Nessie sighting?

Not sure if this was supposed to be Nessie or a Great White Whale. 

[Seen in a children's park in the Higashi-Kitazawa area of Tokyo this weekend.]

Review of "A Whale of a Tale"

I watched “A Whale of a Tale” last night and found it disappointing and annoying although I understood the admirable motivation of its director, Megumi Sasaki, and respect the fact that she spent 6 years of her life making it. In an interview (Sasaki, 2018) that was conducted by the Asia Society soon after the release of the film, she mentioned how disgusted she was by the total breakdown in communication between the anti-whaling activists, the filmmakers of “The Cove,” and the fishermen and townspeople of Taiji. She wanted to make a film that showed the town’s perspective, and that of the fishermen, in a more balanced way.

On the plus side, she did succeed in her film to humanize the fishermen, Taiji officials, and citizens who were mostly vilified in “The Cove.” As a Japanese filmmaker who was not perceived as being aligned with activist groups, she gained the trust of the fishermen, mayor, and even local right-wing activists in order to get their candid comments. “A Whale of a Tale” uncovered the hatred and xenophobia that existed on both sides, emanating from the activists, foreign critics of the dolphin/whale slaughter, the fishermen, the rightist defenders of the drive, and from the townspeople. 

 Those in Taiji, whether they were directly connected with the whaling industry or not, felt under attack. They had been losing the media battle abroad, mainly thanks to “The Cove” and the notoriety it caused, but gained domestic sympathy because they were seen as underdogs defending their ancient traditions. In the intervening years, between the filming of “The Cove” and “A Whale of a Tale,” the fishermen and local officials seemed to realize they had to change their approach to activists, journalists, and filmmakers. 

They turned on a charm offensive for the cameras, in the case of the more recent documentary, without changing the brutality of their dolphin hunt drive methods or the bloody consequences of them, except for some lip service about more humanely severing the dolphins' cervical spine. Nor did they make any attempt to try to justify the continuation of the hunt in the 21st century, when the vast majority of Japanese eschew whale meat the harm done to captive animals is well known (Bearzi, 2014).

   

The claims of neutrality or objectivity by the filmmaker, Megumi Sasaki, and one of the film’s chief protagonists, Jay Alabaster (a doctoral student and AP stringer), is laughable. The very reason why “The Cove” gained the notoriety that it did was because of the coup that it pulled off in successfully (albeit clandestinely and through trickery) of showing the drive hunt in its full gory detail, despite the best efforts of the “fishermen” to shield the bloodletting with tarps and to intimidate the activists/filmmakers. Jay Alabaster is both a character in the doc and the vehicle for the film’s main contention that things could be so much better if the two sides (portrayed simplistically as Americans and people in Taiji, or the Japanese in general) could just understand each other and “get along.” 

Only token consideration is given to the whales/dolphins themselves and Alabaster becomes an apologist for the Fisheries Agency/ Fishermen’s argument that the species being slaughtered are not endangered and “only” about 2000 of them are killed each year. At the end of the film, Alabaster sits down for a beer and a meal of whale meat with the fishermen who treat him condescendingly like their pet “good gaijin,” unlike those nasty gaijin who want them to stop making Taiji’s cove red with blood each year. 

The biggest lost opportunity in the film was that it did not give greater screen time to local activists. A Japanese activist who worked since the late 1960s, and her younger protege, to protect dolphins and whales were interviewed in the film for just a few minutes despite offering valuable insights that could have been expanded upon. An excellent article appeared in the Japan Times (O’dwyer, 2015) explaining how much domestic activism was set back by “The Cove” and the confrontational tactics of Sea Shepherd. That outside pressure made it possible for The Fisheries Agency, right-wing agitators, and the fishermen to paint any resistance to the hunt as anti-Japanese, a threat to Japanese cultural identity, and a menace to Japan’s sovereignty and autonomy. This distracted from the sheer barbarity and gruesomeness of the slaughter and put that on the back burner. 

The most fundamental problem with the film “A Whale of a Tale” is its argument that the two sides (Japan/Taiji fishermen and townspeople vs. foreigners/activists) misunderstand each other and can all be happier if they came to see each other’s perspective. This was beyond naive. The naivety of it was laid bare in a particularly revealing scene that appeared late in the documentary, one in which Jay Alabaster met with a relatively young whaler equipped with some of the recent Tweets and streamed video by Sea Shepherd (and copious comments on those Tweets). 

Just a single day of tweeting filled pages and pages, whereas the town of Taiji and the fishermen had hardly any social media presence at all. One of the Tweets showed a streaming video of dolphins being slaughtered beyond a barrier of tarps that had been set up. Wind gusts blew the tarp up exposing the bloodshed and reddening sea. Alabaster was trying to make the point that if only the fishermen and the town could get their side of the story out they’d be able to compete against the foreign social media onslaught. What the fisherman was concerned with, however, was how they could better shield the slaughter by tying down the tarp better. The “sides” understand each other only too well. Alabaster and Sasaki were a boon to Taiji's (and the Fisheries Agency's) PR efforts but did nothing to advance any true "meeting of minds." Their lack of care or concern for the thousands of dolphins and whales being killed each year was obvious. A anthropocentric worldview can not easily be reconciled with a biocentric one, and differences in these worldviews go beyond cultural differences or mere preferences. 

In the film, one of the Taiji fishermen made an excellent point and he did so quietly and earnestly. He asked why slaughterhouses in the US didn't carry out their activities openly, freely allowing cameras so all could see what was being done. Why indeed? He said this to point out the hypocrisy of what he perceived to be unfair criticism of the Taiji slaughter. Setting aside points that might be made about wild cetaceans vs. livestock raised for human consumption, of course, a more genuinely biocentric approach would just as vigorously advocate for an end to the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji as it would the slaughter of hogs in Iowa. The quickening pace of our biosphere's destruction will, hopefully, advance a more consistent biocentric worldview...but it's unfortunate that that's what it may take before we start to come around. Empathy is not only needed to bring people together, but also to bring about respect for sentient creatures of all stripes, even if they happen to be striped dolphins.

Alabaster, J. (2018, February 7). Dancing With the Evil Fishermen of Taiji [web log]. https://japan-forward.com/dancing-with-the-evil-fishermen-of-taiji/. 

Bearzi, M. (2014, April 8). Debunking Captivity: 3 Reasons Not to Keep Dolphins in a Tank [web log]. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/04/08/debunking-captivity-3-reasons-not-to-keep-dolphins-in-a-tank/. 

O'dwyer, S. (2015, March 16). Japanese activists fight against the tide to save whales and dolphins. Japan Times. https://aogaku-daku.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Japanese-activists.pdf.

Sasaki, M. (2018, August 8). 'A Whale of a Tale' - A Conversation With Director Megumi Sasaki. https://asiasociety.org/video/whale-tale-conversation-director-megumi-sasaki.

Temple University, Japan Campus. (2017). A Whale of a Tale, lecture by documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia-Om2ruBYM&t=200s.

A Few Documentaries that are in response to "The Cove"

 “A Whale of a Tale” (2018) is a documentary about the controversy surrounding the Taiji dolphin hunt and it is meant as a response to the 2009 Oscar-winning anti-whale hunting documentary, “The Cove.” The film director, Megumi Sasaki, was disgusted by the communication breakdown that occurred between the people of Taiji and the activists/ film makers and she wanted to present a more balanced view of the issue, listening deeply to both sides (or at least the humans’ perspectives as the whales/dolphins suffer silently). 

I respect Megumi Sasaki as a filmmaker as I watched her wonderful documentary about amateur art collectors called “Herb & Dorothy,” which was well made, entertaining, and deeply moving. I just purchased “A Whale of a Tale” on Amazon and plan to watch it this weekend. After that, I’ll report my reactions to it in this blog.

A student in a seminar I’m teaching (at a private university in Tokyo) on research and critical thinking recommended a Taiji-related documentary, directed by another female Japanese filmmaker, Keiko Yagi. 

Although “The Cove” may have presented a rather one-sided view of the issue form the activists’ and dolphins’/ whales’ perspectives, Keiko Yagi’s documentary, “Behind the Cove” seems to parrot the talking points of Japan Fisheries Agency and vilifies activists, portraying anyone who opposes the annual slaughter of dolphins/whales in Taiji as a Japan basher and someone who couldn’t possibly respect Japanese culture and traditions, neglecting the fact that many Japanese also oppose the slaughter. I plan to watch this documentary as well and report on it in this blog too. Stay tuned.