Word: ryono
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...Japan's Health Ministry. School children in Taiji eat dolphin, like the rest of the town's population. Junichiro Yamashita, who years ago raised national awareness of dolphin meat's health risks as Taiji's local assemblyman, was interviewed for the film along with current assemblyman Hisato Ryono. But Ryono, who was touted as a hero on the mercury issue in the documentary, told a local television station that he was informed his interview would be used in a film on "international contamination of the oceans," not for the Cove project. He has requested that the filmmakers edit...
...dolphin and sweet-and-sour minke whale are also occasional cafeteria offerings in this small fishing town, where sea mammals have long been considered a reliable source of protein. Taiji (pop. 3,600) is proudly regarded as the birthplace of Japan's 400-year-old whaling industry. But Hisato Ryono, a local assemblyman whose uncle used to work as a commercial whaler, is having second thoughts about schools serving his sons flippered fare. Not because he is finally bowing to international opposition to the hunting of dolphins, which scientists rank among the most intelligent animals. Or because he is suddenly...
...Ryono is up in arms because recent tests show that dolphin meat sold in local supermarkets has mercury levels up to 29 times the acceptable maximum set by the Japanese Health Ministry. But these alarming results have not led the town government to ban dolphin meat from school cafeterias. Quite the contrary: Taiji officials are pushing ahead with plans to finish building a $2.9 million processing plant, roughly half of which will be reserved for butchering cetaceans--which include dolphins as well as whales. The mayor has expressed hopes that the new facility will lead to more sea-mammal hunting...
...appetite for whale, it's not surprising that the new mercury studies have divided the tight-knit community of Taiji. "If whaling disappears, our town disappears," says Katsutoshi Mihara, the affable town-council chief. He casts doubt on the accuracy of the mercury tests, which were commissioned by Ryono and another Taiji assemblyman after rumors circulated that locally caught pilot-whale meat might be tainted. "Look at me," says Mihara, 69. "I'm made of whale, head to toe, and I'm fine...
...Ryono used to feel the same way until he learned about the sky-high mercury levels. "I thought eating this meat was fine because it is a Japanese tradition," he says. "But protecting our culture is not worth endangering our children's health." Junichiro Yamashita, the other member of the town council who opposes serving dolphin in school lunches, believes a silent majority supports his cause but is reluctant to speak publicly. "At the last town meeting, there was a lot of pressure from fishermen not to publicize the mercury results," he says. Some are afraid of losing their jobs...