Japan's whaling fleet has set out for the Antarctic to resume a decades-old whale hunt, defying international outrage, after a year's hiatus due to an international court ruling.
Japan aims to take more than 300 whales in its "scientific whaling" programme before the hunt ends next year.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled last year that Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean should stop and an International Whaling Commission (IWC) panel said in April this year that Japan had yet to demonstrate a need for "lethal sampling".
But Tokyo, which had vowed from the start to resume its "scientific whaling" programme from the 2015/2016 season, retooled its hunt plan to cut the number of minke whales it intends to take to 333, down by two-thirds from previous hunts.
"Last year, regrettably, the ICJ made its ruling and we were unable to take whales," said Tomoaki Nakao, the mayor of the western city of Shimonoseki that is home to much of Japan's whaling fleet and part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election district.
"There's nothing as happy as this day," he told the fleet's crew at a ceremony prior to their departure.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, The ships sailed away. The hunt is expected to last until March.
Japan, which has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of its food culture, began what it calls "scientific whaling" in 1987, a year after an international whaling moratorium took effect.
It says its whaling surveys are needed for information on how whales live, including what they eat, as well as population numbers.
The meat ends up on store shelves, although most Japanese no longer eat it.
Officials, including Abe, have long said their ultimate goal is the resumption of commercial whaling - a pledge he repeated in a message read at the pre-departure ceremony.
In New Zealand, Acting Foreign Minister Todd McClay earlier this week expressed the country's "deep disappointment" at Japan's decision to resume whaling.
"New Zealand is strongly opposed to whaling in the Southern Ocean. We call on Japan to take heed of the 2014 International Court of Justice decision and international scientific advice concerning their whaling activities.
"We continue to actively pursue an end to Southern Ocean whaling, and are considering all options," Mr McClay said.
The United States, a key ally of Japan's, and Australia also said they were against the hunt.
"We do not accept in any way, shape or form the concept of killing whales for scientific research," Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt said.
The US commissioner for the IWC, Russell F Smith, said: "We believe that all of Japan's primary research objectives can be met through non-lethal activities and continue to oppose their scientific whaling programmes."
Environmental activists also condemned the move.
"It is completely unacceptable for the Japanese government to ignore the International Court of Justice," said Junichi Sato, the executive director of Greenpeace Japan.
