But after most countries cleared the ban and accepted US beef, Japan has kept the ban in place. With every year that passes, it becomes clear that the BSE threat is just an excuse, but what's unclear is why. I can't tell if it's a political ploy against the company Yoshinoya (a fast food chain whose #1 main dish was US beef over rice--they still manage to hang on by selling pork over rice now), effective lobbying by Australian beef execs, or if it was a collective Japanese wish to be free of US Beef dominance. (Everyone agreed that US beef had "Clearly The Best! Better Than All The Rest!" kind of taste.)
So, I was amused to see this ad on the train recently:
Japanese baseball kids with HUGE HUGE HUGE steaks
The slogan is "BEEF DE GENKI" which translates between "Beef makes you strong!" and "Beef is Healthy". At first you might think that showing kids playing baseball is an innocent depiction of any active kid, and that serving a kid a steak whose mass is 1/4th the kid's body weight is excessive, but then you wouldn't be Japanese.
Japan's recent performance in baseball is a huge thing here. Baseball is solidifying it's position as the #1 popular Japan sport, having lost ground during the world cup craze a few years ago. Seeing Japanese stars excel in the US Major League makes Japanese people feel less inferior on the worldwide stage. (The normal feeling is "Of course we're inferior! If not we wouldn't have lost the war!")
BUT: most Japanese also see that kids are bigger now because they eat "western style food" more. All the current stars, for example, grew up in a time when suddenly US steaks were for sale. The above ad is supposed to scare Japanese parents into the idea that "If your kids don't eat US steaks, they won't have a chance at international baseball when they get older."
At least, that's my take on it.
MYSTERY!
What's this? (No, it's not beef.)
