Publications

In the Editorial of the New Zealand Herald dated Jan 18, 2010, the author wrote that the elderly Japanese were the main whale meat eaters and only few young people were bothered if the whaling was discontinued. According to the author, the elderlies were being nostalgic, holding on to past memories when whale meat was part of their culinary culture.



Japan's population pyramid as of October 1, 2004.


 
 
 
 
 
 


Jonathan Head of BBC wrote on Jun 19, 2005, that 'whale meat is only served in a few specialist restaurants, and occasionally appears on supermarket shelves. Younger people almost never eat it'.

And there is the Greenpeace fact sheet which highlights that 'the majority of people in Japan do not eat whale meat.'

Finally, there's the Editorial from Asahi Newspaper/English dated Mar 15, 2010, claiming that 'Japanese don't eat much whale in the first place, except for people in areas which have a regional culinary culture deeply linked to whales'. That must be places such as Taiji in Wakayama Pref. and Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Pref. which is the home port to Antarctic research whaling fleet.

Interestingly, Wakayama was featured in the article by Jonathan Head who explained that 'a few coastal communities, like Wakayama, have been hunting whales for centuries....' (BBC)

For reference, Japan is divided into Prefectures (regions). Yokohama city belongs to Kanagawa Pref., Kobe city belongs to Hyogo Pref. and Taiji town belongs to Wakayama Pref. (dark green on the map)


All in all, the publications note that the whale meat eaters are scarce. It's time to do some interviewing.