Yahoo! Japan Continues to Sell Whale Meat Products

Jul 09, 2025

Topics: Dolphins, Japan, Slaughter, Taiji, Japan, Whales, Whaling

By Mark J. Palmer

Our colleagues at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and allies are stepping up their campaign against Yahoo! Japan for selling whale, dolphin and porpoise meat online.

Research by EIA in 2025 using the search category ‘クジラ、鯨肉’ (whale, whale meat) revealed 963 cetacean food items on Yahoo! Japan’s shopping site.

Samples obtained and tested by EIA showed an average mercury level of 2.67 ppm, almost seven times higher than the official Japanese limit of 0.4 ppm for human consumption.

But the Japan Fisheries Agency promotes commercial whaling and encourage consumption of whale and dolphin meat. Whalers and dolphin hunters are heavily subsidized by the government in many ways.

The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute is joining EIA and colleagues in urging Yahoo! Japan and the parent company, the LY Corporation, to end the sales of whale and dolphin products.

These products are dangerous for humans to consume, often containing high levels of mercury and PCBs.

Whales are killed with explosive harpoons without regard to the pain this causes and the difficulty of killing such a large animal, who can often linger for hours. Advanced technology helps Japanese whalers find their prey, but the technique of using exploding harpoons was developed long ago in the early 1900s.

EIA Senior Ocean Adviser Clare Perry warned: “Yahoo! Japan is likely now the largest remaining e-commerce site still selling whale and dolphin products in Japan, not only a cause of great concern regarding their conservation but clearly a major reputational risk for the company and its owner, the LY Corporation.”

Killing of whales and dolphins has to stop. Japan is not a starving country; they have a huge economy and can easily substitute other, more healthy foods for contaminated whale and dolphin meat. Most Japanese have no interest in buying whale meat.