Q1. What are small-type
coastal whaling
communities?

A.

These communities are those which today are regarded
as the primary heirs of the country's whaling traditions.
Whaling is an integral part of Japan's history and culture.
This history actually begins in prehistoric times withpeople's use of stranded whales. Based on finds of hand
harpoons and porpoise skulls in burial mounds, it would
appear that active hunting of small cetaceans probably dates
from the Jomon period (10,000 — 300 BC).
Organised whaling, using boats, hand harpoons and land
stations, began in the sixteenth century in southern Japan.
Then, in 1675, in Taiji, groups of up to three hundred people
herded whales into nets and harpooned them, the firstincidence of the net whaling method.
From that, over time, Japan's twentieth century whaling
evolved. In this centuries-long evolutionary process, and using
various harvesting techniques, whaling traditions spread fromsouthern Japan to the northern coast of Hokkaido. In thecourse of this expansion, whaling came to be defined in three
categories: large-type coastal whaling (LTCW), pelagic whaling
and small-type coastal whaling (STCW). But, because of the1982 commercial whaling moratorium, STCW is the only
remaining category, and it barely survives, harvestingsustainably only small cetaceans not managed by IWC. Scholars
today recognise four communities — Taiji, Wada, Ayukawa,
and Abashiri — as the modern concentrations of these
traditions and skills.

Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

Q2. Why is small-type
coastal whaling soimportant to thesecommunities?

2

A.

The issue is not one of economics alone, for life is much
more than simply money with which to buy those things
necessary for survival. Some of these communities also havefishing and fish processing, but this was always in addition towhaling, not in place of it. Recently, there has been someaquaculture added. Tourism is also in addition to whaling —and, of course, without whaling, most whaling communities
have little else unusual to offer tourists.
Thus whaling, with its secondary and tertiary industries, iseconomically important. But as well, around the work of acommunity evolve social and cultural practices which definethat community. For the small-type coastal whaling
communities, whaling is the work around which thesepractices grew, defining their senses of community. It is theirculture and part of the larger culture of Japan. Decline ofsmall-type coastal whaling is causing disintegration of thesecommunities. They are trying so hard to overcome the almostdebilitating losses of population and income.
As whaling-related employment decreases, so does theessence of community. Both economics and this diminishedsense of community are forcing younger people to work andlive elsewhere. Because of the locations of these communities
and their relatively limited infrastructures, alternative jobs inwhaling communities remain too few to replace those which
Western cultures have taken from them by their continued
insistence on the 1982 moratorium.
Even the International Whaling Commission, in a 1993
resolution, acknowledged the socio-economic and culturalneeds of the Japanese whaling communities and the distress tothese communities which has resulted from the cessation ofminke whaling.
In conclusion, not only is there limited alternative work
available to these communities, but also — and perhaps evenmore important — the cessation of minke whaling is slowly,
and quite unnecessarily, eroding in these places their sense ofcommunity.

Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

Q3. What do you meanby "cultural practices"?
Why are these soimportant?

Q4. Didn't theInternational Whaling
Commission set themoratorium on whales
because whales are introuble?

A.

Whale cuisine is a specific example of these cultural
practices. Cuisine varies from whaling community towhaling community, reinforcing the specific sense ofcommunity for each whaling community, as well as
contributing to the culture of Japanese cuisine. For all of thesecommunities, whale meat has been an important source ofprotein. Some of this local traditional cuisine has called for
fresh, not frozen, minke, something which pelagic whaling can
not provide.
Not only cuisine, but also the rituals and beliefs whichsurround the hunting and processing of whales serve to define
the whaling communities. Whales have been incorporated into
the Shinto pantheon and memorialised according to Buddhist
beliefs. This has served, simultaneously, to integrate whales
into Japanese culture and yet to give these whaling
communities a particular sense of their own identities.

A.

True, endangered whales should not be hunted. Japan
has fully and consistently supported the International
Whaling Commission in the cessation of harvest of these
species.
However, the North Pacific minke whales which Japanese
small-type coastal whalers wish to resume harvesting areavailable in numbers which would support a fishery. The IWC
Scientific Committee data indicates that the North Pacific stock
is 25,000; this is a stock size of an amount for which science
could support an allocation for coastal minke whaling.
The key word is ‘sustain’. Japan strongly supports theprinciple of sustainable use. This is an important principle fornatural resources management which has gained greater
understanding since the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (the Earth Summit in Rio).
By managing for sustainable use, one permits for harvest
today only that amount which will ensure that the stock
remains sufficiently robust to continue to reproduce andthrive. Given what we already know about North Pacificminkes and what the on-going research will tell us, scientists
and scholars can support Japan's position that the North Pacificminke stock is indeed sufficiently robust to sustain a managed
coastal harvest.
3

Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

Q5. But how do weknow that taking North
Pacific minke whales
would be sustainable?
To be on the safe side,
Japan should notresume coastal minke
whaling until we know
more.

Q6. What is the urgency
to resume small-type
coastal minke whaling?

4

A.

Japan also endorses the precautionary approach tonatural resources management. One may understandthis approach as a corollary to sustainable use management. It
is a "no regrets" policy. The precautionary approach mandates
allowing only a relatively smaller harvest of any resource
about which the best scientific information available isparticularly limited. As more information becomes available,
managers are better able to assess the possibility of a larger
allocation.
Using the precautionary approach to sustainable use
management, and given what we already do know and what
we are learning about North Pacific minke availability, science
could support an allocation for coastal minke whaling.
Specifically, this allocation would be based on IWC's Revised
Management Procedure (RMP), which does itself reflect the
IWC Scientific Committee's risk-free, precautionary approach.

A.

The people and their communities are suffering. Whileothers indulge in academic debates, these people areneedlessly in professional and social limbo. They have hadgreatly diminished both a way of life and a food which has
been a vital part of their lives — a food, incidentally, of asignificant nutritional value as well.
We have scientific data which indicates that resuming
coastal minke whaling on the North Pacific stock could besustainable. We are talking about a culturally important foodresource which should not be — indeed can not effectively be— managed independently of the ecosystem of which it is an
integral part.
All of what the scientific community has been learning
about multispecies management reinforces the need tobroaden our approach to managing marine resources toinclude whales and other marine mammals. These species aresubstantial predators of fish species. Not surprisingly, it has notworked to manage these mammals in isolation. The sooner weshift to a balanced ecosystem/multispecies approach, thesooner we will begin to develop truly sustainable resource
management programmes which better ensure stableproductivity of all elements of marine ecosystems.
Two reasons, then for urgency; first, people and theircommunities are suffering, not only from serious
depopulation, but also from the subsequent losses of sense ofcommunity which this causes. Second, what we now about
resources management makes irresponsible attempts to
defend only species-by-species management, especially whenthose species, marine mammals, are significant predators
within their ecosystems.

Introduction: The Evolutionof Japanese Whaling
From the beginning, Japanese whalers’ mobility
has played a decisive role in shaping anddisseminating Japan’s whaling culture throughout
the country. This is why even communities which are
no longer actively involved in whaling do havewhaling traditions which are an integral part of theircommunity cultures.
These whaling traditions go back to beginnings inprehistoric times with the use of stranded whales.
Next, based on finds of hand harpoons and porpoiseskulls in burial mounds, it would appear that active
hunting of small cetaceans probably dates from the
Jomon Period (10,000 — 300 BC).
Scholars consider that active whaling began in thesixteenth century, but it was only toward the end ofthat century that whaling developed into a largescale endeavour. Then, toward the end of theseventeenth century, Japanese began to use nets. In
1675 in Taiji, large groups of people organised todrive whales into big nets in the open sea, then used
harpoons to attack the entangled whales.
From that, over time, Japan’s twentieth century
whaling evolved. In this centuries-long evolutionary
process, and using various harvesting techniques,
whaling traditions spread from southern Japan to
the northern coast of Hokkaido, and became not
only coastal but also North Pacific and Antarctic
pelagic whaling. In the course of this expansion,
whaling came to be defined in three categories:
large-type coastal whaling (LTCW); pelagic whaling;and small-type coastal whaling (STCW).
However, because of the 1982 commercial
whaling moratorium, STCW is the only remaining
category. Scholars today recognise four communities— Taiji, Wada, Ayukawa, and Abashiri — as themodern concentrations of these traditions and skills.

Small-type Coastal Whaling Today
Today, the Japanese government regulates STCW.
It licenses boats to take various species, among them,the minke whale, Baird’s beaked whale, and the pilot
whale, none of which come under the IWC.
Minke whales, however, fall under theInternational Whaling Commission’s mandate, whichmeans that IWC sets quotas for this species. As aresult, therefore, the quotas are currently zero. IWC
refuses to recognise that its own Scientific Committee
data indicates that the North Pacific stock is 25,000
strong, a stock size which could support an allocation
for coastal minke whaling.
The Japanese government does set quotas for
Baird’s beaked whales and for pilot whales, because
these do not fall under the IWC’s mandate. Japaneseboats continue their coastal hunts for these species.
However, the opportunity for STCW today isrelatively limited by the fact that Japanese cannot
now hunt minkes. As a result, the four whaling
communities are suffering: not only is there limited
alternative work available to these communities, butalso — and perhaps even more important — thecessation of minke whaling is slowly, and quite
unnecessarily, eroding in these places their sense ofcommunity.

Evolution: Prehistory
to the Twentieth Century
There is a Japanese proverb which says, “A whaleon the beach is wealth for seven villages.”
Early organization — People’s use of stranded whales
goes back to prehistoric times. This passive whaling
utilised whales which were dead or dying, on thebeach or in nearshore water.
Although this passive whaling was certainly thedominant method, it appears, based on findings ofhand harpoons and porpoise skulls in burial mounds,
that primitive active hunting of small cetaceansprobably dates from the Jomon Period (10,000 — 300
BC). This type of passive whaling lasted well into thesixteenth century. (Nor did it disappear with theadvent of active whaling)
Scholars consider that Japanese active whaling
started in the sixteenth century, but it was not until
5

Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

toward the end of that century that this kind ofwhaling developed into a large-scale endeavour. In
this method, whalers in several boats used harpoons— the harpoon method — and brought the killed
whales back to especially established land stations forprocessing. This technique became particularly
important in Wakayama, Shikoku, Northern Kyushu,
and Sea of Japan coast of Yamaguchi.
Then, in 1675, Wada Kakuemon in Taiji developed
a method in which large groups organized to drive
whales (usually slower moving species like right andhumpback whales) into nets which they had set in
the open sea. Once the whales were entangled, thewhalers then attacked them with harpoons.
This net method spread rapidly throughout mostof southwestern Japan. And until the end of thenineteenth century, it continued to dominate
Japanese whaling. Whales caught this way were graywhales, right whales, humpbacks, fin wales, andprobably some minkes. Whalers continued to use
hand harpoons until the twentieth century in only
two fisheries: the Baird’s beaked whale fishery in
Chiba and the pilot whale fishery in Taiji.
Western competition — American and British
whalers discovered the rich whaling grounds
between Hawaii and Japan in 1820. Very soon,
hundreds of whaling ships from the United Statesand other Western countries were operating in theocean off Japan.
It is not surprising, then, that coincidentally,
Japanese whalers were catching many fewer whales,
for the whales they had caught from smaller vessels
in their coastal waters were now being caught by theWesterners further offshore.
Clearly, then, if Japanese whalers wished tocontinue whaling, they would have to modernise tocompete with the Westerners. First, the Japanese
tried in various places throughout the country toadapt the American method of whale hunting. But
most of these attempts were unsuccessful and did
not, therefore, have any real impact on thedevelopment of Japanese whaling.
It was through Russian whaling that the Japanese
were introduced to the Norwegian method. Russiancompanies had adopted Norwegian techniques and,by the early 1900s, were transporting whale meat to6

Japan. Several Japanese whaling pioneers who had
served aboard Russian whalers sought to introduce
the Norwegian method to Japan. Their efforts fromthe late 1890s and the Japanese government’s steps
after the Russo-Japanese War can be said to haveestablished modern coastal whaling for large-typewhales (LTCW) in Japan.
From this would evolve three distinct approaches
to whaling — LTCW, STCW and pelagic whaling — allof which were finally established by beginning of the
Pacific War.
Large-type coastal whaling — LTCW was firmly
established, but that does not mean that it did notundergo significant changes in the decades which
followed. Briefly, these changes included (1) new
land stations, among which were those in Ayukawa(1906) and in Abashiri (1915); (2) new whaling
grounds opened further to the north (including the
Kuril Islands) and to the south around the Ogasawara(Bonin) Islands, as well as off Taiwan; (3) new
whaling stations from Ogasawara (25˚N) to the Kurils(50˚N) so the whalers could work winters in thesouth, summers in the north; (4) changes over time in
the relative importance of the species the whalers
were taking, which in turn influenced to somedegree the distribution and consumption of thewhale carcasses; and (5) the consolidation of thewhaling companies to, finally, in the late 1930s, threelarge companies (Nissui, Taiyo and Kyokuyo) which
had, in fact, been established to fiance Antarctic
pelagic whaling.
Pelagic whaling — Although European pelagic
whaling dated from medieval times and spreadthrough the centuries to most of the world’s oceans,
it was the Norwegians who sent modern vessels to
the Antarctic at the turn of the century. For several
reasons, however, and despite their extensive LTCW
operations, the Japanese did not go to Antarctic until
thirty years later, in 1934. (This was because the oilmarket had collapsed; there had been in 1930-1931
the highest production ever of oil; a world-wide
depression; and new regulations on whaling.)
After an inauspicious beginning, they caught up
quickly. And in 1940, they sent a factory ship andfour catcher boats to the North Pacific for the firstJapanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

time, and that fleet returned to the North Pacific thefollowing year. Thus, by the beginning of the Pacific
War in 1941, Japan had emerged as one of theworld’s leading pelagic whaling nations.
Pelagic whaling was so successful in just a few
years that it was producing more than all other typesof whaling combined. It also played a vital part insustaining the whaling culture in many of Japan’s
whaling communities, for it opened up new
possibilities for unemployed whalers in southwest
Japan. A significant percentage of the pelagic crews
came from Kyushu and Wakayama Prefecture, andthose who came from Ayukawa and Kugunari in
Miyagi Prefecture traced their roots to southwest
Japan.
Small-type coastal whaling — Japan has been
conducting STCW for at least as long as it has done
LTCW and pelagic whaling but, perhaps because it isa less apparently dramatic operation, it is less wellknown.
For centuries, Japanese used nets to trap small
toothed whales in the bays into which they had
driven the whales. Even though they still occasionallyused nets, it was the development of the harpoon
method which was important in understanding
today’s Japanese STCW. Until recently, somecommunities have used hand harpoons to take pilot
and Baird’s beaked whales. Taiji for pilot and
Katsuyama for Baird’s beaked are the examples towhich we go to find the roots of modern STCW.
With the modernisation of LTCW, it wasinevitable that the STCW whalers would
adapt the new technologies of poweredboats and harpoon guns. By the early
1910s, two forms of STCW using harpoon
guns had emerged, one in Taiji, the otheron the Boso Peninsula.
It was not until the early 1930s, thatwhalers in Ayukawa, using a boat from
Taiji, developed a catcher boat for taking
minkes. This new design was successful,leading to general adoption of small-scale
whaling boats (generally 15 to 20 tons)
using powered harpoons to take minke
and Baird’s beaked whales.
Japanese whaling in the post-war period— With the beginning of the Pacific War
and serious food problems, coastal whaling
received special considerations. Pelagic
whaling had stopped. But under the new
regime, the productivity of LTCW reached apeak at 34,800 tons, of which 28,600 wereused for food. And because STCW boats
were permitted to hunt large-type whales
as an emergency measure, this form

expanded during the war.
By the end of the war, however, Japan had lost
94.6 percent of her whaling vessel tonnage and morethan half the pre-war whaling grounds. At the sametime, however, the people had become more
dependent than ever on whale meat because of thefood crisis in the immediate post-war years.
To help alleviate this, General MacArthur
authorized Japan’s re-entry into international
whaling. As a result, the industry recovered
remarkably quickly. STCW had not been hurt by thedefeat; in fact, the fleet continued to expand,reaching a total of 83 boats in 1947. LTCW had notbeen so fortunate, but it too recovered in a coupleof years and remained fairly constant until the early
1970s.
Another turning point for LTCW came when the1946 International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling (ICRW) limited whaling to the six-month
period from May to October. Because most whales
migrate these months in northern waters, theregulation meant the end for most whaling insouthwest Japan. Of the nearly twenty land stations
operating in the 1950s, most were in northeast
Japan.
Because pelagic whaling had been so productivein the late 1930s and because of the food crisis, theoccupation forces also gave Japan permission to
resume Antarctic whaling. By the 1960/61 season,
Japan was sending seven fleets to the Antarctic, andin the following season, these reached an all-time

AbashiriJAPAN SEA
Ayukawa

Wada
Taiji

Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW)

production peak of more than 300,000 tons of oil
and meat.
North Pacific pelagic whaling was slower torecover, though Japan was permitted to resume
whaling off Ogasawara (Bonin Islands) as early as the1945/46 season. In 1952, however, IWC defined thisoperation an coastal whaling with the same
restrictions as applied to Japanese LTCW: no whaling
between the first of November to the end of April —just the time when sei whales are around theseislands.
But 1952 was also the year Japan sent its firstpost-war pelagic fleet to the North Pacific.
Production reached a peak in 1967 with more than
90,000 tons.
The emphasis on meat production after the war
meant that about 47 per cent of the animal protein
the Japanese consumed in 1947 came from whale
meat; even in 1964, this percentage was as high as 23
percent.
Japan had become a member of IWC in 1951, andby 1960, she had become the world’s leading
whaling nation.
Although many people do not know, or choose
not to remember, IWC was created not so much toconserve whales as to protect the price of whale oil.
Japan had begun in 1909, on her own, to regulatedomestic LTCW activities. And by 1947, even before
Japan become a member of IWC, all Japanesewhaling required licenses which were not easy to get.
In the 1960s, reflecting growing international
concerns for the status of whale stocks, IWC
regulations did become more strict. Japan’s Antarctic
quota was fixed at 33 percent (though she increased
this by buying fleets and quotas from other whaling
nations). Quotas on all Antarctic species werereduced or eliminated during the 1960s and 1970s.
By the 1978/79 season, whalers took only sperm andminke whales in the Antarctic.
In the North Pacific, IWC introduced quotas forfin, sei, and sperm whales, but from 1976, it
prohibited hunting fin and sei whales. North Pacificminkes went under IWC regulations in 1977.
For conservation, small quotas for certain species
could have worked. But by this time, whales had
been appropriated as a symbol of those who claimed
to be protecting the environment and animal rights.
This was clear in 1972 at the UN Stockholm
Conference on Human Environment; the Conference
8

passed a resolution calling for ten-year moratoriumon commercial whaling. And in 1982, IWC declared a
blanket moratorium on all commercial whaling
beginning with the 1985/86 season.
Threatened by American domestic legislation, theJapanese government sent its last fleet to the
Antarctic in the 1986/87 season. LTCW shore stations
were closed in 1987, ending Japanese LTCW. From
1988, STCW boats were prohibited form taking
minkes. Now Japan only takes Antarctic minkes forresearch purposes as provided for under Article VIII of
the ICRW. The government has licensed theremaining small coastal vessels to catch a few dozen
Baird’s beaked and pilot whales, for these species are
not under IWC.
As a result of IWC’s Draconian — and unscientific— regulations and positions, then, all Japanesewhaling has been forced to contract substantially.
The social, economic, and cultural losses to Japan’s
whaling communities and to Japan are significant.
It is time for IWC to behave responsibly on theseissues, and among other actions, to act on its 1993
resolution which acknowledged the socio-economic
and cultural needs of the Japanese whaling
communities and the distress to these communities
which has resulted from the cessation of minke
whaling.
Bibliography“Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan”.
Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, 1988.
“Japanese Whaling: End of an Era?”.
Arne Kalland and Brian Moeran, Scandinavian Institute of
Asian Studies, 1992.
♦♦♦

Part of a picture scroll illustrating whaling in the Edo
Period (1603-1867) in Japan. — Courtesy of the Shoko
Museum of Arts.
♦♦♦

Date of publication: May 31, 1996♦♦♦

This brochure has been prepared by:

The Institute of Cetacean Research
4-18, Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104

Japan Small-type Whaling Association
4-5-10-506, Honcho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164