In Retrogression to "Whale Eating," Understanding A bilingual version of the rebuttal film is now available on DVD. Now on sale with a take-out deficit!

On July 22, Paul Watson, founder of the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, was released from the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) after the Japanese government placed an international manhunt on him, and in February he received the "Citizen of Honor" award in Paris. To promote understanding in these difficult times, two shocking films against whale eating from the Japanese side were released in bilingual editions on Wednesday, July 30.

Behind THE COVE" and "The Whale Restaurant.

The documentary "Behind THE COVE," which shocked the world, is a rebuttal to the Academy Award-winning film "The Cove," set in the town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, and was reported by the international media, including the Washington Post, as "The first rebuttal! and was distributed to more than 200 countries around the world via NETFLIX, generating a huge response. However, the global distribution of the film, which was translated into 23 languages, has now ended. It is no longer available for viewing overseas.

In "The Whale Restaurant," an international scientist also appears in a whale restaurant in Tokyo. The film depicts whale eating as a wake-up call to the possibility that excessive reliance on livestock may lead to deforestation, and from the perspective of advocating that eating whales can help mitigate global warming. The film won the SDGs Award at the Los Angeles Japanese Film Festival last year.

Both films will be released simultaneously as bilingual DVDs in Japanese and English with a take-out deficit. The DVD version of Behind THE COVE was completely in Japanese in 2017. However, it was re-produced in a bilingual version now that the film has been distributed worldwide, as it was necessary to tell the story to an international audience. This is the first time "The Whale's Restaurant" has been released.

To gain understanding overseas, the production cost was doubled for the bilingual version, which also included plenty of bonus footage and enclosed an "Ukiyoe of Whales". However, since it was after the price was announced, the release cost more than the price. In addition to the high prices, the company ran out of expenses and had to take on the challenge of producing the film while living on borrowed money. Furthermore, after the release of "Behind THE COVE," the film received a great response from overseas, so they could not loosen the reins and have spent huge sums of money over the past 10 years on activities to promote the film overseas.

Director Keiko Yagi said that the decision to release the film on DVD was made in the midst of difficult circumstances: "If we only distribute the film, it will eventually stop being seen when it is no longer being distributed. If we don't use every possible means to convey the information now, the whale eating culture will come to an end." She took this step out of a strong sense of mission and a desire to "let people know what the whale industry is all about.

The "whale-eating culture" that our ancestors have cherished and continued since the Jomon period is quietly disappearing in the eyes of foreign countries.