The Day

Amid protests, Japan firm opens whale meat vending machines to boost customer base

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— A Japanese whaling operator, after struggling for years to promote its products amid protests from conservati­onists, has found a new way to cultivate clientele and bolster sales: whale meat vending machines.

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. Prices range from 1,000 yen ($7.70) to 3,000 yen ($23).

The outlet features white vending machines decorated with cartoon whales and is the third location to launch in the Japanese capital region. It opened Tuesday after two others were introduced in Tokyo earlier this year as part of Kyodo Senpaku Co.’s new sales drive.

Whale meat has long been a source of controvers­y but sales in the new vending machines have quietly gotten off to a good start, the operator says. Anti-whaling protests have subsided since Japan in 2019 terminated its much-criticized research hunts in the Antarctic and resumed commercial whaling off the Japanese coasts.

Conservati­onists say they are worried the move could be a step toward expanded whaling.

“The issue is not the vending machines themselves but what they may lead to,” said Nanami Kurasawa, head of the Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network.

Kurasawa noted the whaling operator is already asking for additional catches and to expand whaling outside of the designated waters.

Kyodo Senpaku hopes to set up vending machines at 100 locations nationwide in five years, company spokespers­on Konomu Kubo said.

A fourth is to open in Osaka next month.

The idea is to open vending machines near supermarke­ts, where whale meat is usually unavailabl­e, to cultivate demand, a task crucial for the industry’s survival.

Major supermarke­t chains have largely stayed away from whale meat to avoid protests by anti-whaling groups and remain cautious even though harassment from activists has subsided, Kubo said.

 ?? HA KWYEON/AP PHOTO ?? Konomu Kubo, a spokespers­on for Kyodo Senpaku Co., explains Thursday how whale meat is being sold from a vending machine in Yokohama, Japan.
HA KWYEON/AP PHOTO Konomu Kubo, a spokespers­on for Kyodo Senpaku Co., explains Thursday how whale meat is being sold from a vending machine in Yokohama, Japan.

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