Strong demand for U.S. beef, pork in yakiniku restaurantsStrong demand for U.S. beef, pork in yakiniku restaurants
Japanese industry big user of variety meat, such as tongue and intestines.
February 4, 2025

With support from USDA, the Beef Checkoff Program and the United Soybean Board. U.S. beef and pork had a strong presence at the Yakiniku Business Fair, one of the most important annual trade shows for Japan's restaurant sector. Tom Kasatani, U.S. Meat Export Federation marketing director in Japan, explains that yakiniku restaurants utilize a wide range of U.S. beef and pork cuts and variety meat – including tongue and intestines – which customers help prepare using the restaurants’ signature tabletop grills.
"Yakiniku Business Fair, actually, it started about 10 years ago. It was a trade show mainly related to the Yakiniku restaurant, the Korean style barbecue served and cut and sliced raw meat and the customer grills at the table," says Kasatani. "The yakiniku industry is a big user of variety meat, beef tongue, sometimes pork tongue and also intestine, large and small. And for the muscle cuts, we prefer short ribs, short plates, loins. So that's making wide usage of the carcass."
Also exhibiting at the show are equipment manufacturers, culinary organizations and sauce and spice companies, some of which partner with USMEF when promoting U.S. red meat in Japan.
"We do work with some of the exhibitors, like a seasoning company," Kasatani says. "For example, today we had some Japan barbecue association nearby. We work together with them, for example, like supporting the beef grilling cook off contest. We collaborate with those companies to introduce the beef and pork usage, and do promotion together to increase the demand of the American products."
The show is also a preferred venue for many competitors, both foreign and domestic, in the Japanese market.
"Meat and Livestock Australia was representing their Australian beef products and also lamb products, both grass fed and grain fed. A company called SuKarne in Mexico, they're representing those some of their yakiniku cuts. And also, there's lots of Japanese farming organizations introducing the domestic products, mainly the wagyu cuts," Kasatani says.
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