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What is necessary to resolve the common issue of human beings, the earth and animals is to change animal proteins to better ones and intake them less. Efforts to save animals, promoting animal welfare and veganism are inseparable, as are two wheels of a vehicle. Now that companies are required to work on solving social issues through their core business, the Imperial Hotel TOKYO, after a talk with Animal Rights Center Japan, has started offering “vegan French gastronomy” and “banana smoothie with soy milk and soy flour” as wellness accommodation at the end of last year. Furthermore, they announced they will offer a “sustainable room service plan,” in which people…
On November 30, 2022, Kayoko Natsume, a ward assembly member, asked a general question about animal welfare at a regular meeting of the ward assembly of Katsushika Ward, Tokyo. The question covered three items: the first was about TNR of community cats and the subsidy system, the second was about evacuation with pets. And third, she spoke about the introduction of cage-free egg feeding. Citing the trend of eliminating cage keeping in the EU and the Cabinet Office cafeteria’s cage-free program as examples, she said that Katsushika Ward should also work on this as part of the SDGs and set a good example for society. She stated “Cage-free chicken rearing…
There is a trend in other countries to stop using animals for entertainment, such as circuses, as it is an inappropriate environment for keeping wild animals. In this case, wild animals are those other than domesticated animals. No matter how many generations of wild animals are bred, their innate ecology never leaves them. Therefore, animals bred in captivity in Japan are also considered wild animals and are subject to regulations in 58 countries*1 worldwide. There are two directions in which animal welfare problems in circuses can go: problems that cannot always be prevented in the circus entertainment environment, no matter how careful they are, and problems that can occur if…
A new children’s book “Someday under the Sky Sakura School Hikari Newspaper” has been published. This children’s book should be read by all elementary and junior high school students, or even adults. One day, Asuka met an injured chicken in a corner of a poultry farm.By saving the chicken, which was about to be disposed of, she learns about the reality of this poultry farm.What is the happiness of the chickens and what is our responsibility? ……Asuka was troubled and decided to write a newspaper and publish it. Amazon As those who have visited the Animal Rights Center’s website and social medias know, chickens die and are killed every day…
On Dec.10th, 2022, International Animal Rights Day, we conducted street outreach activities on 3 spots, i.e. Shibuya (Tokyo), Iwate and Shiga, to appeal promotion of animal welfare and protection of animal rights. In Shibuya, a seminar on “animal welfare and rights” was also given. Dec.10th falls on “Human Rights Day.” Every person has the right to live one’s own life as a human being. In the same way, animals have the right to live their own lives. We believe the issue of animal rights is also the issue of animal welfare, just as the issue of human rights is also the issue of human being’s welfare. In the seminar, Ms.…
In pig farms, animals die in breeding facilities more than any other places. They die not just because of miscarriage, but they also get slaughtered by hand by humans. Piglets are killed every day because they are unable to stand up, too weak, or too slow to develop. In this farm, piglets get smashed against the edge of the gestation crates, which results in slow and painful death. It’s also a common practice to kill them by injecting disinfectant, Pacoma, which causes blood coagulation in their heart. This method is not permitted per international standards as it’s not an approved usage of the infectant. Some also kill piglets by using…
Fishe are sentient being so that it has even been analyzed that “the perceptual and cognitive abilities of fishes are similar to or even exceed those of other vertebrates.” In many countries, fish are included in the range of animal species that are protected by law as long as they are the same vertebrate. Even with Japan’s lagging law, although amphibians and fish are not included in the scope of penalties, they are within the scope of the Animal Protection Law. The OIE’s Animal Welfare Code also does not include ornamental fish, but it does provide various recommendations based on scientific evidence for the welfare of farmed fish. In November…
Though it’s yet to be seen since we have two more months to go, 2022 will be a year of great success for the Animal Rights Center in light of animal welfare in the agriculture field. These achievements will carry us forward into a new era, but we’d like to first cover our history of dialogues with stakeholders in this article. Our history of Company Engagement in animal welfare In the era of Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), the Animal Rights Center has been working closely with corporations while hoping we can ultimately change their producers’ actions indirectly. As a part of our ongoing efforts to minimize animal suffering, the Animal Rights…
On November 8th 2022, Genki Sudo councilor raised a question at the diet session in regards to male chicks who get killed just a day after they were born. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) response to his particular question about the number of male chickens killed in Japan was quite intriguing: “We have no statistics to show how many male chickens are born and slaughtered specifically. That said, Japan Poultry Breeders and Hatcheries Association estimates there were about 110,000,000 hens produced in 2021 so I would guess there were about the same number of male chicks.“ Supposedly 110 million birds are born to just get culled but…
More companies agree with “cage-free eggs” initiatives. What is the cage-free egg declaration? It means that companies publicize their intention to switch all of their eggs to cage-free ones. This is being carried out by lots of companies worldwide. Companies publicizing the cage-free egg declaration are now more than 180 in Japan, the number being expected to increase in future. Battery cage rearing, a typical industrial livestock rearing method that cause serious environmental pollution, is considered so inhumane that it is being discontinued in international communities. For further details, see here “What is cage-free?” and “Definitions of the Cage-free Policy corporations should establish” *Kioritei(Shibuya-ward) A ramen noodle shop in Shibuya-ward,…
Kaidansha Inc., which has brands such as STOF and bedsidedrama, Parallel Earth Inc. of ZECHIA, and Maker’s Shirts Kamakura Co., Ltd. have newly joined fur-free companies! All these companies are and will not deal in animal fur. STOF and bedsidedrama of Kaidansha have never dealt with real fur in the past and are consciously dealing with eco-fur. The STOF brand concept is “clothes with a story”, in which the story of being kind to animals is also hidden. ZECHIA Parallel Earth has been at the forefront of ethical and sustainable apparel trends, launching an earth-friendly brand line since 2011. We believe that Maker’s Shirt Kamakura always a choice for business…
On October 2, 2022, World Day for Farmed Animals, we partnered with the Animal Rights Center Iwate and Shiga to carry out simultaneous actions in three locations across the country. During the day, we held animal rights workshops in Shibuya, Shiga and online, followed by a demonstration in Shibuya, Shiga and Iwate at the same time. Approximately 50 animal rights activists from across Japan attended the workshop. After the lecture, participants asked many questions and their enthusiasm for their activities came through clearly.We’ realized, once again, that a lot of activists are doing their best to protect animals through trial and error. At the demonstration in Shibuya, we, with around…
The Act on Welfare and Management of Animals stipulates, as a penalty, that to drain or weaken an animal by raising it or to keep it in a place where the density of breeding is clearly insufficient. However this regulation is not functioning and abnormally overcrowded rearing is rampant across Japan. While meat chicken farms are also extremely crowded compared to global standards, on this article we will explain the abnormal breeding environment of laying hens in Japan. Rearing density of Japan’s layer poultry farms The rearing densty practiced in Japan’s largest egg producer, (which went bankrupt and filed for corporate reorganization in 2022), is 285cm2 per bird. It’s 15cm×19cm.…
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand for cage-free eggs has increasing. Looking at the sales trends of other products, it can be inferred that consumer psychology has an impact. The psychology of consumers is that they want to eat something good at home because they can’t go anywhere, or they want to take in something good for their body to build their immunity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when people could hardly go out for shopping, food delivery businesses such as Co-op grew significantly. Last year, demand of cage-free eggs at Co-ops throughout Japanincreased by more than 100% over the previous year. (The demand has become twice as much as the…
Koichi HOSOKAWA, Professor, Japan Women’s University More and more people consider pets to be family members. The term “companion animal” is also becoming more common. On the other hand, abuse and abandonment of pets and ill-treatment in the pet industry are often in the news. If you kill or injure someone else’s animal, you can be punished under criminal law for damaging property. However, this provision does not apply if the animal’s owner does the same. It is a crime to destroy someone else’s property, and animals are simply treated as property. The crime of damaging property is punishable by imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of…
[The campaign ended when we made Toridoll Holdings stand at the starting point for animal welfare.]Hens are left in cages in Japan, while they are released globally, what does that tell us? On September 3, 2022, Toridoll Holdings Corporation(THC), based in Tokyo, Japan and running fast food restaurant chains such as Marugame Seimen (chain of noodle shops), announced on the website their timeline and stance for switching eggs from caged to cage-free. The announcement was released just after the global campaign for the protection of egg-laying hens was launched by Open Wing Alliance (OWA), a global alliance to free laying hens from cages with more than 90 member organizations from…
Ramen restaurant “Chukasoba Mugen” in Osaka officially announced eggs used in their restaurants are 100% cage free. Chukasoba Mugen which has been listed in the Michelin Guide in a row, only uses cage-free eggs from WABISUKE Co., Ltd. Unlike general large- scale cage breeding in Japan, this poultry produces eggs only from cage-free which is friendly to both people and hens. WABISUKE’s laying hens can bathe in the sand as much as they want, drink water, and eat at any time, 24 hours a day. Today, information on the world is readily available to anyone, and many consumers are concerned that animal welfare in Japan is much lower than in other countries. In spite of…
On July 28th 2022, we filed petitions to the Saijo Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution in regards to the case in which hogs were starved to death. We collected petitions from experts to send it over to the prosecutor in Saijo after the indictment for this case was suspended. The details of the case can be found here. So far, we have collected petitions from 27,406 individuals and we’re continuing to receive more. Opinions received from experts The following experts shared their opinions as we submitted the petitions: *alphabetical order Seiichi Kushida, a member of the House of Councilors of Japan Aya Sugimoto, the president of Animal Welfare Organization,…
From June to July 2022, the Animal Rights Center conducted an awareness survey on fur (animal fur). As a result, 82.8% of people answered that they would not buy fur in the future. In addition, the characteristics by age and gender are also prominent, and although men in their teens have the coldest attitude toward animals, women in their teens are second to be kind to animals, following those over 60 years old. In other age groups, there is no difference in trends between men and women, but teens seem to have different values. It is also clear that females generally have a kinder attitude towards animals, while males, especially…
56,000 pigs Killed in two months in a farm in Tochigi The fourth case of Swine fever was detected on July 23rd 2022 in Tochigi prefecture. The news reported that this was the biggest case in Japan as approximately 56,000 pigs would be culled. There have been 83 Swine fever cases, including this latest one, and 353,852 pigs will have been killed in Japan. This is as many as the population in Iwaki city of Fukushima prefecture, Kawagoe city of Saitama prefecture, or Takatsuki city of Osaka prefecture. We have been dealing with Swine fever by culling these affected pigs so far, but should we continue to take these innocent…
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