Photo/Illutration Yutaka Hasegawa successfully bid on 1 kilogram of the most coveted part of raw meat of a sei whale at an auction in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Nov. 14. (Michio Mizuta)

SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi Prefecture--Raw whale meat fetched 500,000 yen ($3,560) per kilogram at an auction here on Nov. 14, double the previous record of 250,000 yen set in Osaka in October.

“We are hoping to revitalize Shimonoseki with whaling, and it is our shared determination not to accept a contract price lower than those in the Tokyo or Osaka markets,” said Yutaka Hasegawa, a 39-year-old fish wholesaler in Shimonoseki, who won the bid.

He said he plans to ship the meat to restaurants in Hiroshima and Tokyo.

Last year, the same wholesale market at the Shimonoseki port set what was then a record 120,000 yen per kilogram for whale meat.

The meat put on auction on Nov. 14 came from the most coveted “onomi” portion of a sei whale caught off Nemuro in eastern Hokkaido by the Nisshin Maru whaling ship.

The whale meat was stored at temperatures near freezing to retain its original texture and taste, according to fisheries officials.

Japanese whalers’ catch of sei whales is restricted to 25 heads a year in commercial whaling conducted in waters around the Japanese archipelago.

After exiting the International Whaling Commission in 2018, Japan resumed commercial whaling in 2019 for the first time in 31 years.

Locals are trying to make Shimonoseki recognized as Japan’s No. 1 city for whale meat.

A total of 1.4 tons of whale meat was sold at the auction.

A long line of shoppers formed when an outlet of the Daimaru department store in central Shimonoseki began selling 100 packs of raw whale meat after they were bid on at the auction.

A pack of 100 grams of onomi went for 3,600 yen.

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