After fighting for years to promote its products in the face of complaints from environmentalists, a Japanese whaling operator has found a new approach to cultivate clients and increase sales: whale meat vending machines.
The Kujira (Whale) Store, a recently opened unstaffed establishment in the port city of Yokohama near Tokyo, contains three vending machines offering whale sashimi, whale bacon, whale skin, and whale steak, as well as canned whale meat. Prices range from 1,000 to 3,000 yen ($7.70 to $23).
It is the third facility to debut in the Japanese capital region and boasts white vending machines covered with whale-themed cartoons. As part of Kyodo Senpaku Co.’s new sales initiative, two similar stores were inaugurated in Tokyo earlier this year.
Whale flesh has long been a subject of controversy, but the operator of the new vending machines reports that sales have begun quietly well.
The International Whaling Commission prohibited commercial whaling in 1982, and the prohibition went global in 1986. Since then, Japan has restricted its whaling activities to “scientific whaling” – a long-exploited loophole that allows the country to continue selling whale flesh.
Japan restarted commercial whaling in July 2019 after quitting from the International Whaling Commission, ending 30 years of what it called research whaling, which conservationists had denounced as a cover for IWC-prohibited commercial hunts.
Yuki Okoshi, proprietor of the Japanese restaurant “Kujira no Ibukuro” displays whale meat in Shimbashi, Tokyo, on January 27, 2023. The Japanese “izakaya”-style seafood restaurant began selling meals using whale meat three years ago, when commercial whaling made whale meat of higher quality available. Eugene Hoshiko / AP
Now, activists express concern that this new action could be a precursor to an expansion of whaling.
Nanami Kurasawa, director of the Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network, remarked, “The issue is not the vending machines themselves but what they may lead to,”
Kurasawa remarked that the whaling operator has already requested more catches and an expansion of whaling outside of defined waters.
Konomu Kubo, a company representative, told The Associated Press that Kyodo Senpaku plans to install vending machines in 100 locations across the country within five years. In Osaka, a fourth will open next month.
The plan is to place vending machines near supermarkets, where whale meat is typically unavailable, in order to increase demand, a key task for the sustainability of the sector.
Kubo stated that major retail chains have mostly avoided whale meat to prevent protests by anti-whaling groups and remain cautious despite the fact that harassment from activists has reduced.
“As a result, many consumers who desire whale meat cannot locate or purchase it. We installed vending machines in unattended establishments for those individuals “he claimed.
According to company representatives, sales at the two Tokyo locations have been much greater than anticipated, keeping employees busy restocking inventory.
Mami Kashiwabara, 61, visited the store in the Motomachi neighborhood of Yokohama, a fancy shopping district near Chinatown, to get her father’s favorite food: whale bacon. To her dismay, it was sold out, so she settled for frozen onomi, a rare delicacy consisting of tail meat.
Kashiwabara acknowledges the difficulties surrounding whaling, but recalls fond childhood recollections of eating whale meat at family feasts and school lunches.
“I do not believe it is OK to slaughter whales without purpose. But whale meat is a component of Japanese cuisine, and we can honor whales by appreciating their flesh “Kashiwabara remarked. “I would be happy if I can eat it.”
Kashiwabara stated that she intended to share her purchase of a 3,000 yen ($23) handy-sized slice that was neatly packaged in a freezer bag with her spouse while drinking sake.
The majority of the flesh comes from whales captured off the northeastern coast of Japan.
Japan’s commercial whaling in its exclusive economic zone yielded 270 whales last year, which is less than 80% of the quota and less than the number of whales it had hunted in the Antarctic and northwestern Pacific as part of its research program.
Fewer minke whales were discovered around the shore, leading to the fall. Kurasawa suggests examining the cause of the decreased catch to determine if it is related to overfishing or climate change.
Some see the return of commercial whaling as a means for the government’s troubled and costly whaling program to adjust to changing times and preferences, despite the condemnation of environmental groups.
Kyodo Senpaku will replace the aging Nisshin Maru with a new, 46-million-dollar mother ship costing 6 billion yen ($46 million) in a show of determination to keep the whaling industry alive in the future decades. The new vessel will be launched the following year.
But uncertainty lingers.
The whaling industry is losing support in countries such as Iceland, where only one whaler survives.
Kubo stated that whales may be leaving the shores of Japan due to a lack of saury, a mainstay of their diet, and other fish, maybe as a result of climate change.
According to Fisheries Agency figures, whaling in Japan comprises only a few hundred people and one operator and accounted for less than 0.1% of total meat consumption in recent years.
As part of Japan’s cultural tradition, conservative lawmakers firmly favor commercial whaling and consumption of the meat.
According to conservationists, whale flesh is no longer consumed in Japan, especially by younger generations.
In the years following World War II, when Japan was severely malnourished, whale flesh was an economical source of nutrition, with yearly consumption peaking at 233,000 tons in 1962.
Other meats quickly supplanted whale. The supply of whale meat decreased to 6,000 tons in 1986, the year before the IWC enforced a ban on commercial whaling and the hunting of numerous whale species.
Under the research whaling, which was condemned as a cover for commercial hunts because the meat was marketed, Japan captured up to 1,200 whales annually. After international objections intensified and domestic demand for whale flesh decreased, the country has since substantially reduced its catch.
The annual supply of beef has fluctuated between 3,000 and 5,000 tons, including imports from Norway and Iceland. Statistics from the Fisheries Agency indicate that the amount decreased further in 2019 to 2,000 tons, or 20 grams (less than 1 ounce) of whale meat per person each year.
A client holds whale meat purchased from a vending machine at Kyodo Senpaku’s unmanned store in Yokohama, Japan, on January 26, 2023. After trying for years to sell its controversial products, the Japanese whaling operator has found a new approach to cultivate customers and increase sales: whale meat vending machines. Kwiyeon Ha / AP
Officials in the whaling industry credit the diminishing supply over the past three years to the absence of imports as a result of the epidemic, and they intend to roughly treble this year’s supply by importing more than 2,500 tons from Iceland.
According to whaling officials, Japan has convinced Iceland’s lone remaining whaler to hunt fin whales exclusively for export to Japan. According to the IWC, Iceland caught only one minke whale during the 2021 season.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare criticized Iceland’s export to Japan and stated that it “opposes all commercial whaling as it is inherently cruel.”
Kyodo Senpaku wants the government to increase Japan’s annual catch quota to levels that can supply approximately 5,000 tons, which Kubo described as the minimum necessary to sustain the sector.
“From a long-term perspective, I think it would be difficult to sustain the industry at the current supply levels,” Kubo stated. “We must expand both supply and demand, which have both shrunk.”
He noted that due to the highly restricted availability, whale meat manufacturing cannot be a profitable industry and may not survive into future generations.
Yuki Okoshi, who began serving whale meat at his Japanese-style seafood restaurant three years ago when higher-quality whale meat became accessible as a result of commercial whaling, expressed his optimism that the availability of whale meat will stabilize.
Okoshi stated that “the future of the whale industry depends on whether customers need us” and that restaurants serving whale meat may hold the key to the sector’s existence.
“Whaling can be a political issue, but relationships between the restaurant and our customers is very simple,” said Okoshi. “Customers are pleased with the quality and affordability of our cuisine. That concludes the discussion.”
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