front of Osaka High Court May 17, 2024. Credit: LIA

LIA also won a lawsuit against one of the dolphin interaction facilities in Taiji Town at the district court. This case is still pending appeal by the other side, so we are unable to provide further details at this time.

In addition to these, LIA and Dolphin Project have won all lawsuits we filed against the dolphin hunting industry over the past few years, and the reality of the dolphin trade industry, which has been hidden from the public, will gradually be revealed.

Dolphin Project and LIA’s strategy in Taiji Town have entered a new phase. We will continue documenting and working with other activists and organizations throughout Japan to raise awareness of this issue as we have been. But we will not report the progress of everyday hunting, including “Blue Cove Day!” and “Red Cove Day!” updates during the season.

Based on the information and experience accumulated through our past activities, we have started new operations in order to provide people with correct knowledge, to imagine a correct future and to move society in the right direction.

Fighting in courts requires a great deal of money and time. LIA is sincerely grateful to Dolphin Project for their full trust, support, and patience throughout the entire process.

And finally, I urge everyone reading this to support Dolphin Project, a pioneer in dolphin conservation who continues to do amazing work around the world with clear results saving dolphins.

LEARN MORE about Dolphin Project’s campaign in Taiji

Featured image: Ren Yabuki of Life Investigation Agency (LIA) speaks to journalists in front of Wakayama district court August 22, 2022. Credit: Steven Thompson