WHALE MEAT IN JAPAN: HISTORY, DISHES, CONSUMPTION

WHALE MEAT IN JAPAN

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whale burger in Japan Japan has hunted whales for centuries. The meat was a key, affordable source of protein in the post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor. Anual consumption peaked at 223,000 tons in 1962. Since then whale has been replaced by other meats. Today, the annual consumption is about 4,000-5,000 tons a year, according to the Fisheries Agency. Much of the population has rarely or never eaten whale meat.[Source: AFP, Associated Press]

Coco Masters wrote in Time:“Whale meat resembles venison with its heavily oxygenated, dark red color that suggests lean, high-protein muscle. In Japan, it can be found in some supermarkets for about $33 a pound. Whale is high in the fatty acids DHA and EPA and low in cholesterol. But not many Japanese eat the controversial seafood. And so, the Japan Fisheries Association is encouraging a whale consumption program and backing a Tokyo-based firm Geishoku Labo and the "Asian Lunch" trucks it sends to Tokyo’s business districts. The truck serves whale boxed lunches on weekdays and, for the Thursday special, a special green or red keema curry with chunks of whale served with rice. [Source: Coco Masters, Time, December 26, 2007]

Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky wrote in the Daily Beast:“In the United States, serving whale meat can cost you decades of jail-time as one sushi chef in Los Angeles recently learned; in Japan it costs you about $10, for the whale tempura special. If you go to one of Tokyo’s most famous whale specialty restaurants, Ganso Kujiraya (The Original Whale Seller), on a weekday, you can sometimes have the raw whale sashimi set for the same price; it comes with fresh ginger, soy sauce, salad, a steaming bowl of rice, and soup. While you’re there, you can pick up some whale bacon too as a souvenir. And if you’re a kid enrolled in the Japanese public schools, your chances of getting to eat it in 2013 are twice as good as they were last year. [Source: Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky, Daily Beast, February 5, 2014]

“Japan’s Fisheries Agency said that the state-funded Japan Institute of Cetacean Research (JICR) would sell whale meat acquired for its “scientific research” directly to individuals and restaurants in 2014. The agency also plans to double its distribution of whale meat to school-lunch programs, despite the high level of mercury contained in whale meat, by reducing prices. The Japan Institute of Cetacean Research is under the supervision of the Fisheries Agency and most of its funding comes from the Japanese government.

Whale Meat Consumption in Japan

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whale meat sashimi CNN reported: Japan may have a long and storied history of whaling dating back to the Edo period in the 1600s, but experts say whale meat consumption only really peaked after World War II — when food sources, especially protein, were scarce. “The demand for whale blubber disappeared after the discovery of oil and petroleum products, so many countries stopped whaling and with international regulations, the number of caught whales decreased and as a result, whale meat production decreased while beef, pork and chicken became more popular,” he said.[Source: Heather Chen, Hanako Montgomery and Moeri Karasawa, CNN, June 3, 2024]

Today, whale meat is now considered more of a “luxury” dish, said Nobuhiro Kishigami, a professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, one of the country’s largest research institutes. The fact is that there is little interest in whaling and whale meat among Japanese people as a whole,” Kishigami told CNN. “Most young people, especially the majority that live in cities, do not know or care much about whaling and its history and remain indifferent.” The same goes for dolphin meat, he added. “It’s just a sign of the times. But if we were asked to stop eating blue fin tuna, there would be a huge uproar. We would react very badly to that.”

Japan’s fisheries ministry estimates that between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of whale meat are consumed annually in the country, compared to average annual totals of more than 230,000 tons during the 1960s. There is still certainly a market (for whale meat in Japan) but market size and production volume have shrunk dramatically,” economics professor Mitsuhiro Kishimoto from the Shimonoseki City University told CNN, noting that several major whaling companies had since withdrawn from the trade.

The international community takes a dim view of Japanese whale consumption. The World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) marine conservation group said that whale watching in Japan was “a far more successful industry” than harvesting whale meat. Scientists have also expressed concern about the risks of consuming whale meat, with studies pointing to high levels of mercury found in whale and dolphin meat, which could prove dangerous to consumers — especially pregnant women and young children.

Whale Meat Supply in Japan

According to Associated Press: Whale meat was an affordable source of protein during Japan's undernourished years after World War II, with annual consumption peaking at 233,000 tons in 1962.Whale was quickly replaced by other meats. The whale meat supply fell to 6,000 tons in 1986, the year before the moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC banned the hunting of several whale species. Under the research whaling, criticized as a cover for commercial hunts because the meat was sold on the market, Japan caught as many as 1,200 whales annually. It has since drastically cut back its catch after international protests escalated and whale meat supply and consumption slumped at home. [Source: Mari Yamaguchi and Kwiyeon Ha, Associated Press, January 28, 2023]

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whaling shrine Annual meat supply had fluctuated in a range of 3,000-5,000 tons, including imports from Norway and Iceland. The amount further fell in 2019 to 2,000 tons, or 20 grams (less than one ounce) of whale meat per person a year, the Fisheries Agency statistics show. Whaling officials attributed the shrinking supply in the past three years to the absence of imports due to the pandemic, and plan to nearly double this year's supply with imports of more than 2,500 tons from Iceland. Japan managed to get Iceland's only remaining whaler to hunt fin whales exclusively for shipment to Japan, whaling officials said. Iceland caught only one minke whale in the 2021 season, according to the IWC. Criticizing Iceland’s export to Japan, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said it “opposes all commercial whaling as it is inherently cruel.”

With uncertain outlook for imports, Kyodo Senpaku, Japan's main whale meat supplier, wants the government to raise Japan’s annual catch quota to levels that can supply about 5,000 tons, which Kubo describes as the threshold to maintain the industry. “From a long-term perspective, I think it would be difficult to sustain the industry at the current supply levels,” Kubo said. “We must expand both supply and demand, which have both shrunk.” With the extremely limited supply, whale meat processing cannot be a viable business and may not last for the next generations, he added.

Yuki Okoshi, who started serving whale meat dishes at his Japanese-style seafood restaurant in 2020 when higher quality whale meat became available under commercial whaling, said he hopes whale meat supply will stabilize.Okoshi said “the future of the whale industry depends on whether customers need us" and that whale meat restaurants could hold the key to survival. “Whaling can be a political issue, but relationships between the restaurant and our customers is very simple," Okoshi said. “We serve good food at reasonable prices and customers are happy. That’s all there is to it."

Love of Whale Meat in Japan

Many Japanese, especially older and middle-ages ones, enjoy eating whale meat. It is sauteed, roasted and eaten raw. Japanese say it tastes more like beef than fish. Whale bacon sells for as much as $180 a pound at gourmet food shops and dishes made with whale go for as much as $100 a plate at restaurants.

Whale meat is dark red and doesn't look at like fish meat. Japanese consider blue, fin and sei whales to be the most delicious. Sperm whales aren't regarded as very tasty. Humpback meat isn't considered that good but the organs are palatable. Japanese generally like minke whales less than other species because they are small and don't contain much fat, which is what the Japanese love. Meat from minke whales is the easiest to get today. Before the 1987 ban on whaling the Japanese didn't even hunt them.

different types of whale meat sold at the Takashemaya Department Store in Osaka

Whale meat in Japan has traditionally made into stews with soy sauce and spinach. These stews are now made with beef or pork. In the whaling town of Wadamachi in Chiba you can get whale steaks, whale jerky, carved whale-tooth jewelry and even a one-meter-long decorated whale penis. Some towns sell whale nose cartilage pickled in sake in cans with a spouting whale. Those who have tried it said the cartilage has a crispy texture and a pungent taste.

Taruichi, a Tokyo restaurant that specializes in whale meat, offers 36 choices: fried whale, whale bacon, whale heart, whale testicles, whale kidney and even ice cream made with whale fat. Boiled tongue is said to be particularly delicious. At whale restaurants in Shimonoseki you can get fried whale tail, grilled whale tongue wafers, boiled blubber and whale sashimi. In some places you can get sliced whale skin and whale burgers made with fried minke whale.

Whale meat distributors claim that whale meat is high in protein and low in calories and have alleviated the problem of toughness associated with whale meat through improved freezing techniques. The tail meat sells for as much $70 a pound and is prized for whale sashimi. which is eaten with grated garlic or ginger to mask the odor. The health benefits of whale meat is a matter of some debate. On study found that Japanese in Wakayama Prefecture that eat pilot whale have high levels of mercury in their hair.

Whale Meat and the Japanese Diet

The amount of whale meat consumed rose from 2,450 tons in 2000, most of it from minke and Baird's beaked whales, to 5,560 tons in 2005. In a survey in 2002, 63 percent of the people over 60 and 47 percent of those between 20 and 24 said they ate whale meat, but of these 40 percent said they only eat it “sometimes.”

The Japanese were encouraged to eat whale meat after World War II to stave off famine and schoolchildren ate whale meat for lunch into the 1960s. One elderly man who ate a lot of whale when he was growing up told the New York Times, "After the war, there was nothing to eat in Japan, and we would have starved if it were not for the whale bacon and steaks that the government provided us in school lunches."

The market price of whale meat in 2009 was ¥2,060 a kilogram. The amount of whale meat sold at Tsukiji Market was about 220,000 kilograms in 2010 compared to about 1.8 million kilograms in 1980, the year before commercial whaling was banned. Revenues from whale meat have fallen from ¥6.4 billion in 2008 to ¥.5.4 billion in 2009 to ¥4.5 billion in 2010.

whale bacon

Much of the whale meat is not even consumed. Rather thousands of tons of it pile up in freezers. According to the Iruka and Kujira (Dolphin and Whale ) Action Network whale meat stockpiles reached a record high of 6,000 tons in September 2010. Stocks tend be at the highest in the summer after the whaling season off the northern coast of Japan is over.

In the 2000s, whale meat was reintroduced to school menus by the ICR, which sold it for a third of the market price. As of 2010, according to government survey, 5,355 primary and middle schools nationwide (18 percent of Japan’s primary and middle schools) served whale meat in school lunches, with schools in Wakayama and Nagasaki Prefecture serving it as a way to teach children about traditional foods. Greenpeace viewed the effort as an attempt to generate demand for whale meat.

In the 1950s and 60 the consumption of whale was around 2,000 grams per person, compared to around 50 today. An elderly dentist told the New York Times, "As a child we ate miso soup with whale meat every New's Year Day. It was a centuries-old tradition in my village. You can’t imagine how precious whale meat is to me.”

Eating Whale Meat in Japan

Coco Masters wrote in Time: “Popping a bite of sea urchin into my mouth I look to the chalkboard at the far end of the sushi bar that lists the daily specials: young yellowtail tuna, mozuku seaweed, minke whale. The words for whale hang there in much the same way that a pig head stares back at you from the window of a Chinatown butcher shop.[Source: Coco Masters, Time, December 26, 2007]

“Typically, the whale’s so-called lean meat — from the breast and the tail — are served up. But whale isn't only served slathered with some kind of condiment or sauce. Gourmands can slurp a long, thin sashimi cut of raw minke breast meat — slippery like a fat noodle — with a hint of sesame oil in any of the half dozen or so restaurants in Tokyo that specialize in whale. Sliced whale cartilage is prepared as a "sunomono salad and prized for its distinctive not-quite crunchy texture," says Japanese food specialist and author Elizabeth Andoh. The salad looks like whitish, semi-translucent, crinkled straw wrappers on a bed of curly maroon and green seaweeds. Says Andoh: "Mouth-feel is very important to the enjoyment of Japanese food."

“Other preparations of whale hint at attempts to internationalize the meat: whale hot pots, as in Chinese-Mongolian cuisine where strips of meat are dipped in boiling soup; whale bacon (which can run as high as $145 a pound); Korean-style whale bi bim bap; and whale carpaccio. At a 2005 exhibition at the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum, all the dishes of a special dinner were prepared with whale meat. "The food was incredible," recalls one guest.

“The meat’s gamey quality, however, can be as much a turn off as some people’s revulsion to the thought of eating Shamu. And freezers in Japanese public schools are stocked with nearly four tons of unsold, mainly minke, whale meat, which the government has bought and provided for school lunches. Eventually, they will be turned into fish sticks or burgers. Outside of school cafeterias, Chefs try to reduce the gaminess with pepper, garlic, dried herbs, such as clove, coriander or cumin, and with fresh herbs, such as dill and chive. Tatsuta-age, in which whale is deep-fried, is a common preparation that is served with soy sauce and ginger.

“Yukio Hattori, better known as "Doc" to Iron Chef fans, prefers a recipe from the Showa period (that is, the 1926-1989 reign of Emperor Hirohito). He says a "roast cut" steak is best prepared after a good marinating in grated white onion, which tenderizes the meat, and then pan-fried with a little soy sauce. Hattori says that the price of the most prized part of the whale — the tail meat — is on par with that of Kobe beef, roughly $28 for 3.5 oz. (100 grams).”

Japanese Whale Products Sold on Amazon and Oversees

various whale products

Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky wrote in the Daily Beast:“Whale products are widely sold in Japan and it can cause problems when US firms inadvertently get involved in the business. In February of 2012, a report revealed that Amazon Japan, a subsidiary of Amazon Inc., was selling large numbers of cetacean food products. Activists called on the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos to implement an immediate and permanent global ban. The U.K. based Environmental Investigation Agency purchased eight whale products from Amazon Japan in 2011, including canned whale meat, whale jerky, whale bacon, and whale stew. Analysis revealed six of them to have mercury levels exceeding the Japanese national limit for mercury in seafood of 0.4 parts per million (ppm) and one had a staggering level of 20 ppm, about 50 times the safety limit. [Source: Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky, Daily Beast, February 5, 2014]

DNA analysis of samples taken from minke, sei and fin whales served in restaurants in South Korea and the United States seems to indicate the whales were either purchased by Japan or killed by Japanese research whaling operations, In March 2010, a sushi chef at a restaurant in Los Angeles call the Hump was charged with illegally selling an endangered species product after people associated with the film “The Cove” helped bust the restaurant for offering diners meat from a sei whale — an endangered species. Activists claim the meat came from Japan’s scientific whaling program. The restaurant was closed.

Fin Whale Meat From Iceland

Fin whales are said to be particularly tasty. In 2010, according to to Kyodo news, an Icelandic whaling firm shipped 500 to 600 tons of fin whale meat to Japan, marking the resumption of full-fledged whale meat exports to Japan. The whaling firm Hvalur — Iceland’s largest — caught 148 fin whales with the Japan market in mind. Japan. In 2010 year, 148 fin whales were killed off Iceland and 125 in 2009. In that time only two fin whales were caught by the Japanese, 4 percent of a 50-catch goal, according to the agency.

Kyodo reports that around 4,000 tons of whale meat, mainly from minke whales, is sold in Japan every year but supply is more than demand. The Icelandic fin whale meat is believed to impact the price of whale meat. CEO of Hvalur Kristján Loftsson is quoted as saying that the goal is not to push minke whale meat out of the Japanese market. He believes the fin whale meat from Iceland can have a positive effect on the market.

In 2014, Greenpeace reported that Japan imported 2,000 tonnes of frozen whale meat from Iceland .AFP reported: “Packages containing meat from fin whales were unloaded from a vessel that had travelled from Iceland to Osaka, western Japan, said Junichi Sato of Greenpeace Japan. The ship left Iceland in March carrying a cargo equivalent to almost all the whale meat imports from the north European country for the last six years, environment groups and news reports said.

Promoting Whale Meat in Japan

whale meat processing facility

To keep the whaling industry alive the government subsidies the whale hunts and spends money trying to convince Japanese to eat whale meat. Japan subsidizes whale burgers and whale meat meals in schools. Children are encouraged to eat whale meat in colorful brochures entitled “Delicious Whales” that describe hunting them as a national heritage and say, “Even if we capture 2,000 whales a year for100 years, it’s okay because the whale numbers are growing.”

Kyodo Senpaku is a Japanese whaling company that operates a fleet of ships and sells whale meat. The company is based in Tokyo and was formed in 1987. The company’s CEO is Hideki Tokoro. According to CNN: Over the years,Kyodo Senpaku has launched aggressive public relation campaigns to promote whale meat and win over new generations of young diners. The company has also sponsored influencers from countries such as Russia, Thailand and South Korea — hosting them at a local izakaya in Osaka, where they sampled dishes like whale sashimi and skewers and encouraging them to take the message back to their followers that whale meat was delicious and acceptable. [Source: Heather Chen, Hanako Montgomery and Moeri Karasawa, CNN, June 3, 2024]

Tokoro says he eats whale meat every day. “Whale meat is not only delicious, it’s good for you,” Tokoro told reporters during the tour of his ship, as he talked up the purported “health benefits” of eating whale, claiming that the meat could cure hair loss and cancer. “I can definitely say whale meat and rice is a really good (combination) for Japanese people. There is no doubt about that, much better than beef and bun.”

The Japanese whaling industry has said that it is important to boost demand for whale meat so that money will be available for research. It markets whale to restaurant chains that offer whale sashimi and fried whale and food processors that produce cooked whale and canned broiled whale. It is also markets whale meat to hospitals and universities. AFP reported that in 2013 that Japan’s whaling factory ship began producing certified halal-compliant whale meat for Muslim tourists.

In 2013 Japan’s launched a new advertising campaign to promote whale meat as a nutritious food that enhances physical strength and reduces fatigue. Japanese media reported that the campaign involved selling whale meat to soldiers to help boost their strength. As part of the campaign, about 7,000 brochures were distributed that featuring recipes such as whale meat sashimi and whale cooked with Chinese chives. [Source: Mark Willacy, ABC, June 2, 2013]

Pushing Whale Meat on School Children in Japan

In Wakayama Prefecture there has been an aggressive campaign to make whale a fixture in public school lunches. Nutritionists have developed an array of dishes such as whale meat meatballs, whale hamburgers, deep-fried marinated whale fillet that were offered in 339 schools in 2005. The moved has been widely supported by parents and teachers in the traditional whaling own of Shirahama.

Most young people have never tried whale. In an effort to get the younger generation interested in whale meat, free whale-meat sushi rolls are handed in places where young people hang out in Tokyo. A restaurant chain that added whale meat said they attracted few customers with it. One diner who tried some told AP, “To put it simply. Whale meat tastes horrible.” Other tactics have included taking elementary school students on field trips to watch the butchering of Baird’s beaked whales. The efforts has born little fruit. Over 4,000 tons of whale meat still lies is stored in freezers because no one wants to eat it.

Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky wrote in the Daily Beast: “According to the Mainichi News, about 100 metric tons of whale meat is served in school lunches per year in Japan. The Ministry of Education says that it encourages schools to serve local specialities to their students, as long as the dishes meet the national nutritional standards set per meal for children. In Tokyo, the Higashi-machi and Shibaura elementary school in the Minato ward served whale meat this January as part of their traditional meals menu. “We do not serve whale meat just because it is cheaper than pork or beef, but to teach children about the kind of school lunches Japan had in the past,” a spokeswoman from Higashi-machi elementary school said. “Our whale meat lunch is one of our most popular menu items,” she added. The Minato-ward Board of Education insisted that schools do not serve whale meat every day to its students. Wakayama and Nagasaki prefectures serve more whale meat than other regions in Japan, partly because both prefectures still have a whaling industry, which is heavily subsidized by the government. [Source: Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky, Daily Beast, February 5, 2014]

Whale Meat Vending Machines in Japan

In January 2023, Kyodo Senpaku, the Japanese whaling company set up three vending machines in the port town of Yokohama, near Tokyo, that dispensed whale sashimi, whale bacon, whale skin, whale steak, as well as whale meat. Company CEO Tokoro promoted the machine wearing his whale hat. [Source: Aditi Bharade, Business Insider, April 3, 2023]

Associated Press reportedly: A Japanese whaling operator, after struggling for years to promote its products amid protests from conservationists, has found a new way to cultivate clientele and bolster sales: whale meat vending machines. The Kujira (Whale) Store, an unmanned outlet that recently opened in Yokohama houses three machines for various whale products. Prices range from 1,000 yen ($7.70) to 3,000 yen ($23). The outlet features white vending machines decorated with cartoon whales and is the third location to launch in the Japanese capital region. Two others were introduced in Tokyo earlier this year as part of Kyodo Senpaku Co.'s new sales drive. [Source: Mari Yamaguchi and Kwiyeon Ha, Associated Press, January 28, 2023]

Whale meat has long been a source of controversy but sales in the new vending machines have quietly gotten off to a good start, the operator says. Anti-whaling protests have subsided since Japan in 2019 terminated its much-criticized research hunts in the Antarctic and resumed commercial whaling off the Japanese coasts. Conservationists say they are worried the move could be a step toward expanded whaling. “The issue is not the vending machines themselves but what they may lead to," said Nanami Kurasawa, head of the Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network. Kurasawa noted the whaling operator is already asking for additional catches and to expand whaling outside of the designated waters.

Kyodo Senpaku hopes to set up vending machines at 100 locations nationwide in five years, company spokesperson Konomu Kubo told The Associated Press. A fourth is to open in Osaka next month. The idea is to open vending machines near supermarkets, where whale meat is usually unavailable, to cultivate demand, a task crucial for the industry's survival. Major supermarket chains have largely stayed away from whale meat to avoid protests by anti-whaling groups and remain cautious even though harassment from activists has subsided, Kubo said. “As a result, many consumers who want to eat it cannot find or buy whale meat. We launched vending machines at unmanned stores for those people,” he said.

Company officials say sales at the two Tokyo outlets have been significantly higher than expected, keeping staff busy replenishing products. At the store in the Motomachi district of Yokohama, a posh shopping area near Chinatown, 61-year-old customer Mami Kashiwabara went straight for whale bacon, her father's favorite. To her disappointment it was sold out, and she settled for frozen onomi, tail meat that is regarded as a rare delicacy.Kashiwabara says she is aware of the whaling controversy but that whale meat brings back her childhood memories of eating it at family dinners and school lunches. “I don’t think it’s good to kill whales meaninglessly. But whale meat is part of Japanese food culture and we can respect the lives of whales by appreciating their meat,” Kashiwabara said. "I would be happy if I can eat it.” Kashiwabara said she planned to share her purchase of a 3,000 yen ($23) handy-size chunk, neatly wrapped in a freezer bag, with her husband over sake.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, BBC

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Yomiuri, Times of London, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025