Taiji

Next stop… Taiji where my dad and grampa grew up.  The only relative we know that lives there now is my dad’s sister’s child, Hiromi.  She is about my age and we have alot in common.   She was a kindergarten teacher and preschool director.  She even helped plan the new preschool facility after her retirement. 

Besides both being educators, we both love ballroom dancing.  She takes private lessons and loves to perform. I take group lessons and just love to dance. I am lucky that in Hawaii there are many nonprofit social clubs where dance lessons are plentiful and reasonable and socials are weekly.  I tell her that she needs to come to Hawaii to truly enjoy social dancing.  She married later in life so her and her husband,  Shigeharu, have no children. I like him.  He has a great sense of humor and is fun to be around.  He has a type of polio and is not very mobile at this time, but he is getting treatment for his condition.

Taiji is a small (population 3000) fishing town.  In the past they were known for whaling. Now they have become imfamous for dolphin killing.  When the documentary,  “The Cove” came out in 2009, the  world was shocked at the inhumane and vicious killings of dolphins in the cove.  The cove is a beach area in Taiji where the fishermen scare the dolphins into.  

Then they cone off the area so they cannot escape and proceed to slaughter them by hammering metal rods near their blow holes to cause death or they bludgeon them to death on the beach.  The cove turns red with blood.  That is why the dolphin watch groups call it a red cove day or a blue cove day.  It is a horrific scene of which makes me weak with disgust.   This is still going on, but now they move the dolphins to another area so they cannot be seen or photographed.  Nowadays they also select the “choice” dolphins to be sold to aquariums or sea life parks and then kill the rest to be sold for meat in Japan and China.  A live dolphin brings alot more than a dead one.  They can sell a live dolphin for up to $300,000 versus for meat they get maybe $600. Please, if you can, try not to support those types of shows. I have to admit that I did go to the dolphin/whale museum in Taiji because I felt I needed to see it. There was educational information that was interesting and there was an exhibition about the early whaling industry in Taiji. The dolphin show was okay and after it they let you, for a fee, feed the captive dolphins. Thank goodness some aquariums are now stopping these types of shows as a result of public awareness and pressure.

On my last day there, the fishermen trapped some dolphins. We went to see and my heart sunk as I realized they would all be killed or be sold. I wish I could have set them free…

This all disturbs me very much and I asked Hiromi why they cannot find other ways to make a living.  She replied that the soil is not good for farming and there are no other types of fish that can support their livelihoods.  They claim that it is part of their traditions and is a way of life.  This still goes on today.  The quota for last season was 1,849.  They ended up capturing/killing a total of 560 dolphins.  The dolphin watch groups (Dolphin Project) are still protesting, monitoring and pursuing lawsuits. Feel free to look them up and support them.
I know that fishing is in my family’s background and still continues with my brother who fishes for salmon in Alaska.  My descendents were whalers not dolphin killers. My grandfather and father both left Taiji and made lives for themselves in another small fishing community… in Petersburg Alaska.

Other than that, Taiji is a lovely town.  I enjoyed visiting the schools and the “Kaino” home.  Hiromi still takes care of the house where my grampa, dad, aunt and uncles grew up in.  I think she is ready to sell it though as the upkeep is getting to be too much. 

She and Shigeharu have a nice home nearby.

We also hiked to Nachi Waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Japan at a drop of  133 meters. Besides being an awesome waterfall, it is also worshiped as a Shinto diety. 

Mostly, I enjoyed the dinners together at Hiromi’s house.  She was most gracious and I hope I get the chance to do the same for her one day. 

Leaving Taiji I had many thoughts… one of my dad being sent to school there and living with his grandmother when he was only 10 years old and not speaking any Japanese.  He struggled, but survived and thrived.  He accomplished so much in his time there.  He was placed in kindergarten when he was ten, but excelled his way to high school to end up at the top of his class in 7 short years. 

We went to the museum archives and looked my dad’s “box” where we found pictures and his awards.

Then he married my mom and they went to to build a new life in America to Alaska where his mom and dad were living.

Then I think of Hiromi and how her life was and is so different because her mother chose to stay in Taiji, Japan. 

We are similar and yet soo different.  The choices we make determine our  future and future of generations to come.  We cannot go back, only forward looking ahead.  It also reminds me that we should never stop making new choices that continue to develop and enrich our lives.