"There isn't a part of the whale that we Japanese don't use. We even make soup out of its blood," said Yuriko Shiraishi, the forum's head.

"Foreigners need to understand that this is part of our culture."

Shiraishi's group promotes whale meat consumption and wants Japan to be allowed to increase whaling.

The forum's promotional efforts come as Tokyo pushes for an increase in its whale hunt quota ahead of the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on June 20 in South Korea.

Last week, Japan threatened to leave the IWC if it did not approve limited commercial hunting on top of its existing research whaling, while Australia said it would lead a delegation of 15 countries, including Britain, France and Germany, in a protest against Japan's efforts.

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international ban, but began a programme labelled research whaling the following year.

According to Australia, Japan wants to increase its annual intake of minke whales to 935 from 440, and expand its hunt to include 10 fin whales a year in 2005/06 and 2006/07, which would increase to 40 in 2007/08. It also proposes to expand the hunt further in 2007/08 to include 50 humpback whales.

Restrictions on the size of the catch means meat from Japan's research whaling gets only to the tables of Japan's pricier gourmet restaurants, something some of the cooking class participants said they would like to see changed.

"I think it's nonsense," said 61-year-old Kohei Uchiyama. "Eating a whale is the same thing as killing and eating a cow."