Hayden Panettiere did not go to Taiji for a photo op. She went to knock on a door that no one wanted to open for her.
It was 2010 when the actress, then 20 years old, arrived in the Japanese fishing town with her boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko and a group of activists. She asked to meet with the mayor and local fishermen to discuss, in her words, “peaceful ideas” for generating income without killing dolphins. Two officials blocked her way at the town hall door. The fishermen’s union, which she also sought out, was closed. No one wanted to sit down and talk.
It was not her first time there: in 2007, at just 18 years old, she had already paddled with other surfers to the cove where the slaughter takes place, until the fishermen interrupted the protest. Japan allows the hunting of around 19,000 dolphins a year, and in Taiji they kill nearly 2,000 using a method that traps them near the coast. The campaign Panettiere represented also warned that the meat contains mercury levels dangerous for human consumption. She insisted that she only wanted a calm conversation. They refused her.
