The whaling season opened with a public carve-up and barbecue in the coastal town of Minamiboso, Chiba Prefecture, where workers last Thursday sliced a whale before a crowd of elementary school students and residents. Onlookers later received pieces of fried whale meat.
The annual event took place in the district of Wada, which lies at the southern end of the Boso Peninsula, a week into the first coastal whaling season since the International Court of Justice halted the country's better known Antarctic whaling program in March.
Though environmentalists condemn whaling, Japan maintains it is an important part of its food heritage. Wada is proud of its centuries-old traditions and takes pains to teach such local culture and history to its children.