ARC Action Group Activity Report - April - アニマルライツセンター

ARC HQ (Tokyo)

LUSH Shinjuku x Animal Rights Center Japan
For three days from April 1st to 3rd, we rented a charity space at the LUSH Shinjuku store to hold a charity event “Why is this hen so worn out?” – problem of chicken eggs in Japan -“.

At the event, outreach activities were carried out, such as showing videos and slides of the actual cage rearing of egg-laying hens, and distributing flyers to eliminate factory farming of livestocks. LUSH has had a policy against animal testing since its inception, and in 2019 removed cage-free eggs from all of its products, making the choice to further reduce the suffering of animals.

Many of the customers who visited the store were conscious of environmental issues and ethical consumption, and they also showed a strong interest in animal issues. The “action board”, which was created for people who learnt about battery cage problems to write what they can do for animals, was filled in three days, and many people expressed their feelings for animals.

In addition, the charity event items, which were purchased by customers who supported our cause, exceeded 350 units over a period of three days. We are grateful to announce that all the proceeds from the sales have been donated to the Animal Rights Center Japan.

Earth Day Tokyo 2023

We ran an Animal Rights Center Japan booth at the Earth Day Tokyo held at Yoyogi Park on April 15th and 16th. Unfortunately, the weather was not good, and it rained all day on the first day. On the second day, there were occasional heavy rains accompanied by thunder and hail, which created puddles inside the booth. Even so, many people visited the booth during the two days and were able to talk about the actual situation of livestock farming.

We have had many encounters: A man got to know about Animal Rights Center Japan at the previous Earth Day and since then, he stopped eating meat and started to spread the information about animals on his socila media. A woman was crying watching the video. An elementary school student donated from his allowance. A high school student told us that she will collect petition at her school. Our　supporters, such as members of ARCJ, volunteers or our social medias’ followers, came to see us.

Street action in Shibuya
In addition to exhibiting at the event, on April 7th, we held a street action in front of Shibuya’s scramble crossing to raise awareness of the reality of factory livestock farming to many people.

ARC Kagawa

On April 30th, we held our first street action in Kagawa.
Five people from Osaka, Hyogo, Hiroshima, and Ehime joined and we were able to distribute 300 leaflets in about two hours. There were not so many passers-by, but most of them accepted the leaflets.

One area for improvement was that the panels were not very noticeable, so we will make more panels.
There was a deaf person who was interested, so next time we will prepare a whiteboard and marker.
We were worried about the weather, but it turned out to be fine.

ARC Iwate

We held actions in Hanamaki city and Shiwa town. A pharmacy and a nursery school agreed to set the leaflets at their facilities. In addition to the posting leaflets into mailboxes, we visited some houses to explain about animal welfare and handed leaflets to the residents.

Mini Walking March
We started from Morioka City and walked to Shiwa Town with 4 people. (I think it’s about 30km one way)
Action during a walk
・Posting flyers
・Request for installation of leaflets and posters
・ Requests to convenience stores

The wind was so strong that it was hard to breathe, but it was a fun action!

ARC Shiga

We held a panel exhibition in front of Kusatsu station on Apr 8th. Since the wind was strong, we only used less than half of the numbers we use usually. It was the day before the local assembly election, and various people were giving speeches, so we tried not to overlap our microphone speech with theirs.

During the activity, even though it was windy, people stopped by to look at the panels about the problem of livestock animals, and they expressed their support to our activities. We will strive to work towards making Kusatsu City a kind and compassionate community.

ARC Shonan

In April, we had 3 street actions and 1 posting activity.
At the street outreach, we are calling for “Please do not buy meat and eggs where animals are restrained and overcrowded” and “Please choose products that are made with respect for welfare of animals.”
At each action, we deliver the word “animal welfare” to the ears of about 300 people. Each time, we talk to 3 to 5 people who are interested and explain the situation of the animals in detail.