Yushin restaurant menu touting whale meat as bacon.
As the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met in Lisbon to wrangle an agreement between members who oppose whaling and traditional whaling nations, chefs around Tokyo said they have developed new gourmet recipes to entice more people to eat whale.
A recent study reveals that only 12 percent of Japanese in their 20s eat whale meat, which was once a precious source of protein during the lean times following World War II.
New menus tout such creations as whale spring rolls, whale cutlets and whale bacon.
Japan still conducts whaling through a loophole in the 1986 IWC moratorium on commercial whaling that allows whales to be slaughtered for “research” purposes.
Much of the whale meat winds up in supermarkets and in school lunchrooms.