Whale meat vending machine business continues boom in Japan

Whale meat vending machine business continues boom in Japan A new set of whale meat vending machines debuted in Japan this week. Kyodo Senpaku Co., a Japanese whaling operator, unveiled them in the port town of Yokohama, approximately 20 miles from its capital city of Tokyo. This is the third vending machine outlet the company has installed in an effort to promote sales after years of struggling to promote its products due to whale conservationists’ protests. In 2018, Japan put an end to the hunting of the animal in the Antarctic and resumed commercial whaling off its coasts. That moved halted the protesters, but the groups still oppose the new machines. “The issue is not the vending machines themselves, but what they may lead to,” Nanami Kurasawa, head of the Iruka & Kujira, or “Dolphin & Whale,” Action Network, explained. Kyodo Senpaku launched three machines at the new space, which is named The Kujira Store, where it peddles delicacies like whale sashimi, whale bacon, whale skin and whale steak, as well as whale meat in cans. The Kujira (Whale) Store, an unmanned outlet that recently opened in the port town of Yokohama near Tokyo, houses three machines for whale sashimi, whale bacon, whale skin and whale steak, as well as canned whale meat at prices from 1,000 yen ($7.70) to 3,000 yen ($23). With uncertain outlook for imports, Kyodo Senpaku wants the government to raise Japan’s annual catch quota to levels that can supply about 5,000 tons, the level Kubo describes as the threshold to maintain the industry.