Society

Whale meat hunted by commercial fleet on sale at Japanese department store

Jul 09 (Kyodo) - A major department store in Osaka on Monday started selling whale meat from the catch of Japan's commercial whaling fleet, which resumed its activities last week after a 31-year hiatus.

The Hankyu Department Store chain's flagship outlet, which had previously sold by-product whale meat from the country's so-called research whaling, stocked around 30 kilograms of red meat from minke whales caught off the coast of Kushiro in Hokkaido last Thursday.

"I want to show the younger generation, who aren't familiar with whale meat, how delicious it is," said a member of staff at the store, located in the western city's Umeda district.

Shelves were lined with sashimi sold at 599 yen ($5.53) per 100 grams, together with deep-fried options cooked in-store. A limited amount of free samples was also available.

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