Fish

Posted on 2002/12/24 04:34:39 (December 2002) by john.

Fighting toinight: Morality vs. Englishness.

On Monday, I went with Chie, her sister Kana and her friend Masumi for a tour of Arashiyama, a district of Kyoto I hadn't been to before. There's a famous bridge there, and as we were crossing it we saw a couple of men fishing. I barely took any notice, until I saw a fish flailing about on the ground. Maybe I'm over dramatising, but I'm sure he or she looked at me. The poor little thing was really suffering. My conscience then entered into a wrestling match between on the one side wanting to try and save the fish,�@and on the other hand, that enfuriating English trait of not wanting to cause a scene. Assumedly, the two fishermen had caught this fish, but had decided rather cruely to suffocate it rather than bludgeon it to death. So they'd be pretty irked if I picked it up and threw it back in the river. If I was justified to intervene there, then the logical consequence of that would be that I am justified to try and close down every abbatoir and fishery in the world. I'm really not sure that it is my place to get in the way of other people's way of life. So I just walked past. I wasn't happy about this, but there you go. The curse of being English. If anything good can be seen to have come from this, it has at least strengthened my resolve to be vegetarian. Here in Japan,�@just about everything you eat has some stealth fish product in it somewhere, be it stock, sauce, or garnish on top. It would be easy to turn a blind eye and accept this when eating something that looks predominantly vegetarian. However, since the fish incident, I've turned several things away, almost certainly offended people, and probably have caused a scene. Still though, I think some things are just more important than whether or not people feel socially comfortable.

I think 2003 should be the year of "causing a scene" when it comes to moral issues.. I'm with you all the way dude!

Posted by rowanboy at 2003/01/03 01:10:29.

I like it Tom! In a sense it's somewhat ironic. It's the year of the sheep - which I guess is associated with going along with the crowd and not causing a scene. However, I'm with you, there are more than a few boats that need rocking.

Posted by John at 2003/01/03 04:21:12.

Oh, the delicious irony! I'm consuming a rather tasty bit of haddock as type... I was going to take a digi pic of it but I decided against it because: a) it would be morally wrong after your deep expressed sentiment... and b) The camera's all the way on the other side of the room and i'm a lazy shit.

But, erm. The whole causing a scene thing. Go for it. It's the best way to be. "Do what thou wilt..." and all that. The only reason you didn't take direct action was because you feared the consequences. You simply have to shift your thoughts beyond what might arise from what you do. Live for the moment. What would've happened? They probably would have shouted at you for a few minutes. You'd get some funny looks from the people you were with. But ultimately you'd be happy with yourself. As the great poet and philosopher Robbie Williams once said: "No Regrets..."

Posted by Rusty at 2003/01/05 16:13:25.

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