寄付Donate
We’re announcing the Animal Welfare Award winners for FY2021. Animal Welfare Award (AWA) is an award annually selecting and giving thanks to companies that consider animals and work on animal welfare in Japan which is lagging behind the world in terms of animal welfare for livestock and aquatic animals. In the view of Animal Rights Center Japan that works to protect livestock animals in Japan, efforts resulting in the biggest impacts have been recognized. Please see the results below:
On 2022/4/7, at the House of Councilors Economic and Industrial Committee, Representative Kiyoshi Adachi brought up animal welfare as one of the challenges for Japan’s economy. Actually this is the first time that farm animal welfare has been brought up by the Economic and Industrial Committee. From this, we can see that the discussion on economics and business was completely omitted from the discussion of animal welfare in Japan. Mr. Kiyoshi Adachi cited “creation of corporate value” and “branding of Japanese food” as reasons for taking up animal welfare at the Economic and Industrial Committee. He asked how we should tackle animal welfare in the context of ESG investment and…
Following the investigation report after a scandal in the egg industry, their first information exchange session about animal welfare was held. As this investigation report mentions the importance of improving transparency of the government office, this is a great way to rebuild citizens’ trust in the government. As this article explains, there was a history where some officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) were entertained by Akita Foods where they were incentivized to lower the bar for animal welfare standards. As a result, the officers made decisions without consulting the opinions by the committee of experts. Despite this, the information exchange session was held behind closed…
Genome-editing technologies can cause animals to suffer. The technologies, however, have already been applied to animals. Ahead of other countries, in Japan, genome-edited red sea bream and Fugu, or blowfish, have been fully developed and are already on the market. Genome-editing technology and genetic modification technology are essentially the same in their meaning. Although regulations applied to such technologies are different depending on countries, some of them use the terms “genome-editing” and others use the term “genetic modification”. What these technologies do are adding, deleting, or changing gene materials on the specific spots of genome (the complete set of genetic material and information organisms have). These technologies are essentially the…
In March 2022, Japan’s largest egg producer Ise Foods, faced by financial difficulted, filed for corporate reorganization, drawing much attention since. Ise Foods keeps more birds in battery cages than any other companies in Japan, counting to as many as 13 million hens. While they have begun to introduce cage-free rearing methods in the United States, the pace has been extremely slow. Given that timing, they appear to have inevitably done so as some US states announced stringent regulations that would ban the trade of cage-reared eggs. There are many ways to describe Ise Foods; the largest egg company in Japan, a frontier of the low margin high turnover business…
Since 2016, Animal Rights Center Japan has been conducting a survey once a year using a private company to see how well the actual rearing of livestock animals is recognized by consumers. We report the results of the survey conducted in 2022 (the number of valid responses was 1,214). The questions are the following 10 items: Do you know that many of the sows are trapped in a gestation crate, a narrow enclosure in which they can’t turn around? Do you know that many of the piglets are castrated and have their teeth and tails clipped without anesthesia? Do you know that many of the chickens for eggs are kept…
Mayonnaise is one of the most competitive products regarding animal welfare. Mayonnaise is said to be a “semi-solid dressing made mainly of cooking oil, vinegar, and eggs”, and eggs have been widely used. Eggs are not really necessary; the same flavor, taste, and texture are possible without eggs. Therefore, many egg-free mayonnaise are sold at low prices. For companies to go cage free, they don’t really need to procure expensive cage-free mayonnaise at this time; they can just use egg-free ones. A wide variety of mayonnaise is sold. Recently, the variety of mayonnaise with cage-free eggs are increasing. What we’d like to commend the most is the private brand “Bioral…
In 2021, 497,000* animals were killed for Japanese people’s fashion. You would be horrified if the same number of humans were killed for the same reason. Still, the number of animals killed for fur is a lot fewer compared to 2006 in which 7,975,000* were victimized that year. The Trends of Animal Fur Imports in 2021 In 2021, 375,263 clothing items with animal fur, weighing 375,981 kg in total, were imported to Japan, down 65% compared to the previous year. The clothing items with animal fur means coats and sweaters with fur trims, which typical shoppers tend to purchase. On the other hand, more animal fur pelts were imported than…
From July 2021 to January 2022, ARCJ ran a 6-month campaign about eyestalk ablation in shrimp farming, thanks to a grant from Compassion in World Farming International. The campaign’s objectives were: to raise awareness about shrimp eyestalk ablation to reduce farmed shrimp consumption to encourage aquaculture certification labels to prohibit eyestalk ablation The target audiences were the general public and aquaculture certifiers like ASC and MEL. Activities during the campaign: Commissioned internet-based public surveys at the beginning and the end of the campaign to measure the awareness levels and opinions regarding shrimps. Made an illustration and launched a campaign website, disseminating a press release to 30 media outlets. Designed an…
Compared to 2020, the import of foie gras dropped by 44% according to the 2021 statistics presented by the Ministry of Finance. When compared to 10 years ago, it has decreased by 94%. This is likely because many consumers in Japan are feeling more and more disturbed by the inhumane process to produce foie gras, plus the issue of bird flu that emerges almost every year. Animal cruelty and diseases are two primary issues when it comes to farm animals, and thus, both companies and stakeholders should avoid the risks to consumers who are turned off by the cruel practice and the pandemics caused by farm animals. Plunging Demand Today,…
From last July until January, Animal Rights Center Japan ran a #ShrimpsMatter campaign to raise awareness about shrimp eyestalk ablation. Partly to measure the effects of this campaign, we commissioned a survey at the end of July, and again with identical questions in January this year. After briefly describing the actual practice of breeder shrimps getting one of their eyes removed in aquaculture, including videos and photos on this campaign site, we asked 12 questions: 1. Before seeing this survey, did you know that shrimps can feel suffering? 2. Had you thought that you want to know about the breeding methods and breeding environments of shrimps that you eat? 3. Did…
Wacoal, a leading manufacturer of innerwear, will be fur & fur-wool free. Wacoal had already abolished the use of fur, but just one sweater using raccoon wool was being sold, which we asked to be abolished. Wacoal began consideration immediately, including traceability, and as a result promised that from the next season onwards, it will not use wild animal hair (including fur) and will not use non-traceable materials. ARCJ appreciates Wacoal’s sincere attitude toward the issues and its quick decisions. It is not clear from other manufacturers where fur wool comes from. Citizens should not allow such materials. The lack of traceability means that the sacrifices of the animals behind…
In 2021, we, Animal Rights Center Japan, together with the animal protection group Cookhouse in Okinawa, identified the location of the cockfighting ground in Chiba Prefecture. There were approximately 60 gamecocks in wooden cages, and some of them had their entire heads injured, with no eyes, had stitch marks on their heads, and had beaks cut in abnormal ways. Dead bodies were left abandoned, and we also found some bones laying around in the cages. There was a place where 10-20 people could sit, and in the back room there was a circular ring, around which chairs with cushions were lined up, making it a cockfighting ground that could be…
An artist Ujiie-san, who is also a foster parent of chickens we rescued, donated a Buddhist art piece to the Animal Rights Center. Ideas of animal rights or animal welfare are often promoted by buddhist religious groups in some countries, like Taiwan or China. Although that’s not necessarily always the case here in Japan, a few temples share the passion of animal activism. Irrespective of religion, Japanese culture has originally appreciated ideas of mercy, compassion, dislike of killing, and respect for all beings. Many believe animal rights movements came from the Western society. However, the philosopher Peter Singer, who has theorized modern animal rights in academia, states that animal rights…
On 2021/11/11, we are able to deliver great news for pigs. NH Foods Group made an announcement as follows. Promote initiatives that take animal welfare into consideration Elimination of gestation crates on all NH farms (pigs)To be eliminated from all domestic NH farms by the end of 2030* Installation of drinking water facilities in lairage pens at all NH meat processing plants (pigs and cattle)To be installed at all domestic bases by the end of 2023* Installation of cameras on all NH farms and meat processing plants to ensure environmental qualityTo be installed at all domestic bases by the end of 2023* * For companies in which the NH Foods…
On 2021/11/1, Hotel Matsumotoro, focusing on both animal welfare and the SDGs, has announced that by 2027 it will switch to 100% cage-free or free-range eggs. As a result of discussions with the certified NPO Animal Rights Center Japan, it came to this decision. The cage free policy is spelled out in Hotel Matsumotoro’s declaration toward achieving SDGs ( http://www.matsumotoro.com/img/sdgs.pdf ): Indicator for 2030 on the transition to a sustainable diet: “Switch to 100% cage-free eggs by 2027” Also added to its priority efforts are: “Active introduction of plant-based protein”“Introduction of ingredients considering animal welfare” Hotel Matsumotoro’s young proprietress Yuki Matsumoto described this cage-free initiative as follows. “Hotel Matsumotoro aims…
Previously in Japan, JAS Certification for organic livestock was the only animal welfare certification with standards that could satisfy the Five Freedoms. This changed, however, in October 2021 when Yamanashi Prefecture announced new “Yamanashi Animal Welfare Certification Standards”. The Yamanashi Animal Welfare Certification Standard is separated into two tiers: Effort Certification, which evaluates the initiative’s effort, and Achievement Certification, which evaluates the actual result. As with JGAP and other certifications, the criteria for Effort Certification consist of items that are fairly basic in raising animals and are included in the “Guidelines for Animal Feeding Management Corresponding to the Concept of Animal Welfare” established by Japan Livestock Technology Association. For instance,…
The Japan Ethical Initiative (JEI), a general incorporated association in which Animal Rights Center participates, has released the “JEI Ethical Standards”, which encompass ethical issues. The Ethical Standards are comprised of the following 8 major categories: Natural environment is protected Human rights are respected Consumers are respected Animal welfare and rights are protected Product and service information is disclosed Consideration is given to, and contributions are made to, the local community in which the organization operates Appropriate management is being carried out Collaborating proactively with suppliers and stakeholders Of these categories, [4. Animal welfare and rights are protected] includes the following criteria: 4.1 Using livestock and aquatic products that have…
On October 6, 2021, a trial of the former Akita Foods representative in the egg corruption case was held and he was found guilty. He frequently lobbied the then ministers, former ministers, and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) staff to change the international standards of animal welfare into industry-friendly policies, and bribed them. Although convicted, the hens who were the victims of the incident have not been saved at all. The main topic of this incident was animal welfare. While the world, including Japanese citizens, began shifting to cage-free rearing of hens, the industry stayed stuck to cage rearing, and MAFF continued to follow suit. After all, neither…
New report reveals 8 reasons why it’s cruel and unsustainable Compassion in World Farming and Animal Rights Center Japan have written to the Japanese government urging them to stop octopus factory farming as a new report, released today (8 October 2021), on World Octopus Day, reveals that it is cruel and damaging to the planet. Compassion’s report – ‘Octopus Factory Farming – A Recipe for Disaster’ – reveals how the octopus would suffer greatly in farms due to its solitary and inquisitive nature and exposes the lack of any approved humane slaughter method. In addition, there is currently no legislation to protect their welfare in farms and their carnivorous diet…
寄付