Japanese town in 'The Cove' setting dolphins free

Japanese town in 'The Cove' setting dolphins free
Updated Thu. Sep. 10 2009 6:44 AM ET

The Associated Press

TOKYO -- The Japanese town chronicled in the award-winning film "The Cove" for its annual dolphin hunt that turns coastal waters red with blood has suspended killing the animals -- at least for this week's catch -- following an international outcry.

The western Japanese town of Taiji will sell some of the animals to aquariums as it does every year, but the remainder of the 100 bottlenose dolphins that were caught early Wednesday in the first catch of the season are to be released. In the past, they were killed and sold for meat.

An official at the Taiji fisheries association, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the town abhors the publicity its dolphin-killing has drawn, said Thursday that the decision was made partly in response to the international outcry created by "The Cove." Read More...


If you don't know about the movie, "The Cove", check out the trailer. It's pretty damn powerful!

The Cove


The town of Taiji is located in Wakayama Prefecture which isn't really too far from my neck of the woods.That's the prefecture next to Osaka Prefecture.


Big Chair for a Big Guy

Sumo wrestler Yamamotoyama, who weighs 258 kilograms, and a young fan show off a seat specially created by McDonald’s Japan for sumo wrestlers in its Asakusabashi restaurant. The 25-year-old wrestler said he prefers McDonald’s to the traditional vegetable and meat ‘‘chanko’’ soup for sumo wrestlers. Japan Today



Check out my two latest vids on You Tube:



And I saw some nasty rats in the middle of the day close to my house!

oshogatsu 正月, Big Burgers and World Wide Features

It's another weekend and the New Year is quickly approaching. This will be my first "oshogatsu" 正月 (New Year season) in Japan and I'm excited. We'll visit a local shrine with family in the Japanese tradition, but won't be downtown for the countdown. Watching it on TV from home with some bubbly and suds is always the best way for me!

Lots of craziness around town this week.

McDonald's has finally unleashed the Quater Pounder hamburger on Japan. McDonald's is VERY popular in Japan and now this will be their biggest hamburger. Thousands of people stood in line in Osaka this week to get one. Funny thing was; it was leaked to the news that more than 1000 of the people standing in line were indeed PLANTS! Yep, they were actually paid by MacDonald's to stand in line and make it look like more of a spectacle. Funny stuff. You can see some pictures and read more about it here.


In less "burgerish" news. Congrats must go out to Japan-based You Tube vlogger Fatblueman. His original song and video "Christmas in Japan", just got featured worldwide on the You Tube front page. Yesterday he had less than 90,000 hits (which is damn good anyway) and when I last checked a few minutes ago, he was pushing 320,000 hits! AWESOME. Of course I'm really partial to this cause I have a small part in the video.

Tomorrow will be a day of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. One Japanese tradition, "oosouji" sees people all over the land doing a MASSIVE and hardcore house cleaning just before the new year. Well, my lovely wife informed me today that tomorrow will indeed be the day. I'm by no means looking forward to it, especially since I've been on vacation for the past 2 weeks and have grown lazier by the minute. BUT, I will of course do my best to clean and help out.