Welcome to the World of the Whale!

“鯨”, the Chinese character for a whale, unsurprisingly represents a “big fish”, being made up of two compounds; one for fish and the other for the number 10¹⁶ in Japanese. We now know, of course, that the whale is not fish but a mammal species just like us humans. There are, however, a lot of mysteries to uncover about the evolutionary history and behaviors of the whale, a mammal originally from land that evolved to live in water.

Consisting largely of a peninsula, Chiba Prefecture is blessed with a rich marine environment, which is created by the collision of the warm and cold Kuroshio and Oyashio currents off the Pacific coast. Many species of cetaceans call this rich water home and 35 species have been recorded off the prefecture, the highest number among Japanese prefectures. The long history of human-cetacean interaction in the prefecture can be traced back to the Jomon Period (14,000 – 300 BCE) and seen in the food culture and local beliefs even today.

The majority of us think that we know the whale even though not many of us have actually seen one. This special exhibition will take you into the world of the whale, including its extraordinary evolution, species richness and least-known behaviors, as well as reveal the history of the interaction between whales and humans.

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to all those who have contributed to this special exhibition.

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