In whale-motif jacket, shirt and tie plus a whale-shaped hat, Hideki Tokoro shows off Japan's new whaling 'mothership', the Kangei Maru -- slicing blades, butchery deck, freezers and all. Japan also wants to resume hunting fin whales, the world's second-biggest animal after the blue whale.
A crew member shows a large knife for cutting up whales on Japan's new whaling mothership, the Kangei Maru. Photo: Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
"So we need to cull some whales and keep the balance of the ecosystem... It's our job, our mission, to protect the rich ocean for the future," he added while speaking with reporters invited to tour the Kangei Maru after it had docked in Tokyo. "Be careful, they are very sharp," Tokoro said, as a crew member unwrapped one such steel blade to show off.
Tokyo argues that eating whale is part of Japanese culture and an issue of"food security" in the resource-poor country which imports large amounts of animal meat.
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