Sushi chef charged
with serving illegal
whale
Federal prosecutors filed charges
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON Wednesday against a sushi chef and a
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Santa Monica restaurant on allegations
that they served illegal and endangered
whale meat.
Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef
Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered species
product, a misdemeanor.
According to a search warrant, marine mammal activists were served whale during
three separate visits to the restaurant. Federal labs confirmed the meat came from
a Sei whale, an endangered species protected by international treaties, documents
said.
Agents also seized some suspected whale meat during a search of the restaurant
Friday but are awaiting test results to confirm it was Sei whale, U.S. attorney
spokesman Thom Mrozak said.
In October, two activists posing as customers went to The Hump and ordered
"omakase," which means they let the chef choose the choicest fresh fish. They also
requested whale and pocketed a sample.
The young women worked with Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar
winning documentary "The Cove," to record the meal with a hidden camera and
microphone.
"These are endangered animals being cut up for dinner," Psihoyos said. "It's an
abuse of science."
Psihoyos took their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, which started an investigation.
Activists claim the whale meat came from Japan's scientific whaling program and
was illegally exported, but the U.S. attorney's office is still investigating the source
of the meat.
Japan kills hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters each year under its research
whaling program, which has triggered violent protests by conservationists and
caused strong objections by diplomats in recent years.
An attorney for Typhoon, Gary Lincenberg, said the restaurant accepts responsibility
for serving whale and will agree to pay a fine. If convicted, the company could be
fined up to $200,000.
Court records say agents interviewed Yamamoto, a Culver City resident and a chef
at The Hump for the past seven years, and he admitted serving whale to two young
women.
Yamamoto's attorney, Mark Byrne, declined to comment on the charges, saying he
hadn't had time to review them. If convicted, Yamamoto could face a year in prison
and a fine of up to $lOO,OOO.
During the October restaurant visit, animal rights activist Crystal Galbraith,
27, and a friend who spoke fluent Japanese racked up a bill of $6OO, feasting on
increasingly exotic dishes to gain the confidence of the waiters and chef.
"It was heartbreaking to eat an endangered animal, but I knew that I was doing it
to save" the whales, said Galbraith, a vegan. "We were there eating for four hours.
I felt so full and sick."
The waitress brought out a dish of whale sushi, identifying the whale in English
and Japanese, court documents said. The dish was listed as whale on the check and
cost $B5.
The team sent samples to Scott Baker, a professor and cetacean specialist at Oregon
State University's Marine Mammal Institute, for genetic testing. The results showed
the meat was from a Sei whale, court records said.
The Sei whale is a baleen whale found throughout the world's oceans, and known
for its graceful and quick swimming and its long, low vocalizations, Baker said.
Fully grown, the mammal is longer than a bus.
Eating Sei whale meat is common in Japan, Korea and Norway and among native
peoples in Alaska and Canada, but it is illegal to export the meat because of the Sei
whale's endangered status.
In late February, when Psihoyos and the rest of his team were in Los Angeles for
the Academy Awards, Galbraith and another friend returned to The Hump twice
more.
This time, agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
sat at the bar and watched Yamamoto at work, court records said. During the third
visit, another agent watched the chef go to his car and retrieve a package wrapped
Underwood flying high as
"Play On Tour" starts
After selling more than a million tickets to her
BY CHRIS TALBOTT last concert tour, Carrie Underwood is aiming
AP ENTERTAINMENT WRITER higher this time.
Really high. She plans to fly over the audience,
for starters.
"We're kind of going for broke on this one just because I feel like it's time," Underwood
said in an interview this week. "At this point, the only thing it's about is putting on a great
show and we're going out with that in mind. I definitely think we have delivered."
Underwood's "Play On Tour" opens Thursday in Reading, Pa., with more than 50 dates
in the United States and Canada planned through June.
The foimer "American Idol" winner, who turned 27 on Wednesday, wanted to follow the
success of her third platinum-selling album, "Play On," with something dynamite for her
fans. She's set a record with 11 straight No. 1 country singles and now feels she has a set
list meaty enough to support something spectacular.
"As far as things getting bigger, it's just that the stage is bigger, there are more lights,
there's more tricks up our sleeve," Underwood said. "We have a lot of moving parts on
the stage. I kind of get to fly over the audience. It's really cool. It's just a lot of stuff.
My band's great, wardrobe's great. It's just more. It's all of the bells and whistles and
sprinkles on the cupcake."
Underwood made 137 stops on her 2008 tour to support "Carnival Ride." More than 1.2
million fans attended, putting her in elite company.
Her "Play On" proves her elite status as well. The album opened at No. 1 and has so
far sold more than 1.3 million copies, bringing her to more than 11 million albums sold
since 2005.
Those are all heady numbers, but as she's grown more successful Underwood says she's
learned to let go of the statistics.
"I remember in the beginning it was like, 'How many did I sell this week? How many
people are going to be here?"' Underwood said. "It was all about numbers and to be
honest now I don't even look at anything because I'm happy. When I see numbers it either
makes me happy or brings me down. I'd rather just be happy and leave it at that."
Underwood is taking a similar Zen-like approach with planning her wedding to Mike
Fisher of the NHL's Ottawa Senators. Trying to plan a tour and wedding at the same time
could be overwhelming, but Underwood's not stressing. She's more than happy to step
aside when it comes to minutiae.
"Have you ever been to a wedding where you thought how awful the tablecloths were?
Probably not," Underwood said. "You probably don't even remember the tablecloths.
Why get stressed out about
little things like that?
But I do have a planner
and she knows that she's
going to be making a lot
of decisions on her own.
If you give me choice A,
B or C, I can pick one, but
I don't care."
The couple got engaged
shortly before Christmas
and have set a date that
they hope to keep private.
Underwood says they
haven't even told family
and friends in an effort to
keep unwelcome cameras
away.
"Not to say even anybody
would care to show up, but
just in case," Underwood
said. "Like anybody you
deserve to get married
and have a great day as
people. I'm not 'going to
be Carrie Underwood the
entertainer walking down
the aisle. I'm just Carrie
and I'm going to marry
Mike. I feel like that's
kind of a right everybody
deserves to have."