[Whale Tasting Event] Second event!
What happens when a group of overseas influencers try whale meat!?

Now, please eat it while it’s still warm!

What kind of alcohol goes well with whale?

What kind of Nihon-shu(sake) goes well with it?

Excuse me! Sui-gei(Drunken Whale), please!

WOW!

There is a charge for this service.(laugh)

Very fast! You has already eaten it!

It was so good I ate it right up.

Delicious! I’ve had it before, but this place is so good!

Stomach was the best!

The cartilage (kabulabone) is near the organ of spouting.

It is the effect of the sakekasu sauce that is used to dress the dish.

Delicious (all of them)

I think a lot of people in France think it’s a problem or negative.
But personally, I don’t have a problem with it and I’m fine with it. It’s Japanese culture and I respect it.

WOW!

（everyone laughing together）

If they didn’t say whale, beef sashimi!

Yum! Like beef !

Sashimi!

What would you all like to post when you post about food events, travel, or restaurants, and what would your followers like to see?

(When introduced by an influencer) This restaurant, which is exceptionally delicious, is the kind of content that makes everyone want to go there.

Anyway, it’s so delicious!

Good!

Aloi (delicious in Thai language)

Tastes like beef, but less greasy than beef.I like it better than beef.
I want to eat again!

Isn’t it a matter of taste?

The custom of eating whale has been gone for some time since Japanese people were children, so it must be unfamiliar to Japanese people today.
My wife used to eat it, too, but that custom is gone and she doesn’t seem to eat it now.
On the contrary, my wife’s parents are still eating it because they are familiar with it from their childhood.
For example, I grew up in Tunisia, where we habitually ate camel meat, so I am familiar with it, and I still eat camel when I visit Tunisia.
Additionally, I have seen it in Asakusa, but not often elsewhere.
I don’t think I had much contact with whale meat before I became familiar with it.

Why do you also think they do not sell whale meat in major supermarkets?
That is because an anti-whaling group used to be in power and was interfering with sales to major supermarkets.
Because of that memory, major supermarkets still cannot sell it.
But now, the anti-whaling groups don’t interfere so much because whales are not their source of funding.
So now is the time to change public opinion so that whale meat can be sold in major supermarkets.

There is a quota for whaling in Japan, and if we keep the quota, there will not be even one less fish in 100 years.
However, if we do not whaling, the number of fish will decrease rapidly.

There is no evidence for Sea Shepherd’s claims.
Japan has set quotas and whaling with evidence.
Sea Shepherd is in the business of collecting donations by interfering with whaling in the Antarctic.
Since Japan is no longer whaling in the Antarctic, it cannot collect donations to fund Sea Shepherd.
So Sea Shepherd cannot focus on anti-whaling activities in Japan.

Whaling is conducted within 200 nautical miles of the waters around Japan.

Most whales are increasing except the blue whale.

At one time it dropped considerably, but now it is increasing.

The whaling method is the same for both Norway and Japan.
If there is a difference, it is that Norway catches smaller whales like minke whales.
Japan catches larger whales, so the harpooning may seem cruel.
NHK once aired a documentary on the reality of whaling.
It was very well received by the viewers.
This was because it conveyed the care for the whales, such as the method of catching whales by killing them instantly so as not to cause them pain or fear, and not catching their parents and children.

The policy of the International Whaling Convention was that whale meat taken in research should be sold as much as possible.
Now, research whaling has ended, and commercial whaling is being conducted with a public commitment to distribute the meat as meat.

The lean meat is so refreshing, so good!

Do you use every last bit of the body of the whale you catch?

What part of the meat is sold in the supermarket?

Let me introduce you to three attractions (benefits) of whale meat that are good for our health.

First. It is healthier than chicken meat, which is said to be low in calories and high in protein.

Second. It is rich in “balenine,” which helps relieve exhaustion, improve immunity, and prevent dementia.

And third. It is also rich in DHA, EPA, and DPA, which are helpful in improving academic performance, preventing arteriosclerosis, and preventing hypertension.

In other words, whale meat is ideal in that it is very healthy compared to other meats, and it prevents aging and helps us to keep good health.

There are two reasons why this high quality whale is only available in Japan.

The first point is quality control before reaching the restaurants and dealers.
We catch the best kind of whales for each season in the best fishing grounds where freshness can be maintained.
We process the whales on board immediately after harvesting.

We are able to manage and deliver marine resources with the world’s best quality in the market.
Japan is the only country in the world that has achieved such a system.

The second point is the chef’s management and cooking know-how built up over a long history.
Whale eating culture has a long history, as whale bones have been excavated from ruins dating back 5,000 years.

In addition, over a long period of time, cooking methods have been developed that suit the characteristics of the parts of the whale.

Of course, this “Murasaki” restaurant has a 70-year history and is one of the best in Japan.

There was a big change!
The whale meat I had eaten before was tough and had a distinctive smell, but I did not detect any of that in today’s meat.
Since it is so delicious, I think you should tell people who have never had it before.

Today’s experience made me think it was delicious.
I had it before in Shikoku and it had a unique taste. The whale meat I had today was exceptionally tasty.

I ate whale meat in Onagawa Town.It was like the meat was thick.
There were many ways to cook it today, for example, there was one similar to boiled pork liver, and it was the first time for me to enjoy the taste of various meats.

There are such a variety of parts and cooking methods for them.
You can see that there are quite a variety of parts, like cattle.

In Japan we take good care of this whale meat and eat it with relish.
We know that there are some people in your country and around the world who may be against the hunting and eating of whales with a high intelligence quotient.

However, from the perspective of the food chain, excessive protection of one creature because it is pitiful can damage the ecosystem.

In fact, the over-protection of whales has resulted in major changes in the oceans surrounding our country, and catches of saury, sardines, and other fish have been drastically reduced.The balance of life in the oceans has been greatly tilted by the overabundance of whales, which feed on saury, sardines, and other sea creatures.
We Japanese consume a variety of foods with gratitude.

Even though whales are delicious, we do not overhunt them, but rather we survey and keep whales within the limits of the catch in order to protect the precious gifts of the sea.Finally, from the perspective of the SDGs, let me tell you a little-known story about whaling and whale eating.

(2) Japanese whaling is sustainable.

However, overhunting will reduce the number of whales too much and destroy the marine ecosystem.
From here, I would like to talk about how Japanese whaling is managed with a very conscious awareness of the number of whales surviving.

Japan has been conducting research whaling for many years to confirm the proper population and set the appropriate quota.
We have been conducting commercial whaling within 200 nautical miles of Japan. And we strictly adhere to a take quota that will not reduce the whale population by even one single animal 100 years from now.

For example, the annual quota for Kyodo Senpaku, the largest whaling company in Japan, is 25 sei whales and 187 Bryde’s whales.

In addition, the genetic material of all whales taken is registered, and only whales for which it is clear when and where they were taken are distributed and sold.

I do not think it is right to criticize other cultures through only one’s own filter without knowing various data.
As for whale-eating, I think many people have a fixed image of whale-eating based on information from the West.
However, I want my followers to judge the pros and cons of whale eating after knowing the information that comes from Japan as well.

After hearing about the whale-eating culture in Japan and the reality of whaling, I thought that there should be more people to enlighten the public so that they would view it with more tolerance.

Before I came today, I conducted a survey on my social network about whale eating and 7,000 people responded.

53%→I definitely don’t want to eat it
19%→neither
25%→would like to try it
3%→have eaten it before

Although the noisy voices seem louder, the data showed that “nearly 30% are favorable toward whale eating.
For what is a sensitive topic, image and reality are different, so we should pay attention to the facts.