A file photograph dated 07 January 2006 and released by Greenpeace, showing the Yushin Maru, a factory ship in a Japanese whaling fleet, injuring a whale with it's first harpoon attempt. A UN court in The Hague on 31 March 2014 halted Japan's much-criticized whaling programme, ruling that it contravenes a 1986 moratorium on whale hunting. Japan must end its 'research whaling' programme, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said. Japan said the programme was for scientific research and permitted under international conventions. Australia had brought the case to the ICJ in 2010, charging that Japan was breaching international law by killing hundreds of whales every year for commercial purposes. Japan was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, an unnamed government official was quoted by the Kyodo News agency as saying. But the official said Japan would stand by the ruling. (Photo by Kate Davison/EPA)

Japanese businessman Kiyoshi Kimura has paid 1.38 million euros ($1.76 million, or 155.4 million yen) for a blue fin tuna – more than three times the previous high – which he also set one year ago. The 222-kilogram fish will be served to Kimura’s customers. Blue fin tuna is annually sold in a traditional New Year’s auction. Japan consumes 80 percent blue fin tuna caught worldwide.

Photo: President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, displays a 222kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on January 5, 2013. The bluefin tuna was traded at 155.4 million yen (1.77 million USD) at the wholesale market, smashing a previous record. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

Artists wearing Japanese traditional clown masks march during the First Konpira Festival at Kotohiragu shrine in Tokyo Wednesday, January 10, 2018. The shrine is dedicated to sailors and seafaring. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

An alpaca Satsuki looks at a pet dog at a park while Alpaca Fureai Land's staffs walk the alpaca during early morning in Tokyo, Japan on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

This photo taken on November 6, 2023 shows people posing for photos next to the statue of “Hachiko” in front of Shibuya station in central Tokyo, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the legendary dog's birth this month. A century since its birth, the tale of the loyal companion who had waited at the Shibuya train station for its master to come home – not knowing he had already died – continues to inspire the public, who have made the statue a singular landmark at a glitzy hub of Tokyo's street culture. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

Devotees ride on the roof of a train as they return to the city after attending the final prayers on the first phase of Bishwa Ijtema in Dhaka January 11, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims congregated in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka as the first phase of this year's Bishwa Ijtema, one of the biggest Islamic gatherings in the world after the Haj in Saudi Arabia, came to an end. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A street artist dances tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1890's along the Rio de la Plata, the border between Uruguay and Argentina. UNESCO approved in 2009, a joint proposal by the two nations to include the dance in its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Yana Shcherban of Russia looks at the ball after failing to receive it during their FIVB Women's Volleyball World Grand Prix 2014 final round against Japan in Tokyo August 20, 2014. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)