Japanese Food Tips

Kobe beef is the most famous Japanese beef in the world, sweet and tender, very tasty and quite expensive! It is mainly eaten as steak, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, and yakiniku (Japanese-style Korean barbeque). The history of Kobe beef began about 150 years ago. The opening of the port of Kobe brought many foreign visitors to the city, and when they tried beef in the city, they were so impressed by its taste that the beef spread to people abroad. However, Kobe beef is not raised in Kobe City. It's actually raised in the Tajima region, the northern part of Hyogo Prefecture. (Kobe is located in the southern part.) Tajima beef must meet certain standards, and furthermore, only the beef that meets the world's strictest standards among Tajima beef is certified as Kobe beef. Roughly speaking, the Kobe beef standards are based on recorded distribution routes, and are evaluated on the overall quality of the meat, such as the amount of edible parts from each cow, marbling and color. That's why the meat of Kobe beef is all good and is so expensive. When cows are raised large, the quality of the meat becomes tougher, and since Kobe beef can't be raised large, the volume of distribution of the beef becomes smaller and more expensive. By the way, Kobe Bean Bryant is famous for basketball, and his name comes from his father's love of Kobe beef.