The activists stayed in a town about 15 minute drive away from Taiji called Katsuura. Katsuura is a beautiful small old fishing style town. This town was very quiet most of the time and people seemed to be respectful to eachother. It was great to come out of the hotel and have no or barely any car traffic, to see a store only filled with citrus - oranges mostly. When you walked into a store, restaurant, or hotel they gave you the utmost respect I have ever seen since I have been alive on this planet. They do not accept tips in Japan and when you get service you get it from the heart of the person helping you. They honestly show you the most kindness a service provider ever does as they are thankful you have chosen them to give your money and time to out of all of the others.
Riding in my friend Len's car who is from Australia, he took me out into the off roads of Japan. We ended up in this area that had this 430 foot waterfall. This waterfall was incredible and this area was so beautifully done up from the stone walkways to the nature of the forest that surrounded it! There were 3 shrines just at the Waterfall to give it respect, then to give the river respect and you could also use the water from the river at one of the shrines to cleanse your soul from impurities while you were there. This was the Nachi Falls. This forested area filled with old ancient shrine buildings was a magically spiritual place and barely any people there loving it like us.
I went to the local car rental center and this was an experience! I had this over apologetic and respectful man who reminded me of the old English "Benny Hill". I asked how much for 4 days of rental and he gave me a number of 28,700 Yen. Yes in Japan the numbers are huge as if you were living large and rich! So I tried to wheel and deal and asked if he would take 25,000 Yen for 4 days. The man said "One Second" as he bowed to me. He got on the phone and called his boss and moments later returned to me! He then looked at me and a froze his position saying "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ! NO!" It was so much better to hear in person but I started to laugh and he just stared at me. I took the car for 2 days instead and this man kept bowing to me and saying "One Second" and coming and going while he would get the car ready! He must have come and went 4 or 5 times while I couldn't believe how much effort this one man was doing just for me to rent a car.
Not one person ever told me not to go there or what are you doing here as I would walk around by myself about the town. The safety seemed to be amazing in this little fishing town. The restaurants and bars seem to be people's homes and I always felt weird to enter unless someone else with me had already been there so I would not feel like walking into someones kitchen. We all went to a local restaurant that had a ton of greens to eat and we had a chinese lady with us named Jess who is from Hong Kong and knows enough Japanese to have a conversation. So Jess spoke with the lady who was serving us and found out that she was the owner and the cook was her husband. The owner asked Jess why all the westerners were coming and going from their town so much. Jess stated we were there for the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. The owner said "I heard about the dolphin slaughter but we are all still in disbelief, so it is real?" Jess replied "Yes it is real and we are all here for this reason. When Jess shared this dialogue with me I thought that it would be worth our time to bring a laptop with us that showed video of the dolphin slaughtering in Taiji to educate the town of Katsuura that only 15 minutes away this action is happening on their shoreline. This showed me that if a small fishing town so close to Taiji doesn't know about the slaughter then how can all of Japan know! Also how can this be a "CULTURAL" thing if the second largest fishing docks in Japan - Katsuura - doesn't know anything about it.
In Canada our government openly speaks about supporting the seal slaughter but in Japan this slaughter is smaller, isolated, and legal that the government doesn't say a word about it. Now with our International attention on the 26 fishermen and slaughter house workers that drive, isolate, and kill the dolphins is showing more attention to the shame of the whole country and this is giving the government something to be concerned with.
Taiji and Katsuura are in an area of Japan that is called the Komano Region which is filled with amazing shrines all over this mass region. The mountains are so steep and filled with forests, rivers, and waterfalls everywhere. This dolphin slaughter is situated in the most beautiful ancient region of the whole country shockingly! I took off one day by myself to get lost in the mountains as a way of venting the pain of the dolphins. I found myself hiking the base of a falls that I had all to myself. This was such an amazing moment to hear the waterfall run down the rocks on the steep mountainous hill and with no one else around it was only for my ears to hear. I decided I wanted to go higher and kept driving this one lane road with mirrors at each sharp bend to make sure no one crashed. At certain points I was able to snap photos of the falls as I climbed higher and higher on this massively steep cliff. I drove by this small thin bridge and decided to pull over and see where it went. The river I crossed was the top of the falls I was just at an hour previous which made this experience extra awesome! I started to follow this pathway which was not easy but made the trek much more interesting. I trekked the pathway quite high and scared one large bird with my presence. Being amongst the forest and seeing the hills overlapping in the distance was so incredibly spiritual and I had to sit there and just take it all in with my breath and eyes. The sun was getting lower and the light in the forest was dimming so I thought it was time to make my move back safely.
The last positive experience I have to speak about is the natural sulphur springs that are everywhere. These are called Onsen. This experience in Japan was a godsend! The most expensive ones were only $12.50CAD or 1000 Yen. In these amazing Hot Springs you would not wear any clothes meaning you had to be naked. I enjoyed the ambience at this hotel called Urishima on the harbour of Katsuura and only a 5 minute boat ride to get to that was free. My first time in this hotel we went to one of 4 onsen's they had and this was the largest one. This onsen was a large cave that opened up to the Atlantic Ocean and this first night a Full Moon was exposed while I was shoulder deep butt naked in this hot sulphur spring. It was amazing to be in a natural body of water, to view the moon and hear the ocean smash against the rock cliff below the cave. This experience was an amazing way to take care of my mind, body and soul while enduring such horrors of too many dolphins losing their lives. I went again by myself after being in Japan for a week and seeing about 80 dolphins lose their lives at this time. I spent about 3 hours in 3 different Onsen's that the hotel offered and just loved the way it mellowed the pain my back was holding. The last Onsen was a small cave and allowed you to get up close and personal with the ocean. I was able to stand naked at the railing and feel the cold night wind, look up to the night glowing with stars and to hear and watch the waves smash on the rocks nearby. Truly amazing and worth sharing and experiencing for anyone!
I just wanted to share a bit about Japan that surrounded Taiji. Taiji is situated in an area that respects the forests, rivers, and waterfalls. An area that is filled with shrines everywhere to give your own thanks too! Close to a city that has no idea about their hunt except by rumours they want to not believe. So what my conclusion is that this is not a cultural act but a local horrendous murdering action against sentient beings. This is a local isolated slaughter that is so well hidden no one has ever questioned it until it was exposed years ago and even moreso now the movie "The Cove" has come out. This is not a country action, not even a regular Taiji civilian action - its a Taiji government issue that allows this to continue so they can make money from a handful of fishermen. About 26 fishermen on 13 boats and slaughtering personnel of maybe up to 50 people in a town that has just over 3400 people. The analogy I was shared was "If you lived in a small town where the Hell's Angels were doing their drug selling would anyone say anything or just push a blind eye to the ordeal". We're talking about more people that are not involved in this action showing that only a handful of people in all of Japan are making a major black mark on Japan from International attention. This action is strictly "MONEY" not "CULTURE" and with all the beauty that surrounds and is amongst Taiji it could do so much more with tourism!
Nachi Falls - http://web-japan.org/atlas/nature/nat11.html
Onsen's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen
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| The Orange House that was right next to our Hotel in Katsuura. |
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| Gorgeous Scenery from the Katsuura Harbour. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The Urishima Hotel. If you look at the connecting long tunnel like structure between the two buildings, well this is the longest escalator area I have ever benn on so far. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| An amazing cliff point view from the top of the Urishima Hotel. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| A walkway at the top of the Urishima Hotel. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| A walkway at the top of the Urishima Hotel. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The shrine at the top of the steep mountainous hill that the Urishima is built within. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The Large Cave Onsen in the Urishima Hotel. No cameras allowed so I found this painting. |
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| A picture of the Katsuura Harbour. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| A beautfiul rock outside of the Taiji Harbour. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| This amazing Hawk is a plenty all over the region! Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| Nachi Falls in the Komano Region. Photo by Len Varley |
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| A Beautiful Shrine with Nachi Falls in the background! Photo by Len Varley |
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| Inside one of the many shrines near Nachi Falls. Photo by Len Varley |
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| A Very old shrine on the mountain near Nachi Falls. Photo by Len Varley |
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| An incredible bell held up by this very old structure. Photo by Len Varley |
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| A man made walk way up to the Hanajiro Falls. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The Hanajiro Falls Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The Hanajiro Falls in the distance. |
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| The forest in the hills above the Hanajiro Falls. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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| The bridge that crosses the Hanajiro River at the top of the falls. Photo by Artist for the Ocean 2011 |
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