Messages from Us

	Every year, when I feel the warm sunlight briefly on my skin during a chilly windy day, I remember about the incident at the beach that took place ten years ago. What my eye were watching seemed too surreal like an excerpt from a movie, but the sound of the baby orca crying struck me as a painful reality, and I was helpless. “I will return you to the sea…” Only after four months I made the promise, the little baby orca quietly passed away in an aquarium tank. At the same time, the baby orca’s heart-breaking calls touched many people around the globe, and demonstrated how wrong the capture was, far more effectively than any words combined. When you hear the recording of the baby orca (audible at this website), I am sure you will empathize with our sincere wish that no such human action should happen ever again. Although this capture took place under the title of “academic research,” the orca trade involved transaction of more than hundred million yen, and a local paper reported that the orcas were planned to be sold to a different body. Also, despite the noble tile, some orcas were used for performances, and some loaned to different aquariums for breeding purposes. The “academic research’ was clearly just a front, and the industry and even the government knew this. You might think sensible people would never repeat this, but it is not that easy in a world where a bogus project tile gets you lots of money. If it worked once, people would try to do it again and again. For those greedy handfuls of people, orcas – something we want to share with our future generations - are being faced with the threat of capture once again. A decade after the initial capture, the period that perhaps is thought as “sufficient cooling-off period,” some people are planning to repeat the same project. What can stop this wrong and harmful project is the power in each of you. Small voices accumulate to become one powerful influence. Please, help us with halting the capture. I sincerely ask for your support and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget the orcas captured in Taiji on February 7th. Nanami Kurasawa Secretary General Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network
	It has been ten years already since the capture in Taiji took place. I have been with working with numerous organizations and individuals in an effort to release the captured orcas since then, but we have lost three of the orcas already. One of the captured orcas was brought to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium, in my home town, Nagoya, and I feel my involvement in this was somehow destined. I sincerely hope more people will learn about what took place ten years ago in Taiji, be aware of the problems of capturing wild orcas, and continue to have an interest in this issue, through this website. Hiroshi Yamashita Citizens Concerned About the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium
	How long has it been since the very first aquarium was built in Japan for public entertainment? Our lifestyles and societal environment has shifted since then with the rapid economical growth. On the other hand, have Japanese aquariums changed at all? I have to say no; putting aquatic organisms from various places in tanks for public display - this simple tactic is probably one of the things that have not changed for a long time. I believe it is time for Japanese aquariums to change. The progressed aquarium, a facility where many invaluable lives of creatures are dependent on, can have a positive impact on our lives as well. Especially now that bullying and committing suicide of kids have become a serious social problem, 'the weight and the preciousness of life' is big and is something we all have to learn. In the midst of this, the impact of lessons aquariums teach about life is immense. The Disney movie released in 2003, "Finding Nemo" is probably still fresh in many people's mind. While this movie was teaching us about the preciousness of life and the importance of family bonds, the model fish for the main character, clownfish, is facing serious population decline due to indiscriminate fishing for public displays. This is what aquariums have taught us, and this is how aquariums have showed us to treat other lives. I strongly believe aquariums should think about their impact on society and start to take appropriate actions. This, here, is the first step. Takafumi Yotsuya OSS（ORCALAB SUPPORT SOCIETY） Representative