Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
July 4, 2016
A woodland forest and Shinto shrine in busy Tokyo
By Linda Lombardi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Just steps from one of the
busiest, most modern parts of
Tokyo, it’s a soothing surprise to
feel like you’re in the heart of a primeval
forest. It’s maybe a bigger surprise to learn
that the trees are not at all as ancient as
they feel.
Slip out of the crowds in Tokyo’s
Harajuku neighborhood and head into the
grounds of Meiji Jingu shrine and you’ll
immediately find yourself walking
through a woodland of enormous trees. At
first, a raucous bird cries and the sound of
the wind in the branches competes with
noise from the nearby Yamanote Line
train station.
Gradually, though, the sounds of the
modern world fade as you walk along the
wide path. With lots of broadleaf ever-
greens, there’s green here even in cold
seasons. If this forest doesn’t convert you
to the ancient Japanese belief that spirits
dwell in features of nature like large trees,
at least you’ll understand why they felt
that way.
Meiji Jingu shrine is no secret as a
tourist attraction, but the history of the
grounds is less well known. It’s hard to
imagine it when looking at the huge
T
mature trees, but a hundred or so years
ago, this was all essentially bare ground. It
was planted carefully by experts to give a
natural succession of tree species and is
now a functioning ecosystem, home to
many birds and other animals and native
plants.
The shrine itself, dedicated to Emperor
Meiji and Empress Shoken, who died in
1912 and 1914, is not so much serene as
solemn. It’s also generally quite full of
people. If the mood doesn’t suit, move
along, because what we’re here for is really
the grounds. The route from Harajuku is
always well populated, although the
broad, long path can swallow up quite a
number of people without feeling too
crowded. But other paths leading out from
PEACEFUL PATHS. Visitors walk at Meiji Jingu,
a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, in this December 10, 2015
file photo. The shrine, located just steps from one of
the busiest, most modern parts of Tokyo, includes a
woodland filled with enormous trees. (Linda Lombardi
via AP, File)
the shrine tend to be relatively empty even
a short walk from the shrine precincts.
The site is not a place where you sit and
contemplate so much as a place where you
walk and meditate. There are some
benches in the shrine precincts but
generally not along the paths. There are
also places to sit and rest in the small inner
garden, a more typically manicured
Japanese garden with a pond, for an
admission fee of 500 yen. The pond has
water lilies and the garden is famous for
irises that bloom in early summer.
If all of that walking leaves you calm but
too hungry to make it all the way back to
Harajuku, sustenance is available on your
way out at a full service restaurant and a
small food court offering ramen, curry, and
other casual Japanese favorites.
Note that shrine visits are traditional on
certain Japanese holidays and these days
are probably not a good time to visit unless
your idea of serenity includes crowds like
what you’d find in Times Square on New
Year’s Eve. In fact New Year’s in Japan is
one of those holidays.
China city holds dog-meat-eating festival despite protests
DOOMED DOGS. A woman with a load of
dogs on her tricycle cart arrives at a market during
a dog-meat festival in Yulin, in south China’s Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region. Restaurateurs held the
annual dog-meat festival despite international criti-
cism. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
By Peng Peng
The Associated Press
ULIN, China (AP) — A city in
southern China went ahead with
an annual dog-meat-eating festival
despite heavy criticism and protests from
animal-rights activists.
Vendors slaughtered dogs and cooked
their meat in dozens of restaurants across
the city of Yulin, in an event that has come
to symbolize the cruelty and potential for
spreading disease associated with the
largely unregulated industry.
Activists bought dogs from dealers who
had been planning to slaughter them,
while local residents complained that out-
siders were ruining what they consider a
local tradition.
“We came to Yulin to tell people here
dogs are our friends. They should not kill
dogs in such a cruel way and many of the
dogs they killed are pet dogs,” said Yang
Yuhua, a volunteer from the central city of
Chongqing.
An estimated 10 million to 20 million
dogs are killed for their meat each year in
Y
China, and the Yulin event has become a
lightning rod for criticism.
Many of the dogs are believed to have
been pets stolen from their owners or
simply picked up off the street. They are
stuffed in cages and trucked to the city
about 1,250 miles south of Beijing in the
province of Guangxi, often without food or
water.
Cats eaten at the festival are subjected
to similar ill treatment.
The local government has in recent
years sought to disassociate itself from the
event, forbidding its employees from
attending and limiting its size by shutting
down some dog markets and slaughter
houses.
“The so-called dog-meat-eating festival
has never been officially recognized by
government or by any regulations or laws,”
said an official reached by telephone at the
city government’s general office.
“We hold meetings every time before the
so-called festival, discussing counter
measures such as deploying local police,
business, and sanitary authorities to
inspect and deal with those who sell dogs,”
said the official, who like many Chinese
bureaucrats would give only his surname,
Liu, because he was not authorized to
speak to reporters.
Opponents this year expanded their
campaign to the United States, petitioning
politicians in San Francisco to pressure
their Chinese colleagues into calling for an
end to the slaughter.
Actors and celebrities, including Matt
Damon, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rooney
Mara, also released a public-service
announcement calling for an end to the
torture and killing of dogs in China, South
Korea, and other Asian nations.
The brief clip focused particularly on the
practice of killing dogs by beating, burn-
ing, and other painful methods in the belief
that dying by torture makes their meat
taste better.
Such efforts may be having an effect.
Wendy Higgins of Humane Society
International said activists on the ground
reported fewer dogs killed and less visible
dog meat eating than in years past.
The society “urges the Yulin authorities
to take decisive steps to spare countless
animals from a fate involving a brutal
beating to death with metal poles,”
Higgins said in an e-mailed statement.
As many as 10,000 dogs are believed to
be killed during the event, which falls
around the summer solstice. Promoters
say eating dog meat during the summer
helps ward off the heat and maintain a
healthy metabolism.
“It’s been a tradition for years for us to
celebrate the festival. We can’t change it
simply because they (animal lovers) love
dogs,” a local resident, who gave only his
surname, Huang, told The Associated
Press.
“They don’t want us to eat dog meat. We
eat dog meat to celebrate the festival, but
since they’ve come here, they’ve ruined our
mood completely,” Huang said.
Opponents say the festival is cruel and
has no redeeming cultural value.
Another animal-rights activists, Chen
Chun, said the push to end the Yulin
festival was part of a larger campaign to
pass legislation banning animal cruelty. A
draft animal cruelty law remains mired in
China’s legislature and prosecution of dog
thieves and those violating animal trans-
port laws remains lax, activists complain.
“Our ultimate goal is that the country
can make a law to protect animals,
especially dogs here,” Chen said.
Activists debated and argued with local
residents, with police intervening at times
to prevent any physical confrontations.
Activists said rallies held around the
country to oppose dog eating, as well as
outrage on social media from the growing
ranks of dog lovers, are already having an
effect. Dog-meat restaurants have been
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