Japan pulled out last December from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which has imposed a ban on commercial whaling.
Former chief IWC negotiator Mr Komatsu said continuing the traditional whale hunt is also a matter of pride for Japan.
"I am very disappointed by Japan's decision to pull out of the International Whaling Commission after the International Court of Justice ruled their previous whaling program was not for scientific purposes".
"An increasing sort of whales are valued for his or her wanted position in our oceans, and whale watching is booming for tourism globally".
Australian officials have condemned Japan's resumption of commercial whaling. On Monday morning, Nisshin Maru, a whale factory ship belonging to Kyodo Senpaku Co., and two other whalers left the port of Shimonoseki in the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi for offshore whaling of the minke, sei and Bryde's whales.
"If we had more whale available, we'd eat it more", said Sachiko Sakai, a 66-year-old taxi driver in Kushiro, a gritty port city on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, where five whaling ships were waved out of harbour in a brief ceremony early on Monday.
There are 31 species of whales in South Korean coastal waters, including minke whales targeted by Japanese whaling ships, the ministry said.
Whale hunting used to be banned in 1986 by the IWC in outcome of dwindling whale populations, with a worldwide moratorium positioned on the apply to allow the species to rebound.
Minke whale is first slaughtered as Japan resumes commercial whaling
The Red List classifies Bryde's and minke whales "of least concern", meaning they are not now threatened with extinction. Whale makes up about 0.1% of all meat eaten in a year, with fewer than 300 people directly linked to the industry.
The Japanese have a long history of killing and eating whales, but studies have suggested the popularity and consumer demand for the mammalian meat is dwindling.
Surprisingly, conservation organizations-while they condemn the commercial hunt-are not mobilizing against Japanese whaling. "We determine quotas in order not to harm the species", he said. The IUCN Red List categorizes sei whales as endangered.
The first commercial whale hunt since 1988 took place in Japan on Monday.
Recently, Japan announced the resumption of commercial whaling in its waters. And why is whaling so important for Japan? Annual ask for whale meat has plummeted from 200,000 to 5,000 tonnes (the same to roughly 40 grams per particular person).
"This industry [of whaling] will sink quickly", he predicted and considered that it is maintained thanks to subsidies, for a population that will end up disappearing.
Norway and Iceland furthermore overtly defy the worldwide ban, whereas an exemption lets in indigenous communities in areas treasure Greenland and Alaska to hunt whales.
"I'd like young people to know the delicious taste of whale meat, and I hope people will think of it as discovering a new food".
"What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling", Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, tells the AP.
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