A large inflatable whale carrying a Japanese slogan reading: " Let's preserve (Japan's) seafood culture" is decorated at the annual whale festival where visitors can buy meat of minke whales hunted in the past year as part of a scientific program allowed under a ban on commercial whaling at Tokyo's Tsukiji wholesale market in this photo taken Sunday morning, Feb. 27, 2000. Ignoring international protests, five whaling ships have set sail over the past few weeks - most of them on Saturday, July 29, 2000- with orders to expand their target list from the usual minke to sperm and Bryde's whales as well. (AP Photo/Chaiki Tsukumo)