Young Japanese Lose Interest in Whaling

A police officer escorts a group of Greenpeace activists, one of them wearing a whale dress, marching in a Tokyo street Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007. To push to resume commercial whaling, Japan opened a 3-day international whaling conference Tuesday by blasting a boycott by dozens of anti-whaling nations, saying their absence would block much-needed reforms of the International Whaling Commission. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) (Koji Sasahara - AP)

The research whaling program is allowed by the IWC, which uses its data and approves its kill quotas. Japanese officials claim the kills are needed to gauge whale populations and to study their breeding and feeding habits. Marine biologists analyze bones from the dead whales and study their stomach contents.

Many environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Meat from the catch is sold commercially. Canned or frozen whale can be found in most large Japanese supermarkets, and expensive restaurants specializing in whale meat are not uncommon.

But whale is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.

Unlike older Japanese, who remember whale as a regular item on school lunch menus, many Japanese under age 40 have never tried the meat and, with other sources of protein such as beef more widely available, have little incentive to do so.

The Cetacean Research Institute, which is in charge of the research whaling fleet, hopes to change that.

"As part of our promotion campaign inside Japan, we are trying to have whales eaten for school lunches," said institute spokesman Gabriel Gomez. "It's important to actually try the food and to learn that it's actually good."

He said whale goes well with Japanese food.

"Since Japanese people eat rice, I think it's good for them to eat whales along with their vegetables," he said.

Winning back Japan's hearts and stomachs might be an uphill battle, however.

"My parents' generation may feel differently, but I feel sorry for the whales," said Mayuka Hamai, a college student who took Kobayashi's whale-watching tour. "I've never eaten whale. I'd rather look at one."