Topical News Lessons

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible: 
1. How much did the writer pay for his whaleburger? 
2. What time of day was it when he bought it? 
3. How many different kinds of hamburger does the restaurant serve? 
4. What kind of meat is in a “Ghengis Khan” burger? 
5. What percentage of Japanese people are against a whaling ban? 
6. What percentage of Japanese people are in favour of a whaling ban? 

---

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2005 
Taken from the 
Magazine 
section in 
www.onestopenglish.com
Savouring the whale 
By Eric Johnston 
Foreigners who visit Japan can find a 
variety of sandwiches which they cannot 
find in fast food restaurants back home, 
but one group of restaurants called Lucky 
Pierrot in the port of Hakodate is now 
selling whaleburgers, burgers made with 
whale meat. 
The restaurant serves 16 different varieties 
of hamburgers and 10 different kinds of 
curry and 12 different kinds of ice cream. 
It's nearly 3.30pm and almost everyone in 
the shop, near the waterfront in Hakodate, 
is young.
I go to the counter and order a 
whaleburger. After paying for the order 
and receiving a ticket (number 97), I sit 
down and wait for my number to come up. 
When the whaleburger arrives, it is fried 
and on a bun with lettuce and mayonnaise. 
It is black and tough. The cost is 380 yen 
($3.35). I look around to see if I am the 
only one eating a whale. Yes, I am the 
only one. Later I tried whale sushi. It was 
red, tender, juicy and tasty. 
Earlier this year Lucky Pierrot sent out a 
letter to ask customers what new foods 
they wanted to see on the menu. Most 
people replied that they wanted "Ghengis 
Khan" burgers. In Japanese-English, this 
means barbecued lamb, which is very 
popular in Japan. The second choice was 
whale. 
Whaling has a long history in Japan, and it 
is easy to find whale meat in any port, 
such as Hakodate. Now the city is very 
popular with Japanese tourists, who want 
to escape the very hot summers in other