A Letter to Ric O'Barry: No More Fish Stories Please!

No more hyperbole please

All Eyes are on Ric O'Barry.
There are 40 synonyms for exaggeration.

The latest biggest Taiji news we see is not that Ric was NOT arrested, it's that, the prick from Texas, was right: Ric's statements on Dolphin Project's Blog were false. It hurts when friends lie. It makes you wonder why.

Contrary to Ric's statements, Ric was never offered the title of Ambassador of Ito City last week for his Dolphin work or ANYTHING else by Mayor Hiromi Tsukuda or ANYONE else.

When we investigated Ric's similar claim in The Cove...it turns out that Ric was never given the "Keys to the City of Taiji" either, as stated in the film.

Maybe they were both just figures of speech...you know, "having the keys to the city" and being the “Ambassador of Ito City” are like saying that we are like "best buds". That could be, but unfortunately for Ric, Ito City Mayor took the twisting of his words at face value, meaning a lie and complained to everyone who would listen, which thankfully included Cara Sands, the Dolphin Project .net web manager, and the falsehood has been taken down, but there is an uncomfortable accumulation that has prompted our letter to you today.

Dear Ric:
We love you as the tough Dolphin loving warrior you chose to be when one of the Flipper Cast, became the only Dolphin in history fully documented by you to choose to stop breathing. We know the Japanese in power may not like you. We are now reasonably certain that the Taiji police have it in for you...but you have a good team there in Taiji and 1000's of people standing with you to keep on keeping on...you don't need to exaggerate your titles or police brutality (torture for a night in jail) for us to keep loving you...You don't need to lose your passport or drink before you drive or drive your car off the road to get attention.

You don't need to hype the radiation in dolphin meat before you test it either. The Tesla-Drive-to-DC-to-Deliver-a-Million-Signatures-to-Obama-to-Announce-a-Cove-Japanese-Rights-Buy-Back-Paid-For-With-New-Donations Event so the Japanese will finally see the truth, was a boast beyond reason or reality with no apparent follow-up...No tall tales! No lies please! Just you. We love you just the way you are.

What the world needs is good people observing the hunt and reporting it in photos and videos, tweets and posts to the world. That's the base. From there we need increased international pressure like with the Australia for Dolphins WAZA Lawsuits. Let's put more money into real pressure. 

We also need real negotiation if we are actually going to see an end of the Dolphin hunt. Next time we have an actual negotiation with people on the side of the hunters and people on the side of the activists, please support it instead of ending it. With great media attention, comes great responsibility. We need solutions. We need you there in Taiji.

The more you are there, the more the "Eye of Sauron" will not be on the Sea Shepherds, for they are doing the heavy lifting every single day of the season, year after year, without the drama. Dozens really have gone gone through regular Taiji police interrogations for years. They have even stoically gone to jail in Taiji and been found innocent.

If the police do arrest you, we are confident that you too will be found innocent of whatever crime the Taiji Keystone Cops can dream up. You are a better man than this. Your cause...our cause...the Dolphin Cause is just. The hunt will end. You don't need to try to do it alone.

We can do it together.

Sincerely,
Steven Thompson

The opinions expressed here are mine alone based on my own research and experience. The intent here is to improve Dolphin activism with constructive criticism.

There are at least 40 synonyms for "exaggeration". One in this list need not be.
They are: baloney, excess, fabrication, falsehood, fantasy, hyperbole, misjudgment, misrepresentation, untruth, aggrandizement, amplification, boasting, caricature, coloring, crock, elaboration, embroidery, emphasis, enlargement, exaltation, extravagance, fancy, hogwash, inflation, jazz, line, magnification, overemphasis, overestimation, pretension, pretentiousness, rant, ric o'barry, romance, stretch, whopper, yarn, figure of speech, fish story, flight of fancy, and tall story.

The New Taiji Games 2015-2016

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.

Sometimes Rules Need to Be...

Be the catalyst for change...do what you can

by Steven Thompson, TDAG 
January 21, 2013

Can you feel the tension in the dolphin ethers? 

All these Taiji dolphin murders this week, vegan non-violent activists being denied visas into Japan, corrupt buyers drop meat in the street from their truck as they speed away in haste: the dolphin killing mafia is afraid. 

We are all on the cusp of a full televised whale war in the Southern Oceans. The War is COMING. 

“Life is short, break the rules.”  -Mark Twain

The Rock & Roll world is feeling the change through the eyes of the Chili Peppers. at their concerts. Imagine this band and others coming to Taiji. Hold the vision.

It is those like these Sea Shepherds, ready to enforce where governments fail, who make the difference. May we always live in a time of Sea Shepherds. May we live in a time, where we are all Shepherds of the Sea and laws no longer need to be broken.

A big THANK YOU to the volunteers in Taiji today guarding the Cove and monitoring the hunt. Without groups like Sea Shepherd and individual dolphin activists all over the world, we simply wouldn't know.

New Taiji Dolphin Strategy: Radical Volunteers Needed

Radical axis

Watching this 90 minute film will change how you think about activism.

Hunger 2008 

by Steven Thompson, TDAG 
January 15, 2013

Are you sick of Red Cove Days? An alternate approach surfaces.

Are you ready?

The dolphin killing mafia is certainly not ready for this.

Watching this 90 minute film will change how you think about activism.

There is new discussion about people coming to Taiji...NOT with any organized group. This time people are coming to Taiji for the purpose of getting arrested and then choosing a radical course of action.

It has never been easier to get arrested in Taiji. So far I count six dolphin activists who have spent more than several weeks in jail for the cause of dolphin freedom in Japan. Personally, I have been detained after I was assaulted by the hunters. Yes, I lost my freedom because I was assaulted. But this was just for a few hours and with ringing in my ears. More than a dozen Sea Shepherd volunteers have also been detained for up to a day.

Alex Cornelissen and Allison Lance Watson were first to go to jail in Japan in 2003 (22 Days). Erwin Vermeulen next in 2012 (64 Days). Nils Greskewitz (18 days) , and Michael Q. Todd (54 Days) followed by the end of the year.

There is certain to be another person in the sunless Taiji (Shingu) jail. We hope they watch this movie.

If this is someone you know, send them this link to Hunger, an award winning movie of a successful strategy against a more powerful opponent.

Doing a 30-day fast would garner massive media attention. There are people who have done this. It is of course, not as dramatic as Bobby Sands...you don't need to give your life...just give more than any have done before.

We are looking for the one in a million volunteer/s. All expenses paid.

Think about this...watch the movie...If you are ready...we will discuss timing...you would not be expected to pay for this yourself. This will be organized off of public pages so that the volunteer/s get into the country...there is also the mater of getting arrested.  The jail in Shingu has no sunlight and involves solitary confinement without reading materials. I know this is torture for many of us.

Film on youtube.


A big THANK YOU to the volunteers in Taiji today guarding the Cove and monitoring the hunt. Without groups like Sea Shepherd, Save Japan Dolphins, and individual dolphin activists all over the world, we simply wouldn't know.

Erwin Vermeulen: Not only legally free

Scott West (L) shakes hands with Erwin Vermeulen

By Steven Thompson
March 6, 2012

Erwin Vermeulen won his case in court two weeks ago on February 22, 2012. Yet one question remained: would the prosecutor exercise her right to appeal? She had two weeks to do so...she waited the full two weeks to announce.

The Wakayama prosecutor's office confirms that Erwin is not only legally free, he is also morally, ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably FREE.

Thank you Erwin for your Dolphin Disobedience. Enjoy your time in America. You deserve it!

Dolphin lovers dance!
Pirates take the chance!
There is still so far to advance.

First, Erwin's lawyers will decide how to advance the case against his accuser for forcing Erwin to be in jail for 64 days based on a lie. This will be news that will be ongoing.

Second, there are still six Cove Guardian volunteers in Taiji getting up every morning facing a large police presence. This may be the year that dolphin lovers occupy year round! But this is far from certain. Please help make it happen. Please donate and earmark for Taiji.

Sea Shepherd Campaign Coordinator, Melissa Sehgal, reports from Taiji today that all killing boat activities are still being monitored everyday. All captive dolphins are also monitored in every location, especially the sick dolphin in the harbor pen, Harbie, being tube fed every day. I hope she is given better medical attention and then freed with all the other dolphins locked up there.

Finally, are you looking to add your effort to the cause? Watch the Cove and contact those responsible for killing the dolphins. Go to Taiji or support someone who can. Thank you all for caring.
TO DO LIST

Erwin Vermeulen: Free and Thankful

By Steven Thompson

I got a message today from Erwin. It's the same as it states in the SSCS releases. Erwin said he is overwhelmed by the support. Thanks! That's it.

I have never seen as tight a lid on information for Taiji as now.

As reported yesterday in TDAG by those asking the questions that need to be asked, it is now confirmed that Erwin will not be going to Taiji. He will be on the best behavior that any pirate can be around 15 other pirates in the neighboring town of Kii-Katsuura.

I don't expect any news till Feb 22nd. Join us then from 11:00AM as we do a jig and make good fun of those who thought they could keep dolphin lovers down by arresting them.

Erwin Vermeulen: Japanese Political Show Trial?

Erwin Vermeulen: Japanese Political Show Trial?
 By Steven Thompson





Today, in closing arguments, lawyers for the defense railed against the prosecution case citing example after example of how the prosecution failed to prove any allegation of assault against the dolphin trainer. No photo, video or witnesses provide evidence to link Erwin Vermeulen to any violence of any kind. 

 1. A key defense witness testified that Erwin had his hands full with a long-lens camera in his left hand and a walkie-talkie in his right. So, pushing of any sort could not have been done with his hands as the prosecutor claimed.
2. No DNA evidence was found on the alleged victim's jacket. 

3. No bruise or scratch was apparent on the victim's body.
In closing arguments, the lawyer for the prosecution started to back-pedal. No longer asking for a prison sentence, they humbly ask that Erwin be fined 100,000 yen (approx. 1,276usd). It is starting to look like the Taiji police officer in charge of the arrest may be thinking about a career change.

The verdict will be announced on February 22nd. Please join me: let's envision justice for Erwin and the dolphins. Set Erwin free to enjoy his last few days in Japan before his visa runs out. Let the dolphin hunters and trainers know that we will not go away.
However, don't hold your breath for Erwin being found innocent...a country that can imprison an obviously innocent person for 72 days, could come up with anything.

Dolphin Defender's Last Day in Court

BY Steven Thompson

                                                Picture Provided by Pilar Posada
                                 
 “If you see a good fight, get in it and fight to win it!” ~Ralph Abernathy's Dad

Erwin Vermeulen will have his last day in court tomorrow, Feb 16th at 10:00am. The Verdict Day, will be Feb 22nd.

This is the time when Erwin's defense team will give their closing arguments for Erwin's release from jail. The prosecution will state their case for encouraging the judge to give Erwin the maximum sentence: 2 years in prison and a fine.

I understood from my conversation with Erwin at the Wakayama Detention Center that he sees himself as a civil AND dolphin rights activist . He seemed happy that the world is watching and that supporters are looking at more ways to do what they do best. 

Let us all do what we do best to end the dolphin hunt.

Dolphin Defenders Trial Update Day One

By Steven Thompson

There are literally millions of people looking for information on Erwin's trial. This time, the stars have aligned over Wakayama City. The large media presence in Wakayama Court today was at it too, digging for news and feedback from lawyers who are trying to keep as tight a lid on information and spin as Sea Shepherd is.

Why? Because Erwin's future is at stake--two years in prison. And then there is the whole precedent making side--a slight brush up costs two months in jail.

Shallow news has been out since about 18:00, on TV and in print. Now just past midnight, everybody now realizes that this story is BIG--big international interest, big implications, big conclusions either way the case settles. It probably has Erwin in knots now knowing that the trial will go on next week too. And the dolphin hunt begins in Taiji in another six hours, depending on the weather.

My heroes, besides the accused, are those standing by Erwin in court. Those with the toughest job are in Taiji everyday, never letting up as the killers leave Battleship Row at Ford Island.

If you show up to support Erwin, you probably get on some Police Watch-List. Japanese know this. I know this. They...whoever they is...kept calling my workplace after I got involved last year. The stakes are high for everybody--but mostly for the dolphins and perhaps that is where we have already won.

Nobody who loves dolphins will ever let Taiji out of their sights. That's it. Alex and Allison went first, now Erwin. Today, Erwin is the only person in the world in jail for supporting dolphins. I think he'll be lucky to get out of jail by the end of February. They may wait that long to make a decision. I hope I'm wrong.

Sea Shepherds are sure to release a report on their website when they choose. Japanese and international media will report as they will. Tomorrow is the day of details that I predict will be combed through by the next group of lawyers for the next man or woman or child to stand up against the dolphin slavers and dolphin killers in Taiji. The key point is the judge making sense out of a multi-lingual trial.

Taiji citizens: the people who decided to send Erwin to jail for pushing have decided the fate of your town. You are now at the forefront for Civil and Dolphin Disobedience for environmental and animal rights activists. This will never change until the hunt ends.

Dolphin lovers: we are at the beginning of the end of the hunt.

I can report on Mr. Nakahira, local right wing representative of Nihon Yonaoshikai, in Taiji yesterday clarifying what those who love Sea Shepherd know: that the fact that Shepherds are in Taiji to end the hunt. They apply the pressure that gets people talking. They force a high-cost police presence and tax waste when the money is badly needed after the destructive typhoon last year. Sea Shepherds make children question why things are as they are. Why do dolphins have to die? Mr. Nakahira says he wants Sea Shepherd to leave.

Mr. Nakahira's comments about children were translated by the reporter from ABC Australia. This has even the local children wondering why their parents accept the murder of dolphins. Why are the questions always there?

What the heck is wrong with Taiji? Why are we killing these dolphins. They don't kill dolphins in Tokyo or Osaka, Nagoya or Hiroshima, and they say we kill baby dolphin and pregnant females too. How can we make it all go away?

Will it go away if we arrest them?

I don't think so.

The second day of Erwin Vermeulen's trial starts at 13:40 on Friday, January 27th.

Interview: Prison life in Japan for non-Japanese

Erwin Vermeulen from Holland is the only man in jail today fighting for the rights of dolphins to live. Erwin faces trial next week in Wakayama, Japan. On January 26, 2012, the Japanese government will put our friend on trial for allegedly pushing a dolphin trainer in Taiji, Japan.

He has already served 36 days in a Japanese jail, and faces up to two years. Some say more people will come to Taiji to accept being jailed for dolphins--a sort of Dolphin Disobedience. I compare Erwin to a modern Henry David Thoreau.

What is life like? Erwin has not been allowed any visitors besides a very competent team of three lawyers. To understand what Erwin faces, we have interviewed a man who spent two years in a Japanese jail. We will call him Jay. He claims he was innocent. I believe him and his friends and family believe him, but he still had to spend two years of his life in prison in Japan. This is an introduction to Jay's story. We hope that it will help you to better understand what Erwin faces.

An Interview with Jay: Prison Life in Japan for non-Japanese

Outside help and support came via letters or any money or reading materials I needed. There's not much else friends can do other than those three.

Daily life in jail is usually spent writing letters, reading and talking to others in your room (if he is not in a solitary cell). It's quite a monotonous routine every day. They have a tight schedule of serving 3 meals a day, delivering mail everyday and supplies once a week that you can buy if you have money. You are allowed to keep your supplies and books in the room with you. In jail you wash your own clothes in the sink with soap at designated times of the day. This is all done at the big prefecture jail though not at the small city jails but I'm assuming that big and more accommodating jail was where he was moved to.

Pre-trial can be stressful because of the language barrier and also because frequently the translator can easily make mistakes (SO IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE YOUR TRANSLATOR UNDERSTANDS YOU AND WHAT YOU WANT).

Immediate post-trial involves being swiftly moved to your next destination (immigration or prison)

Doing time involves working everyday at some monotonous job standing all day with one 10 minute break and a lunch break eating in a cafeteria. Unless you get a solitary room you will be sleeping with a roomful of others (up to 13) on a futon. Personal item are kept in the room and television is turned on a few hours a night. Any medicine (this also applies to jail) needs to be specifically requested to the guards and if a serious illness arises then you will be taken to the doctor onsite. All taken in though Japanese prisons are quite safe compared to other countries. Rarely are there fights (stabbings are unheard of) and illicit drugs are never seen. It's basically like high school with a lot of psychological mind games and talking behind your back because your a foreigner (what the Japanese call ijime).

All I have is some resentment that comes back once in a while at the times I choose to hold my tongue when other inmates talked shit. I did learn how to be more patient though.

_________________________________________________________________

Please ask if you want to know any more specifics. One place to ask is the Facebook site: Taiji Dolphin Action Group.

Your ideas needed to end the Taiji hunt

We support dolphins.

Our Facebook group, TDAG, supports dolphins.

Many organizations support dolphins.

Organizations approach the dolphin hunt issues differently. The reality is that there will always be vast differences of opinion in how to end the hunt.

TDAG members have worked with individuals from at least nine organizations: SSCS, SJD, Eyes On Taiji, WDCS, EIA, Whaleman, Atlantic Blue, Blue Voice, and ELSA. Please get to know these groups. They accept non-profit donations. Get involved more deeply in their work. The leaders and paid to interact with you. They have excellent resources and vast experience. If you have ideas that seem to match their various approaches, we would be happy to introduce you to their representatives.

There are at least four other groups where committed individuals work to end the hunt: Campaign Whale, Ocean Care, AWI, and IDA. We have had positive interaction with them on a more limited basis. Please get to know them too.

They all agree that they want the hunt to end, and yet follow different, sometimes dramatically different, paths.

A goal of TDAG is to give all paths a voice and encourage the development of more by encourage readers to follow their hearts. We are still searching for the way to end the hunt.

Steven Thompson
TDAG Co-Founder

Thanks to Steve Cody, for sparking this post.