Why did Japanese start eating "whale meat"?

Do you know why Japanese people started eating "whale meat"?

Japanese people have been eating whale meat since around 14000 B.C.(Jomon period).
At the Nara period(710-794), Buddhism flourished in Japan, and the eating of four-legged animals became toboo. That's why the people started eating seafood including whale meat.
After World War Ⅱ, there was no enough food in Japan. Therefore the American government encouraged Japanese people to eat whale meat, and eating whale meat beacme popular.

I don't think that Japanese people need to eat whale meat.
Do you think there are any good solutions which Japanese stop eating whale meat?