Majority of Japanese support whaling: poll

TOKYO (Reuters) - Most Japanese support whaling and eating whale meat, a newspaper poll showed on Friday, despite international criticism against annual hunts and images of Japanese vessels harpooning whales off Antarctica.

In the poll by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, 65 percent of respondents said they supported whaling, while 21 percent were opposed.

The same telephone poll, which drew 2,082 responses last weekend, found 56 percent were in favor of eating whale meat while 26 percent were against it.

The poll comes after a high-profile standoff in the Southern Ocean last month, in which two anti-whaling activists boarded a Japanese whaling ship, briefly suspending Japan's plan to kill nearly 1,000 minke and fin whales this Antarctic summer.

The standoff was resolved after the activists, an Australian and a Briton, were handed over to an Australian fisheries icebreaker.

Japan, which considers whaling to be a cherished cultural tradition stretching back centuries, abandoned commercial whaling after agreeing to an international moratorium in 1986. It began what it calls a scientific research whaling program the following year.

Australia released on Thursday pictures of whales being killed by Japan in the Southern Ocean, prompting accusations from Tokyo that it was trying to fan a diplomatic confrontation.

A photo of an adult minke whale and her calf being towed up the rear ramp of a Japanese factory processing ship in Antarctic waters prompted headlines including: "They call it science."

Japan said on Friday Tokyo would send a letter of protest over the photos and comments by Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who said he had "felt a bit of a sick feeling" after seeing them.