Merzbow, 2007.

Merzbow

Born Masami Akita in 1956. He is a Japanese noise musician. He has also written several books and has edited several magazines in Japan. Most of his books are about art, avant-garde and post-modern culture. In 2005, he wrote the book Watashi no Saishokuseikatsu (My Cruelty-Free Life), which is about why he became vegan, his relationship with animals, his work as a musician and the history of the prohibition of eating meat in Japan. You can check out his music and his website.

His album Dolphin Sonar is a protest album against the annual slaughter of about 2,500 dolphins in Japan. He made it in collaboration with the animal rights group Sea Shepherd.

Quotes by Merzbow:

"Through music, I emphasis that I am a vegan and protect the rights of animals."

When asked why he became vegan, he answered:

"It was around 2002, I started raising four bantams, the little ornamental chickens. With this experience as a start, I gradually started to be concerned and care about chickens and all the barn animals I used to eat without giving it a second thought before. So I started reading books and researching on the internet about Animal Rights and that triggered an awareness of "evil" that human society has done. And that’s how I became a Vegan."

"I guess that my initial ideas on being vegan were very political. I thought that animal rights are an alternative to class war. Communism did never pay any attention to animals, because it’s only fighting a class war on humans’ behalf, not other creatures. I really think that anthropocentrism is quite wrong. The greatest cause of the environmental disruption of Earth is the human species. We must take care of other creatures if we want to have any hope for the Earth’s survival."

"If the humans have rights, the animals should have rights as well. Being vegan means not eating meat, fish, not buying stuff made from animals. However if you try to do this sort of a thing in Japan - being vegan, not eating meat and fish - people will think of you as an unsocial person. ... This sort of feeling, outsider from society, and stance helps me a lot at making music."

"I want to promote not just Animal Welfare, but Animal Rights. Western countries are the origin of Veganism and Animal Rights, so I think you are all well informed about Animal Rights. Animal Welfare aims to reduce the suffering, killing and euthanasia of animals. Animal Rights isn’t the same. Its perspective is that animals have the right to be free from abuse and free from being killed, and it promotes the complete removal of farming livestock."

"So far I have participated in demonstrations or protest activities held by PETA and ARC (Animal Rights Center), an animal rights group in Japan. I think it is important to promote thoughts and ideas of Animal Rights and Vegan through my musical activities. For this I have not only released my works on the subject but also put leaflets regarding Animal Rights into mail-order packages, or put PETA stickers on my equipments."

"The music which I’ve been making is all based on this concept of animal rights. I think it’s necessary to reflect it on my own sound, in order to get it transmitted to an audience. Actually, the Bloody Sea album was the first in which I collaborated with an Animal Rights organization. The theme was a protest against Japan’s whaling. As for the second one, it’s about the theme of Anti-Fur and it’s entitled F.I.D. (Fur Is Dead), being a collaboration with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)."

"All the arts I have done since I became a Vegan have to do with animals. In other words, my creative activities are a part of Vegan-Animal Rights activities as well."

Quotes are from his 2011 interview with Andre Pluskwa, his 2004 interview at Radio station of Ljubljana, his 2009 interview with Chain D.L.K. and his 2010 interview with Jamie World.