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| Find all the hidden cameras and win a prize! |
The Pre-Opening discussion is done. The Taiji Dolphin Hunting season opens tomorrow, in about 8 hours.
All who have planned to be in Taiji are here, all checked in and ready to go. The film makers, the activists including all the groups and all the independents, the reporters, the police, the hunters, the managers, the politicians. THE WORLD IS WATCHING.
And while we watch, they watch.
Pre-Season research has identified a new aspect to the Dolphin Activism in Taiji. There is now something to do while we wait for the Blue-Cove, Red-Cove verdict.
Introducing the new game for all Dolphin activists who are actually in Taiji. The name of the game is: WHERE'S THE CAMERAS?
It looks like the police and town officials have actually taken a page out of our guide, The Cove Film Play Book: How to Be a Dolphin Activist, and installed rock cameras or others at up to $549usd a piece.
Can you find the new hidden cameras? The police appear to have installed wireless cameras and built a whole room at the back of the Police Cove Office to monitor the usual places: The Point, The Hill, The Union Office, The Parking Areas, The Super Market, and of course The Boats.
While it may have cost a bundle to get together and install and of course to keep up to date with full battery power, they will probably save on their payroll unless this game begins in earnest. Then they will have to monitor the gamers. They may have inadvertently started a whole new game for the hundreds of activists coming to play, just like "Where's Waldo?"
It's going to take imagination and creativity to play. You'll have to imagine you are a Japanese Taiji Police Officer who is set on trapping Dolphin Activists doing bad deeds. Do not take this lightly. It is no easy task to slide down the rabbit hole of Japanese Dolphin Activist Law-enforcement. First you have to accept that right or wrong, you will enforce a law that legitimizes the murder of some of the most intelligent, beautiful beings on the planet. Then, you just do your job. Just think: where might those foreigners go where they are not supposed to go and where won't they look for a camera?
If you find all 14 cameras, you win the prize, the right to gloat that the Taiji Police are following you personally and have your photo pinned to their wall.
Who will find them first?
It could be you.
Just get a ticket to Osaka, and take the train straight to Taiji. Remember to please hide your Sea Shepherd gear if you are not yet prepared for the game at the professional level, "The Deportation Game".
Here is a hidden camera website. Please shop here so that you can practice at home before you come.
Buy your own!
Please post photos of cameras hidden in the Taiji hills or town and include your method of detection. These now un-hidden cameras will then become a tourist draw to line up and pose in front of. The person who finds the camera has the right to name the site. There is really no limit to what can be done once a camera is actually found.
Where else in the world can gamers go to pit their wits against actual police carrying guns in a high stress international-conflict location and have the game itself funded by the police themselves!
Furthermore, the risks are real or somewhat real because the police are such pussy cats here and not known to be prone to violence. Yet won't the police be motivated to arrest you or threaten arrest for posing in front of the camera? Maybe...maybe not, but this is about as real as gaming can get.
Caveat: the rules have not been fully accepted by all parties. Whether the police know of the myriad ways, including phone apps to find a hidden camera, as evidenced by a quick Google search, has yet to be seen.
For the Dolphins and for Us,
Steven Thompson
In Japan, part of an awesome team, supporting independent activists to Taiji
Taiji Dolphin Action Group
The game, "Where's The Cameras", is brought to you by Wakayama Dolphin Governor Yoshinobu NISAKA. The word is that no one is quite sure why he supports the killing so strongly or why the Japanese Government offers so many killing permits to him, but he sure does give otherwise ne'er-do-well activists something creative to do with their time.
