David @ Tokyo

Long time readers will possibly recall some older coverage I did of Hananomai, a typical Japanese izakaya restaurant, which put whale dishes on it's permanent menu a few years back.

Unlike other whale specialty shops I've introduced here from time to time, Hananomai is a chain restaurant, and can seemingly be found in various places around Tokyo, and probably other centres as well.

We had some visitors come and stay with us earlier this year, and as you do we tried to show them some things unique to Japan, including a morning visit to watch a Sumo wrestlers training session (at Musashigawa-beya), and following along with the Sumo theme we also took them to Ryogoku (where the National Sumo Stadium is located) that evening for dinner.

There is a Hananomai restaurant there at the train station with a big Sumo wrestling ring in the middle of place, encircled by tables for diners. I'm pretty sure it's not a regular thing they do, but at least on the evening that we went an ex-Sumo wrestler was up in the ring - singing (pictured).

Anyway this was my first time to actually dine at Hananomai, and of course I was curious to see these upgraded whale dishes that were supposedly to be found.


"Kujira", the Chinese character for whale emblazons this section of the menu, consisting of two choices. "Our popular tatsuta-age", says the subtitle next to the Fried Whale offering (714 yen including consumption tax). "Goes great with Shochu", says the one next to the similarly priced Whale Bacon option, encouraging customers to also order a drink of Japanese spirits. At Hananomai the amount of kilocalories per dish is also clearly labeled.

We didn't order these for our non-Japanese speaking foreign guests. They were already suffering from a bit of culture shock after finding an unexpected crunch in the fried chicken cartilage that we had put in front of them, so I resisted the urge to order whale on this occasion.

Labels: Hananomai, whale gourmet

Last year in September I translated a Yomiuri article about the small yet increasing presence of whale meat in the Japanese marketplace.

Featured in the article was a Chimney Group izakaya chain, Hananomai (meaning Flower Dance"). Back in November 2005, Hananomai apparently upgraded a selection of whale dishes to it's regular menu - with the tatsuta-age (fried whale) option subsequently becoming one of Hananomai's top 10 earners.

Where are they at today?

Courtesy of Japan's "Gourmet Navi" restaurant locator site, I pulled up the Ginza branch's website.

At the top of their list of recommended menu dishes is (no need for a drum roll):

• "Deluxe whale sushi!" (pictured), with encouragement to "give it a try" (609 yen).

Further down the menu, in their "kujira / kani" (whale and crab) section, three further whale dishes are introduced:

• "Kujira ruibe" (609 yen) As you can see this looks to be an assortment of red meat and blubber. Apparently "ruibe" is an Ainu language word meaning "sashimi of frozen fish", usually using salmon or pollack. The fish is sliced thinly, and eaten with wasabi soy sauce. I think I may have had this kind of whale meat once before - not only is it raw, it's also frozen! The Ainu people are a minority group in Japan, who today reside mainly in Hokkaido, as I understand it. I wonder if their coming to eat fish frozen was more out of necessity than intention, given how cold it is up there in the north?

• "Kujira katsu" (609 yen) This item is similar to the "whale cutlets" that has been featuring in Abashiri school lunches recently.

• "Kujira tatsuta-age" (609 yen) This is the item that was amongst Hananomai's top ten offerings in terms of earnings as of September last year. I had a similar dish as part of a set meal at Shibuya's "Kujira-ya" once, and it was excellent.
  

Further whale meat offerings are also available as part of Hananomai's spring banquet menus, including a pizza topped with kujira and mentaiko (pollack ovum), and a "kujira bacon harihari salad", which sounds like it may consist of similar ingredients to the "harihari nabe" that I covered in a previous blog post. The banquet sets range from 2,500 yen to 4,500 yen a head.

Labels: Hananomai, whale meat market

In addition to the Asahi article on the whale meat market that I posted a few days back, the Yomiuri ran an article on whale meat in it's "gourmet" section on September the 5th. It also makes for interesting reading, again contrasting strongly with the information pushed in the English language media:

"Sell that whale meat!"

Whale upgraded to Izakaya regular / promoted in catered lunces

Food companies and restaurants dealing in whale meat are increasing. This is due to whaling interests getting serious about expanding consumption as whale meat stocks, marketed as food, have increased.

Whale meat sales are an essential source of revenue for research whaling. This is an urgent matter for interested parties, as further research whaling may be hindered if whale meat consumption is not increased.
(Takeo Miyazaki)

+ Health Food PR +

Whale meat eaten by consumers is mainly that of whales caught in research whaling which are subsequently processed and sold. The Foundation conducting research whaling, the Institute of Cetacean Research markets the meat through Kyodo Senpaku, the Tokyo-based company to which the actual whaling operations are contracted out to.

Recently Kyodo Senpaku and others have been strengthening their sales efforts, and instances of foodstuff companies and restaurants starting sales of whale meat are increasing.

Since March, Nippon Ham subsidiary company Hoko Co. Ltd. has been selling 3 types of new whale meat products, such as boiled retort and canned yakiniku. Hoko expects the products will be accepted if they are able to remind baby boomers of the flavour of the whale meat that they ate in the past.

Last November, Chimney Group added 7 whale meat items, including tatsuta-age and whale sashimi, to the menu at all of it's 200 "Hananomai" seafood izayaka-style restaurants. Previously these items had been seasonal offerings, but they have now had a "status upgrade" to regulars on the menu. The price of whale tatsuta-age is 50% higher than chicken kara-age, but it's said to be amongst the 10 most popular products in terms of earnings.

Elsewhere, major food retailer Maruetsu has had 10 products including whale sashimi on sale since June last year.

The Institute of Cetacean Research and others are also aiming to increase sales routes, and in May this year established a private company "Geishoku Labo" in Tokyo, which is selling whale meat to the catered lunch market including hospitals and universities.

Geishoku Labo representative Hiroshi Nakata promotes whale meat, saying "It's high in protein, and low in calories. The old image of it being a tough meat has been addressed through advances in freezing technology".

Glut of the "forgotten taste"

+ Stocks double in 10 years +

The reason for urgency in selling whale meat is because the supply of whale meat products has increased greatly, but consumption has been stagnant.

The Institute of Cetacean Research has increased the number of whale species taken subject for the purpose of detailed research into current population statuses, which has seen the supply of whale meat increase from 2450 tonnes in fiscal 2000 to 5560 tonnes in fiscal 2005.

However, consumption hasn't increased as expected. The International Whaling Commission decided on a temporary pause (moratorium) on commercial whaling in 1982, and as Japan ceased commercial whaling in 1988, average whale meat consumption per person has dropped from approximately 2000 grams 40 years ago to approximately 50 grams in 2005.

As a result, the annual average whale meat stocks stored in refrigeration increased by 45% on the previous year in 2005 to 3945 tonnes, approximately twice the size of 10 years ago.

Last year in December, the Institute of Cetacean Research which sets wholesale prices also reduced them by 20%, and this year from January through July, whale meat sales increased by 50% compared to last year, but stocks have not yet been reduced.

The Fisheries Agency Whaling Division sees a contributing factor as consumers having developed an image of whale meat being difficult to obtain, in a the phenomenon of the younger generation shying away from whale meat has also been identified.

Unsold stocks... problems for research whaling?

Of the 6 billion yen annual costs of research whaling, about 90% is paid for by whale meat sales. As such, if whale meat doesn't sell, this may have an impact on research whaling plans.

As the Institute of Cetacean Research also plans to increase the number of whales taken for research from fiscal 2007, forecasts are that supply of whale meat to the markets will increase to an annual 7,000 to 8,000 tonnnes. If consumption doesn't increase, and stocks build up further, there is a concern that funds may be insufficient to cover the research costs.

Additionally, Japan is pressing for a resumption in commercial whaling at the IWC. At this year's annual IWC meeting in June, a declaration sponsored by Japan and other whaling supporters was adopted with a 1 vote majority, including words to the effect that the temporary pause in commercial whaling is "unneccessary". However, if it seems that consumption isn't increasing smoothly, this may have repercussions in the international debate surrounding whaling.

(2006/09/05 Yomiuri Shinbun)

[UPDATED: 09/14] My translation is completed now, and having done so I realize that Yomiuri's English version already have their own translation. It's worth reading anyway to see the contrast with mine. Some interesting things to note:

• In the English version's headline they include the words "demand sluggish". The Japanese article says no such thing, and indeed the article notes that a range of outlets have introduced whale meat products, and notes that consumption is up by 50% year on year.
• Throughout the English version they talk about "demand" whereas the original Japanese version uses the word for "consumption". Perhaps Yomiuri has a "translator creativity" policy? Or perhaps it's just a case of telling their English readership what they think they want to hear.
  
• If you look at the URL's, the Japanese version of the article is posted in the gourmet section - the English version is posted under "national" news :-)

Labels: Hananomai, Japanese media perspective, Whaling