BEPPU, Oita Pref. — After stepping off the train and onto the platform at Ogata station, in the Tosa area of Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, travelers are greeted by a sign with two whales: "Welcome to Ogata, where the whales also greet you."
The town features many coffee shops covered with whale pictures, stone whale benches and, at the harbor itself, a whale museum. Ogata is one of the major Japanese towns where people can engage in whale watching, and prides itself on its whales. But the whales are leaving.
The whales feed on sardines, whose numbers are in decline. Global warming also seems to have pushed the sardines and thus the whales into deeper waters. This means that whale-watching boats must travel further offshore.