Goal #5) Volunteer With an Environmental Group

In four weeks I’ll be on my way to Japan.

It will take me two days and one night on an airport floor to get there.  Once I arrive in Osaka, I will travel by train for five hours to a town called Kii-Katsuura, a small coastal town about 2 miles from Taiji.  If my train arrives late, I may end up spending another night sleeping on the ground, this time at the train station.

I’m flying halfway around the world to meet up with people I’ve only ever talked to via email to fight for a cause I never cared about just a couple months ago.  I didn’t care because I didn’t know about it.  I’d never heard of Taiji before but when I learned what was happening there, I knew that I needed to do something…but what?  How could I make any difference?  Should I donate a few dollars and call it good enough?  I struggled with what I could do for a few weeks before concluding that a donation wouldn’t cut it…not this time.

I had to go to Japan.

After making up my mind to go, I asked Erin if she’d come with me.  Being far more practical than I, she politely reminded me of our upcoming trip to Europe.  “Yeah?  So?” I replied, knowing she was right.  But I had made up my mind.  I needed to go to Taiji and show the fisherman that I won’t sit idle while they kill thousands of dolphins each year.  I booked my flight to Osaka the next morning.

I was going to Japan…alone.  It was a risk I was willing to take.  If I had to stand at the water’s edge by myself, I knew I’d be doing it for the right reasons.

A few days after sending an email into cyberspace about my upcoming arrival in Japan, I received a reply from Scott West, a Sea Shepherd who’s been in Taiji with his daughter Elora since September.  His response was brief.  “Here’s my cell number.  Call me when you arrive.”  His email included some information from others who’d been to Taiji about navigating the train system and other practical advice.

Even though I’d been thinking about what I could do to stop the dolphin slaughter in Taiji for a few weeks,  I hadn’t really considered traveling there.  Now my flight’s booked and I’m ready to go.  My only regret is that I’m not able to stay longer.  Maybe next year but hopefully not.  I don’t want to go to the Cove to protest another dolphin slaughter.  May this year be the last!

I’ll be posting updates from Taiji to help raise awareness of what’s happening there.  I hope you’ll take the time to learn more about Taiji and the annual dolphin massacre and that you’ll do whatever you can to help stop this atrocity from happening again next year.  If you can’t fly to Japan, please help by emailing friends,  making a donation to the Sea Shepherds so they can keep Cove Guardians on the ground or, if you wish to help finance my personal actions, I thank you in advance!