ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will introduce some of the Japanese communities which have, until recently, been heavily involved in whaling. Our aim here is to give our readers a rough idea of what it is that makes both whalers and their communities so special; in other words, of what makes them different from other types of community in Japan. Perhaps our first task, then, should be to define what we mean by the concept of “whaling community” in the context of Japan.
