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Japanese Company Initiative Aims to Popularize Whale Meat, Putting It at the Reach of a Simple Button.
It seems surreal, but it’s true. Kyodo Senpaku Co., a whaling company from Japan, decided to innovate in the way the product is sold.
According to information from the Associated Press, the company installed three vending machines in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. In them, you find everything: from whale sashimi to canned whale.
Cheaper Than Bacon in the U.S.
And the price? Well, it varies between 1,000 yen (about 7.70 dollars) and 3,000 yen (approximately 23 dollars). To give a parameter, the cheapest option is almost the price of a kilogram of bacon in the United States, which costs about 7.21 dollars, according to 2021 data from Statista.
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Broadening Horizons: 100 Locations in 5 Years
Konomu Kubo, spokesperson for Kyodo Senpaku, stated that the goal is ambitious. The company plans to open 100 new locations in five years, especially near supermarkets that have stopped selling whale meat, often due to pressure from activists opposed to whaling.
Although it is a millennia-old practice in Japan, whaling is an industry with a quite reduced scale in the country currently. Japan halted commercial whaling in 1987, after joining the International Whaling Commission. However, it continued whaling under the pretext of scientific research, which generated controversy.
Conflicts and Consequences
It’s not just the machines that generate discussion. Nanami Kurasawa, leader of the Iruka & Kujira (Dolphin & Whale) Action Network, warns that the real problem is not the machines, but what they may represent in the future. Critics argue that the “scientific research” would merely be an excuse to continue selling whale meat.
About Kyodo Senpaku
Kyodo Senpaku, a Japanese whaling company, launches an innovative marketing strategy by making whale meat available in vending machines.
Located in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, the machines offer a variety of products ranging from whale sashimi to canned meat, with prices comparable to that of a kilogram of bacon in the United States. The initiative aims to expand the whale meat market and circumvent the restrictions in supermarkets, which are often pressured by anti-whaling activists.
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