In February 2011 Marc Rowedder and Adam Docker headed off on a three week shoot to Japan to film the third films in the Eco Crime Investigators series for Nat Geo. This episode focuses on the Environmental Investigation Agency investigation into the trade in Fin Whale meat between Iceland and Japan.
It was a grueling schedule which took in thousands of miles on road and rail from the north of Japan and all the way to the southern tip. Lots of early mornings filming fishermen at the crack of dawn, while being followed and harassed by local police and literally living out of a suitcase, hardly a day off as we stayed in eleven hotels. An absolutely extraordinary journey.
But what really made this trip particularly important for me and I am sure for everyone else on the shoot as well, was how close we came to being caught up in the Tsunami that ravaged the northern coast of Japan. During pre-production we were all at odds on filming dates and the preferred schedule clashed with my son’s birthday which I was adamant I couldn’t miss; so with a tweak here and a tweak there, the shoot was moved forward so I could return home in time for his special day. Little did we know at the time how important that decision turned out to be.Adam Docker
The crew’s journey began in the south of Japan in the coastal town of Taiji, made famous for the slaughter of dolphins in the award winning documentary “The Cove”.
As the sun rises, a flotilla of fishermen wait out in the high sea, while in the bay of Taiji other boats set the nets ready for the catch. Against the backdrop of a red sun you can hear the faint sound of the fishermen banging against metal poles in the water. There isn’t long to wait as three hundred or so dolphins, distressed by the white noise, are trying to escape by swimming directly towards the bay and to the awaiting nets. Luckily most of them out-manouvre the fishermen and only a handful are caught.
With not much of a catch on their hands, we are spared the gory and bloody slaughter and instead witness the beginnings of a sad life for these captured dolphins as they are put in holding pens in the port of Taiji and then sold off to aquariums around the world.
Marc and Adam walking along the seafront in Kamaishi
The investigation took us north, past Fukushima, to a small town called Kamaishi. We stayed here for a few days as the EIA investigated the hunting of Dall’s Porpoise’s, (a member of the dolphin family), in a nearby town called Otsuchi.
We stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe and watched the breaking news of the earthquake that had hit Christchurch in New Zealand. When we left we became aware of all the Tsunami warning signs along the coastal roads.
These small towns were pretty close to the epicenter and ended up being ravaged by the sea.
Seeing these pictures leaves me feeling hollow and numb. So many people and places wiped off the face of the planet. The first thing I think about are all those little children running to school in their floppy yellow hats every morning, to the little restaurants we ate in, the people who touched our lives and to this lovely sweet lady who worked at the petrol station in Otsuchi. I wonder, did they survive?
To think that if it wasn’t for my son, we would have most likely have been caught up in it.Adam Docker
