Animal Cruelty in Japan. How Bad is it and Why?

Have you seen someone in Japan being cruel to an animal?

We all know that type in "Japan animal cruelty" on You Tube and GOOGLE, and it will keep you going for a few days, possibly weeks, but why does it happen so much within?

The most common site I used to see were dogs tied up on a 100cm piece of rope, outside their outside kennel.

I am not talking for one hour, but 24/7
Such a case existed near my home in Kyoto, and the dog clearly had a severe mental problem from this treatment..

Do Japanese have different ideas about animals than the West?

Yes, we all have a cruel people in each country, but this is about JAPAN.

Will be interesting to hear all sides including the Japanese side, please:japanese:

no one will reply because no one will face how grave the situiation is.
im sure youve heard of the dolphin slaughter, that to me is abuse because of the way they inhumanely kill the dolphin...
there is so much more to japan and china, china is worse with its animals (in the name of business) because they want to keep their title as the rich power country/exporter.
japan wants to be like china business wise, so they will slaughter many animals for whatever, but they will do it in the most cost efficent way, inhumanely most of the time...
ive seen too many videos, and it upsets me to the brink of rage...
when i get to japan, im afriad i might witness something horrible and snap on someone.
(i put links in but i dont have enough posts to submit links)

japanese people are known for incorporating animism/nature into their "religions" or normal lifestyle, because japan's nature is beautiful...
of course there will be a fraction of animal abusing japanese people, but do all japanese hate animals? i dont think so.

creepingsnow7 said:

no one will reply because no one will face how grave the situiation is.
(i put links in but i dont have enough posts to submit links)

.

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I can definitely hear you and they are likely to start blaming Korea or China as on other threads....

Definitely different ways for different cultures..

The dolphon slaughter is barbaric from another world..

How on earth they can do what they do is pretty bloody scary, paramount to murder..

It kills me thinking about it..

Anyway, we can only try to talk to the local JP people and get opinions, hopefully agreements, etc..

I know what you mean about the links..

Japan is certainly infamous for it..

Didn't you start a thread about this before?

Animal cruelty is every where in the world I think... I don't think there really is a lot more in Japan then there is in Holland, where people put their dog on a three and then leave him their because they don't want a dog anymore...

I have never seen anything in Japan, if been living here for 2 years now, about animal cruelty...

I don't think Japan is a particularly cruel country towards animals, in fact i think they can treat animals better than we do at times- but thats not to say that there isn't animal cruelty in Japan.

I don't see whats so cruel about the "dolphin slaughter"- the only reasons why you guys think killing dolphins is worse than killing animals like rats is because in the west you see dolphins as cute, friendly intelligent animals, but on the other hand you view rats as unhygienic pests that spread disease and that should be eradicated etc.
But why should you view killing dolphins as crueler than killing rats? Its because you guys have more sentimental attachments to one animal over the other. IMHO, this is a fundamentally wrong way to view the killing of animals- an animal shouldn't get more support or protection over another animal just because its more popular with the general public, all animals should be treated the same.

Although the dolphin slaughters look gory, as far as i am aware they are killed in a humane/quick manner and the killings are gone about in a controlled and selective way. I have no problem with the dolphin slaughters as long as;
a. The animals are killed in a quick/humane manner that does not cause excessive/long suffering.
b. The animals are not endangered, but care is being taken to conserve and monitor the species to help ensure that their numbers prosper despite culling.



One thing that i do have against Japanese (although this is a problem that is not specific to Japan, but is rather everywhere, so its not just the Japanese that i have issue with this), is their attitudes towards keeping fish. More than often they vastly over-stock their fish tanks, taking no regard or care towards the individual needs of the fish.
This ends up with a lot of fish slowly or quickly dying off because of their stressful conditions, however unfortunately a lot of people view fish as replaceable animals, and view their purpose more as decorations than as pets.
The fact of the matter is that it is scientifically proven now that fish do feel pain, they do have memories, and they are a lot more intelligent than people give them credit for.
However, unfortunately there seems to be an endless supply of pet shops who will sell fish to any random joe, no questions asked, and many fish end up suffering considerably because of their owners ignorance and lack of care.

I really do think that goldfish should be banned as prizes in festivals/fairs in Japan- the vast majority of these goldfish won by people, which can live to over 30 years old and grow anywhere between 5-15inches long or more depending on the variety, just up being dumped in some 1litre bowl back at the persons home in cold un-dechlorinated water and eventually get forgotten about.
Goldfish in these conditions end up suffering immensely from the toxic ammonia which quickly builds up in their tiny bowl and burns the fish, suffocating its gills and stressing its entire body. Sometimes goldfish can live a few years in a bowl, but more than often they are lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) to last a few weeks in these conditions.

IMHO, goldfish bowls and goldfish as prizes should be banned worldwide- my country has already taken steps to ban goldfish given as prizes at fairs, and i hope that goldfish bowls will also be banned too at some point in the near future.
We don't give out cats and dogs as prizes, so why give out fish as prizes? Fish deserve to be cared for properly and loved just as much as any other animal- just because they're not covered in fur and go "meow" or "woof" doesn't mean that they're worthless and should be treated as cheap toys or replaceable amusements.

I think you should research the dolphin kills and you will change your mind...it is not quick and they suffer. I would post the links and pictures but they make me physically ill to watch. Dolphins however aren't pets. As for pets, my Japanese friends all have pets, and they all seem happy and healthy.

Goldiegirl said:

I think you should research the dolphin kills and you will change your mind...it is not quick and they suffer. I would post the links and pictures but they make me physically ill to watch. Dolphins however aren't pets. As for pets, my Japanese friends all have pets, and they all seem happy and healthy.

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"The killing of the animals used to be done by slitting their throats, but the Japanese government banned this method and now dolphins may officially only be killed by driving a metal pin into the neck of the dolphin, which causes them to die within seconds";

Dolphin drive hunting - Wikipedia


The pin method sounds humane to me. What methods did you hear about?

The main thing i disagree about is that the Japanese are still allowed to kill Striped dolphins despite them being endangered in Japan.

Just recently I saw a video of Japanese sailors rounding up a bunch of dolphins and basically bludgeon them to death.
Sure there are more humane ways to kill them but they are rarely, if ever put into practice.

MadamePapillon said:

Just recently I saw a video of Japanese sailors rounding up a bunch of dolphins and basically bludgeon them to death.
Sure there are more humane ways to kill them but they are rarely, if ever put into practice.

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How old was this video though do you know? You could have been watching footage that is 10, even 20, years old.

I saw one from november 26th last year(!!) in Taiji, where thy tried very hard to cover their activities. . .while the waters went red. . .still.

Here it is:

Tokis-Phoenix said:

there isn't animal cruelty in Japan.

I don't see whats so cruel about the "dolphin slaughter.

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you must have ignored my post, i dont think theres anything wrong with dolphin fishing, but the way these (small amount of) fishing villages go about slaughtering them is what bothers me.
slit throats and left out in the air to die, i dont love dolphins like everyone else, thats the only reason people are outraged is because they think dolphins are "pretty"
i dont, they are fish.
although they are large intelligent fish though, i dont think they deserve to have their throats slit and meet their end by oxygeon consumption....

if i had the choice, id say no dolphin fishing at all, thats just like whaling to me, these animals are so intelligent, but whatever.
i realize this topic is just trying to be controversial, and it has no solution other than looking at the problem.
im ashamed i even posted in it.

Thank you for hijacking this thread with talk about the dolphin slaughter!

Seriously, there are other places to talk about the dolphins. You have all made your point about the dophins, and I can not complain about it being off topic as it is indeed related to animal cruelty in Japan.

Having said that, this thread seems to be about animal cruelty in Japan in the GENERAL sense. Please do not make a general thread about animals in general into a specific thread about dolphins only in particular.

Tokis-Phoenix said:

... all animals should be treated the same.

... IMHO, goldfish bowls and goldfish as prizes should be banned worldwide- my country has already taken steps to ban goldfish given as prizes at fairs, and i hope that goldfish bowls will also be banned too at some point in the near future.

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I agree wholeheartedly with this. I've heard that Italy banned goldfish bowls a couple of years ago, but I don't remember where I saw this. It was the only country at that time that had done so.

Fish, cats, dogs, rats, birds, dolphins, whales, cows, pigs, etc. - all should be protected under welfare laws.

And I very much appreciate your signature, Sarapva, you know, why. . . ;-)

Chi65 said:

And I very much appreciate your signature, Sarapva, you know, why. . . ;-)

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Yes, I think I do! And I believe it's very true.

Tokis-Phoenix said:

How old was this video though do you know? You could have been watching footage that is 10, even 20, years old.

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No, it happens at every annual roundup slaughter.

Go and watch it forst hand, listen the the screams of those poor bloody dolphons whilst they are dragged a shore wriggling and screaming after having been stabbed with knives, metal pins (through the neck) and clubbed sensless..

Please don't try to deny the cruelty.. It is as cruel as it gets..

Mikawa Ossan said:

Thank you for hijacking this thread with talk about the dolphin slaughter!

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MO has a point. Back to the whaling thread..

Animals you would think are animals, I know dolphins seem more like humans to us who have feelings..

That doesn't make it any better for dogs, cats, or zoo animals in Japan.

If any get the chance, visit the Kyoto "Zoo". Those animals are screaming toget out..

A lion is housed in a concrete small room with a glass front.

Two sea lions are in a small deep pond, with a small concrete circular island block, their only escape out of the water.

When we visited, the two sea lions were constantly fighting and slashing each other, which basically meant, once on the small circular block island, the other had to wait or it was the deepest slash off!

One thing for sure, I will be guarding our little Jiji when we get back as she has never been exposed to people who don't like animals..

We are surrounded by animals up here..

We took a Rainbow Loreekeeet to the vet a few days ago afetr it crashed landed...

Of course, no shortage of animal carers up here, all voluntary, form their own hearts simply becasue they like animals..

Sarapva said:

Yes, I think I do! And I believe it's very true.

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Cute Avatar Sara..

is that a Gerble?

Looks like a hamster! Very cute!

MadamePapillon said:

Sure there are more humane ways to kill them but they are rarely, if ever put into practice.

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I could only imagine MP taking into account the entire animal cruelty scene in Japan against all animals..

It really is a shocking thing, but their are volunteers working behind the scenes to do as much as they can, although it will be a long term goal I guess..

I think the reason we are so shocked by the cruelty of animals is that in our society we take in all sorts of creatures and they become more than just dumb animals to us, they become family members. People here have adopted everything from dogs to cows to cougars and the more we are around animals the more easily we connect to them and are able to feel empathy and compassion because we realize they do have feelings and personalities.

There's a big, fat grey squirrel that I call the 'neighborhood squirrel', that lives in the trees by my place. I started throwing food out of the window for it this winter because I felt bad when I saw it searching in the snow for food that wasn't there. I didn't have to but I just decided, if I was in the same position I'd want someone to throw me food.

To me it's all about empathy. I'm not sure is Japan has gotten around to the same sort of empathy westerners often have for animals. I don't think you would ever see a Japanese firefighter going into a burning house to rescue a family dog but I do think the situation for animals is slowly improving.

BTW.
How bad for animal In Japan?
I am sorry I can not imagine.

I used to see were dogs tied up on a 100cm piece of rope

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I thnk it is for a cat?

There is a breeder of Japanese dogs that I see sometimes when I pass that way, and they have about 30 dogs in 4' X 4' X 4' cages stacked up on each other, all of them have bed sores from not being able to move in unhygenic enclosures. Obviously these are breeders b/c the pups are looked after or they would not be able to sell them. This is one instance of animal cruelty that I have seen over here. I do see more instances of cruelty to dogs over here due to the fact that Japan just does not have the space to keep any of these big dogs.

But none of us can say that we are perfect, go to any chicken farm and see the conditions that they are kept in.

"happy Eggs"

Definitely a case of cruelty as Dave points out.

Cruelty goes on world wide, but when it happens in Australia for example, it is "special", and definitely anything but normal, even forgetting the law and for the sake of humanity.

The only chicken farms I have seen are located in Cairns. One is Australian owned, one Japanese.

The chickens are free to roam.

The Japanese farm has a five star reputation in North Queensland and we wouldn't buy anything else.

Enjoy the Yamagishi "Happy Eggs" photo;-)

Kyoto Returnee said:

Have you seen someone in Japan being cruel to an animal?

We all know that type in "Japan animal cruelty" on You Tube and GOOGLE, and it will keep you going for a few days, possibly weeks, but why does it happen so much within?

The most common site I used to see were dogs tied up on a 100cm piece of rope, outside their outside kennel.

I am not talking for one hour, but 24/7
Such a case existed near my home in Kyoto, and the dog clearly had a severe mental problem from this treatment..

Do Japanese have different ideas about animals than the West?

Yes, we all have a cruel people in each country, but this is about JAPAN.

Will be interesting to hear all sides including the Japanese side, please:japanese:

Click to expand...

Actually I went and googled Japan animal cruelty. After about 16, 17 hits it turned to whaling and dolphins. Whithin the first 16-17 hits, several of them were blogs and several more links were about Bando, the Japanese author who lives in Tahiti and wrote about throwing kittens off a cliff(which brought about outrage from the Japanese public). Several other links were related to a single case that was famous because it well was animal cruelty. I got more action googling Australian animal cruelty. My point is how you framed your question. One gets the impression that it is a foregone conclusion that Japanese are somehow more cruel than others, and you are just looking to back it up.

Personally I haven't seen any animal cruelty. I see people regularly walking their dogs and the stray cats being fed everyday by some obasan(cat-woman?) at the park. Pet restaurants and shows on tv devoted to animals and pets.

There is a problem with the breeders. It is a big business and the Yakuza are controlling the breeding industry. Breeding dogs to be small and cute doesn't seem right when it is resulting in health problems for the dogs. Though this isn't unique to Japan. I think it can be argued that the commercialization of dogs/cats is in itself some form of animal cruelty, no? Customers want certain dogs, certain sizes, certain features. Money drives that business. Can people who buy pets really say that they are against animal cruelty if they support this? I don't know.

To be honest I don't really think about animal cruelty. Though thinking about it now I do have some questions. I read the arguments about how some form of death is cruel. I also read that it is murder. So when is it murder? When one considers a form of death not cruel and too painful? I don't quite understand this. Is simply the lessoning of ones guilt about the death of an animal enough to justify killing it and not calling it murder? Obviously it seems many argue if an animal is endangered you shouldn't kill it. That is fine. So if they are not endangered? If dogs were farmed like cows then is it alright? Cows and chickens and pigs seem fine by some here(am I mistaken?). Personally I can't argue against the "inherent" cruelty of killing whales and dolphins. Since I am not against cows and pigs and chickens(buffalo, ostrich etc) being killed for my consumption. There are groups that argue that the conditions that cows, pigs and chickens are under are wrong. I understand this. Though I am not going to give up eating them thus I could not bring myself to scream cruelty and murder for one group of animals and not another.

This is not to condone sadistic torture of animals, which is what I think this thread is about. Since dolphin and whale were brought up which are for human consumption instead of the sadistic pleasure of someone wanting to see something in pain. So I don't think dolphin and whale can be brought up in this thread. Sorry to go off topic.

No I don't think Japan has a worse problem than anywhere else in regards to animal cruelty. I therorize that pets were not something anybody thought of wanting until Japan became an economic superpower. This is pretty recent. Japanese homes are small as well so having a dog probably didn't make much sense for most people. People have disposable income to be able to buy and take care of a pet these days. Japan has a very low crime rate. I think it is possible(no, I do not know for sure) that this is the case for animal cruelty as well. I also think the same social pressures that discourage people from committing crimes could include animal cruelty. I am pretty sure you would be ostracized in a community if it was found out that you were throwing pets of bridges or tying them up or whatever. No one wants to be associated with somebody like that.

Actually there is some severe animal cruelty going around. How the pressure in this society and the failure of helping, results in 30,000 people(we are animals also) killing themselves each year in Japan. Probably many more attempts and many with serious problems like depression. Also nearly half of the homicides in Japan were committed between family. Now that is messed up.

otoko said:

Actually there is some severe animal cruelty going around. How the pressure in this society and the failure of helping, results in 30,000 people(we are animals also) killing themselves each year in Japan. Probably many more attempts and many with serious problems like depression. Also nearly half of the homicides in Japan were committed between family. Now that is messed up.

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Yes, and whilst it's off topic, it is as you say, a very serious issue.

My wife was a psychiatric nurse in a mental hospital and prison nearby. We saw and heard it all!