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Introduction

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 - Meeting Kagemusha (the shadow warrior)
By Hardy Jones

Today I meet Kagemusha, which means "shadow warrior" in Japanese and is my nickname for the 66-year-old woman who travels with me and acts as my translator. She methodically documents all details associated with the dolphin hunts, the killings and the involvement of the captivity industry in inciting the captures. We'll be heading for the Ito Peninsula, a beautiful, mountainous coastal area just SE of Tokyo. Our first stop will be the town of Ito that has one of the most despicable dolphin swim-with programs I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot.

Here is some background. In 1999 fishermen from the town of Futo, which is part of Ito politically, drove about 80 dolphins into the harbor. The dolphins spent a night in utter panic in close packed quarters in a situation that was utterly alien to them. In the morning swimmers from several dolphinaria arrived and began to select the young and pretty dolphins - mostly females. These dolphins would be wrestled into slings and then hoisted away to trucks that would carry them to a lifetime in captivity. The rest of the dolphins were brutally slaughtered. For More Info on this>>>

A courageous Japanese videographer sent footage of the event to the United States. CBS News contacted me and I was interviewed on the evening news. The footage went to many other outlets around the world and caused a firestorm of protest against the fishermen in Futo and the Japanese government for allowing it to happen.

In 2001 I arrived in Futo with Kagemusha and began a discussion with Mr. Izumi Ishii about starting a dolphin watching program. For More Info on this>>> This program began in the fall of 2002 and has been a remarkable success. We hoped it would bring an end to the dolphin killing in that town. And it did until last year.

In October of 2004 we met with the president of the Futo branch of the Ito fishermen’s union and were told that pressure from aquaria and the Japan Fisheries Agency made it mandatory that Futo resume dolphin hunting. And the following month some 75 dolphins were herded into the harbor. Nineteen were taken for captivity. Four or five were killed for "local dolphin meat consumption" and several drowned from shock or entanglement in the nets which had constrained them.

Kagemusha covertly obtained samples of the meat of dolphins killed during this process. They were analyzed and found to have extraordinarily high levels of mercury - levels that far exceed Japanese standard for food products sold for human consumption. It is clear dolphins should not be killed for food.

The rest of the dolphins were released, though many were in desperate condition and it is problematic how many of them survived.

Two things are striking to this reporter - the utter, unspeakable cruelty inflicted on the dolphins that are captured and the disregard of the fact that dolphin meat contains levels of mercury that are so high that eating it can cause acute toxic reactions.

Later today we'll find out if Ami-chan is still alive. She is the only dolphin to have survived two winters at Dolphin Fantasy in the harbor at Ito City.

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