"Japan and New Zealand see eye-to-eye on just about every international issue. There is one particular (issue) that has been a cause of concern for us though and that has been the whaling issue," Prime Ministre Helen Clark told Reuters.

Clark, who is scheduled to meet her Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday, added that she had told Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura that New Zealand "strongly supports" Japan staying in the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Japan, where whale meat is a delicacy, abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international ban but began hunting whales in what it calls scientific research whaling the next year. The meat ends up on store shelves and on the tables of gourmet restaurants.

Japan and other pro-whaling nations have become increasingly frustrated by what they see as a growing anti-whaling slant to the IWC's annual meetings, especially after the 2004 meeting ended with a small but significant victory for countries that want to maintain the whaling ban.

Japanese officials have said Japan may leave the IWC if the organisation fails to allow limited hunting of whales for commercial purposes.

A senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Japan should resume whaling in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone if disagreements at the IWC go unresolved this year.