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Dal New York Times

“The Cove,” the Oscar-winning documentary that revealed the clandestine killing of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, has finally had its first showing in that country, The Associated Press reported. Theaters in Tokyo and Osaka canceled opening screenings earlier this summer because theater owners said they feared for the safety of moviegoers after receiving threats from protest groups who considered the movie to be “anti-Japan.” The documentary, directed by the photographer Louie Psihoyos, opened to full houses in six small cinemas around Japan on Saturday with a significant amount of protesting from both sides of the issue. (Pro-whaling protesters in Tokyo, left.) Aside from police officers ending a few altercations between supporters of the film and angry nationalists, the protests proved to be no deterrent for moviegoers. “I didn’t know about dolphin hunting,” Tomokazu Toshinai said as he entered a theater. “Whether it’s TV or movies, Japanese have a right to know these things.” A theater in Nagoya said that it would show “The Cove” along with “Whalers and the Sea,” a documentary sympathetic to the Japanese whaling industry. Another 18 theaters plan to screen “The Cove” later this year.

Dal Japan Times

Japan's hostile hosteling industry

"As you may know, Japan has no national civil or criminal legislation outlawing and punishing racial discrimination, meaning businesses with "Japanese only" signs aren't doing anything illegal.

Problem is, I'm not sure it would matter if such a law existed."