著者

白石(那須) 千鶴 Chizuru Shiraishi(Nasu)

出版者

国際コミュニケーション学会

雑誌

国際経営・文化研究 = Cross-cultural business and cultural studies (ISSN:13431412)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.1, pp.15-27, 2010-11

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This paper analyzes the reactions emerging in Japan to The Cove; a movie that condemns the dolphin-hunting that is being conducted in a cove in Wakayama, Japan. In addition, it examines Japanese "national culture" and some of the present-day problems caused by the globalization of animal protection activities. My main focus is on the following three points. Firstly, I examine the reasons why the movie has evoked so much nationalism amongst Japanese viewers. Secondly, I argue how the movie itself is a blatant example of what Said calls "Orientalism" and finally I analyze some problems that could emerge if Japan defends the eating of dolphins and whales as inherently part of our "national culture." By treating the above issues, this paper posits that the movie, and those who produced it, are seriously flawed by what is called "Orientalism", because not only have they portrayed the fishermen at the cove as being ruthlessly cruel to animals, but they have portrayed the people of Japan as being in need of salvation.Concurrently, this paper stresses the following two points. Firstly, Japan's defense of the eating of dolphins and whales on the grounds of it being indispensable to national culture is problematic, because it is a shallow excuse that prevents us from presenting different opinions in Japan toward dolphin and whale hunting. Secondly, by using "national culture" as a defense against Western criticism of whale and dolphin consumption, Japan risks falling into the trap of becoming just as ethnocentrism as the Western nations.