In April, when ice covering the sea surface shows cracks, bowhead whales start their northward migration along the open sea channels toward the Arctic Ocean where abundant feed is found.

  I was in Point Hope, an Eskimo town protruding into the Chukchi Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean off Alaska.

  This is one of the oldest native settlements on the American continent. The settlement was originally developed for the bowhead whale hunting. The proximity of the settlement to the open water enabled the people access to the whales. A friend in Point Hope said proudly that his town has a longer history than that of Egypt.

  At the ice edge, some whaling teams were already waiting for whales by preparing the Umiaq, a rowboat made from the skin of bearded seals.

  We towed our Umiaq by a snow machine down to the ice edge and attached a bomb to the harpoon, making ourselves ready to chase a whale at any time.

  The harpoons used here are the same type as those used during the sailboat-whaling period over 100 years ago, although they now use bomb. The harpoons thrown into the whale by human's own hand.

  Men waited on the ice for the whales to approach. Some stood higher spots of the ice and watched eastward whence the whales may come. Others were taking a nap on the sled or drinking coffee comfortably.

  Only chunk of ice flow from time to time and no whale appeared. I remembered the words often repeated to me: "Hunting by the Eskimo is to wait with patience." And I think that those words are true.

  While I was dozing, someone whispered into my ear that we were taking out the boat. At last a whale had come into our sight.

  In a tense atmosphere, which made me inattentive of the cold, a Umiaq was slid into the sea. Crews paddled the boat into the icy water. The only sound we could hear was the sound of paddles and waves. It was a quiet but intense chase.

  A whale surfaced where we could not predict and each time the Umiaq changed its direction and continued the chase. But the whale swam into the wide open water and was lost.

  After repeating several chases, one team finally caught a whale a bowhead over 15 meters long.

  On the news that a whale was caught, people gathered and pulled the animal onto the ice taking several hours, using a thick rope with a huge pulley attached.

  Flensing started when men having big knives and hooks with long handles gathered around the whale.

  "Muktuk" (skin) with blubber is removed by thrusting the blades of the knives into the huge meat mass. Crimson-colored blood spouted out with white steam, probably because the whale's peritoneum was broken.

  The whale, which was black-colored at the beginning, turned into a mass of red meat as its skin was peeled. The work continued without pause, and large blocks of meat were carved from the huge red mass.

  Women came from the town and prepared a warm meal and coffee for the men. The men rested temporarily there and then returned to work.

  I helped with the flensing using a knife and a hook. The huge body of the whale was fully stuffed with meat and viscera. It was a matter of course but I was really amazed by the scene.

  After carving out some meat, a rope was attached to the viscera, it's pulled out on the ice. The viscera were scattered randomly on the ice, and I could not tell which part was which. But women skillfully pulled out the intestines and cut them into pieces of some tens of inches. These of course are used as food.

  Men were cutting the skin of the liver in a round form to use it as material for large Eskimo drums.

  The flensing of the whale, caught shortly after noon on the previous day, was completed by around 7 the next morning. The remaining head bone was thrown into the sea with a wish for the whale's return.

  People should have been exhausted by the all-night work, but I could see smiles in their faces. I was also a smiling during the work, although I didn't realize it until I was told so.

  In mid-June, the "Qagroq" feast takes place to celebrate the successful whaling for the year. The feast, joined by all the townsfolk, lasts for three days.

  On the first day of the feast, "Mikiaq"--a mixture of fermented whale skin, blubber, meat and blood--was given out to the people who gathered at the feast. On the second day, "Avarraq," sliced tail fin, was served.

  On the third day, all the parts of the whale--the heart, intestines and other viscera such as the kidneys, were boiled and served to the people. Also Muktuk and meat were given. Besides whale meat, I could see various kinds of wildlife meat, such as Beluga, bearded seals, walrus and caribou.

  Seeing the happy smiling faces of people eating whale and other wildlife meat during the feast, I came to know how the traditional diet is important to them.

  Although Point Hope people usually eat hamburgers and sandwiches, they cannot abandon traditional foods so easily. It is the same as the situation in Japan that we never abandon miso (bean paste) soup and natto (fermented soybeans) even when we accepted the Western lifestyle.

  Many people criticize the U.S. anti-whaling position as a "double standard." However, please keep in your mind that the Eskimo have hunted whales and used them as an important food from time immemorial to the present day.