In an upmarket shopping precinct in Japan’s Motomachi district, a trio of vending machines stocked with whale meat draw a steady stream of interest.
Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku unveiled the machines to boost demand amid dwindling sales.
Japan has long provided an array of items through vending machines including toys, hot food and clothes, but this is the first time the meat product has been available via this method.
At its peak in 1962, whale meat consumption totaled 233,000 tonnes but this number steadily dropped as other meat became more readily available in Japan. In 2021, whale meat consumption fell to 1,000 tonnes.
A 24-hour vending machine selling kujira (whale) meat in Ota Ward, Tokyo. Credit: Toshikazu Sato/AP
"There are many major supermarkets that are afraid of being harassed by anti-whaling groups, so they won't use whale,” Tokoro told Reuters at the vending machine launch.
“So, there are many people who want to eat whale but can't."
The products on sale mainly contain whale caught in Japan, a company spokesperson said, with prices ranging from 1,000 yen ($10) to 3,000 yen ($32).
An employee of Kyodo Senpaku Co. checks a whale meat vending machine in Ota Ward, Tokyo. Credit: Toshikazu Sato/AP
"I wouldn’t go out of my way to come (buy it). I usually eat chicken," 28-year-old Urara Inamoto told Reuters.
In Tokyo, whale meat vending machines have been active since December last year.
“My father ate a dish of tatsuta-age [fried whale meat] with a nostalgic look on his face, and my eldest son in high school is a fan of shoyu-flavoured whale steak,” 43-year-old Miki Yamanaka told The Japan News.
“I’m back again to buy more.”
Japan’s whaling history
In Japan, whale hunting has a centuries-long history of small-scale coastal whaling, but it did not start large-scale whaling until around the late 17th century. By the mid-20th century, along with its European and American counterparts, Japan was a leader in commercial whaling.
In line with other whaling nations such as Norway and Iceland, the Japanese government has said whaling is part of its culture.
Widespread consumption of whale in Japan only occurred post-World War Two, when food was scarce and occupying authorities encouraged whale meat to be eaten as a source of protein. It was also commonly served in school lunches.
My father ate a dish of tatsuta-age [fried whale meat] with a nostalgic look on his face.Miki Yamanaka
Ren Yabuki remembers eating whale once while he was in school. Now, he is the director of Life Investigation Agency and is based in Taiji, a small coastal town in western Japan known for its dolphin drive hunts.
He told SBS Dateline he’s not surprised by the whaling company’s attempt to sell whale meat in vending machines but is sceptical it will be popular among the younger population.
Ren Yabuki is an animal rights activist. Credit: Life Investigation Agency
“By opening vending machines, they are trying to increase demand … but I don’t think it will work” he said.
“There are some small demands [among] older people who are nostalgic and remember the old days.”
How prolific is whaling today?
In 1986, all members of the International Whaling Commission – a global body which oversees whale conservation – agreed to a hunting moratorium to allow whale stocks to recover after some species came close to extinction.
Canada left the IWC in 1982. In the same year, Norway lodged an official objection to the moratorium and is not bound by it. Iceland left the IWC in 1992 but rejoined in 2002 with a reservation, resuming commercial whaling in 2006.
The commercial whaling moratorium remains in place today.
There were exceptions in the moratorium, allowing indigenous subsistence whaling and whaling for scientific research.
A minke whale is unloaded from a vessel at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan, in 2019. Credit: AP
“There’s a general understanding nowadays that you ought not to whale beyond the capacity that whale stocks can yield,” Professor Charlotte Epstein told SBS Dateline.
Professor Epstein specialises in international relations theory and is the author of ‘The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of An Anti-Whaling Discourse.'
“The reality of this quite successful anti-whaling campaign has meant that whale meat is not very consumed in Japan [although] there are pockets that consume it, hence the attempt to increase demand," Professor Epstein said.
“There’s a difference between the older generation and the younger generation, they’re not going to go out of their way to eat something that’s not available, so it’s a snowball effect, that’s why it’s dropped.”
