Japan, which says whaling is part of its culture, is carrying out the hunt in the Antarctic Ocean using a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research" on the giant mammals.

"Japan's research whaling is done in accordance with the rules set by the International Whaling Commission," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesman.

"We will continue to explain to Australia through diplomatic channels the necessity of research whaling," said Machimura, a former foreign minister.

"We must approach this issue calmly with the spirit of maintaining friendly ties between Japan and Australia," he said.

Japan's ships set sail last month on the country's largest hunt yet, which for the first time since the 1960s will kill humpbacks, one of the most popular animals for Australian whale watchers.

The mission defied warnings from Japan's usual Western allies including Australia.

Australia's new left-leaning government said Wednesday it would deploy an unarmed customs ship and a surveillance aircraft to monitor the Japanese hunt as well as appoint an envoy in Tokyo to press its case.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith also urged whalers and environmental activists to show restraint, warning deaths could occur if anything went wrong.

Greenpeace and the militant environmental group Sea Shepherd have each sent a ship to Antarctic waters to try to disrupt Japan's whaling.

During the last Antarctic hunt, Sea Shepherd activists threw acid onto the Japanese mother ship in a bid to disrupt the hunt, leading Tokyo to brand the environmentalists as "terrorists."

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