An American researcher studying the centuries-old whaling culture of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, is using the Internet to give people overseas a more nuanced picture of the coastal town, which gained international notoriety through a documentary about its dolphin hunting practices.

Jay Alabaster, 39, visited Taiji as a foreign correspondent for the first time in 2010 after the U.S. film "The Cove" drew attention to the town, where traditional Japanese whaling techniques were developed in the 17th century.

Alabaster became interested in whaling culture and moved to Taiji as a graduate student at Kansai University in Osaka in fall 2013.