Japanese whalers carved up a whale in front of a crowd of schoolchildren and later offered them free samples of the animal's fried meat, in a demonstration to mark the opening of the country's whaling season.
Employees of Gaibo Hogei whaling company carried out the annual event in the coastal town of Minamiboso in the Wada district, south of Tokyo, in order to educate the young students who were on a school excursion.
Their teacher Michiyo Masuda told Reuters eating whales was common in the district and most families would eat it at least once per season.
'If we are eating whales, we have the responsibility to see and learn how they're prepared,' Mr Masuda said.
The practice of whaling is controversial and while whaling for scientific purposes in the Southern Ocean was banned by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March, coastal whaling is allowed.
Gaibo Hogei president Yoshinori Shoji, who gave the demonstration to the children, told them to close their eyes if they were scared.
The Baird's beaked whale was chopped into pieces, carved into, and had its entrails removed as the students looked on.
Workers used a large knife to slice into the whale's thick blubber, as some students admired their skilfulness while others became distressed.
In the past week Mr Shoji's company, which processes whale meat for eating, has killed six Baird's beaked whales, and will catch another 24 before the whaling season ends.
He said that his company's practices are lawful, because the ICJ ruling only deals with whaling for scientific research.
'It's our right to take and eat whale within our waters,' Mr Shoji told Reuters.
Greenpeace spokesman Nathaniel Pelle said there was no need for Japan to engage in commercial whaling.
'There's no food security issue for the Japanese they're quite able to get protein,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'In fact they're the world's biggest consumers of seafood and just like all whale meat this is rejected by most of Japan.
'These kinds of public relations events are a desperate attempt to win favour with a public that increasingly doesn't want to eat whale meat.'
In March, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's Antarctic whaling program was not scientific as Japan had claimed and must stop.
Japan has suspended next season's Antarctic hunt but is seeking to revise and resume it.
During the 2013-14 season, Japan caught 251 minke whales in the Antarctic, or just a quarter of its target, and 224 others in the northern Pacific program.
Japan has slashed the Pacific catch target by nearly half - to about 210 - for this year.
The court said Japan's Antarctic research program produced little actual research and failed to explain why it needed to kill so many whales for the study.
The ruling left Japan the option of retooling its Antarctic program, but any new plan is likely to face intense scrutiny.
Employees of Gaibo Hogei whaling company carried out the annual event in the coastal town of Minamiboso in the Wada district, south of Tokyo, in order to educate the young students who were on a school excursion.
Their teacher Michiyo Masuda told Reuters eating whales was common in the district and most families would eat it at least once per season.
'If we are eating whales, we have the responsibility to see and learn how they're prepared,' Mr Masuda said.
The practice of whaling is controversial and while whaling for scientific purposes in the Southern Ocean was banned by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March, coastal whaling is allowed.
Gaibo Hogei president Yoshinori Shoji, who gave the demonstration to the children, told them to close their eyes if they were scared.
The Baird's beaked whale was chopped into pieces, carved into, and had its entrails removed as the students looked on.
Workers used a large knife to slice into the whale's thick blubber, as some students admired their skilfulness while others became distressed.
In the past week Mr Shoji's company, which processes whale meat for eating, has killed six Baird's beaked whales, and will catch another 24 before the whaling season ends.
He said that his company's practices are lawful, because the ICJ ruling only deals with whaling for scientific research.
'It's our right to take and eat whale within our waters,' Mr Shoji told Reuters.
Greenpeace spokesman Nathaniel Pelle said there was no need for Japan to engage in commercial whaling.
'There's no food security issue for the Japanese they're quite able to get protein,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'In fact they're the world's biggest consumers of seafood and just like all whale meat this is rejected by most of Japan.
'These kinds of public relations events are a desperate attempt to win favour with a public that increasingly doesn't want to eat whale meat.'
In March, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan's Antarctic whaling program was not scientific as Japan had claimed and must stop.
Japan has suspended next season's Antarctic hunt but is seeking to revise and resume it.
During the 2013-14 season, Japan caught 251 minke whales in the Antarctic, or just a quarter of its target, and 224 others in the northern Pacific program.
Japan has slashed the Pacific catch target by nearly half - to about 210 - for this year.
The court said Japan's Antarctic research program produced little actual research and failed to explain why it needed to kill so many whales for the study.
The ruling left Japan the option of retooling its Antarctic program, but any new plan is likely to face intense scrutiny.
Source : DailyMail , Reuters
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