[Special Feature: The Future of Japanese "Food"] Tatsuya Mitsuda: The 21st Century of Meat-Eating from the History of Meat Consumption

2022/02/04

Data regarding children's eating habits is contained within the "White Paper on Elementary School Students," which has been published periodically since 1989 by the Gakken Education Research Centers and Institutes. Looking at the 2019 survey results for the favorite foods of children born in the Heisei era, it is clear that "meat dishes" appear in many of the popular choices (Figure 1). Excluding the top-ranked "sushi" (40.8%), the 2nd place "fried chicken/karaage" (25.2%), 5th place "curry rice" (21.9%), 6th place "yakiniku" (21.8%), 7th place "hamburger steak" (17.8%), and 10th place "steak" (11.1%) are all Western-style dishes that use beef, pork, or chicken as ingredients. Furthermore, while sales in the food service industry have dropped significantly due to repeated states of emergency declared during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many restaurants—led by izakayas—have been forced out of business, yakiniku restaurants are putting up a good fight. It is said that the ventilation provided by smokeless roasters creates a sense of security, so customer traffic has not decreased as much as expected. As a result, many national chains are showing an aggressive stance by increasing their number of stores. Because of these factors, it is easy to fall into the impression that the popularity of meat-eating in Japan is high.

However, when compared globally, Japan's "meat-eating level" cannot be called high. Let's look specifically at the consumption of beef, which is often targeted for its significant negative impact on the environment. According to the "OECD/FAO Meat Consumption Statistics" (Figure 2), Argentina, the world leader, consumes 36kg of beef per person annually. This is followed by the United States at 26kg, Brazil and Israel at 24kg, Chile and Kazakhstan at 21kg, and Australia at 18kg, suggesting a robust demand for beef across various regions.

On the other hand, it is difficult to find Japan's rank in the standings. Approximately 8kg—about half of the OECD average of 14kg—enters the stomachs of Japanese people every year. This figure is lower than South Korea's 12kg and Russia and Vietnam's 10kg, putting Japan on par with Egypt. While the elementary school survey showed that the popularity of Western-style food is steady, beef consumption is only close to the global average of 6kg.

The reason for this low consumption is that beef prices in Japan are high compared to other countries. Consumers must pay several times more than those in the US, UK, or Italy, making it difficult to purchase. When making curry, many households likely avoid expensive beef and choose more affordable pork or chicken. Even if "de-meatification" progresses globally in the future, Japan will not be starting from a high consumption base, at least regarding beef.

Japan began its path toward meat-eating during the late Edo period. Until then, beef and other animal meats tended to be avoided. While meat-eating bans based on Buddhist thought contributed to the formation of taboos, it was also related to the need to protect cattle as essential labor for agriculture and avoid the collapse of the agricultural economy. However, this does not mean that meat did not circulate at all. The habit of secretly eating meat from wild animals such as horses, deer, boars, and birds through hunting had existed since the early modern period. Due to the guilt of eating it, meat was sold using slang terms like "sakura" (cherry blossom) for horse, "momiji" (maple) for deer, "yamakujira" (mountain whale) for boar, and "kashiwa" (oak) for chicken. As seen in the ukiyo-e print "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Bikunihashi in Snow" (1858) (Figure 3), which shows a sign for "Yamakujira," it is known that there was a certain level of demand, particularly in urban areas.

However, after the Meiji Restoration, the aversion to meat-eating gradually faded. Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835–1901), who visited the West in the 1860s as a member of the Edo Shogunate's mission, wrote "Western Clothing, Food, and Housing" in 1867 under the name Junnosuke Katayama to spread information about life in civilized nations. Later, at the request of a beef sales company established in Tsukiji, Tokyo, he published "The Theory of Meat-Eating" (Nikushoku no Setsu) in 1870. He sounded an alarm, stating, "Currently, many of our citizens lack meat in their diet, leading to poor health and a decline in vitality. This is a loss for the nation," and strongly encouraged eating meat as a means to reform the Japanese diet. Specifically, since Japanese cuisine based on plant-derived ingredients lacked nutrition, he attempted to persuade a society skeptical of meat-eating to adopt Western-style food based on animal-derived ingredients. For example, he pointed out the contradiction of meat-eating conservatives who ate whale meat, arguing that unlike whales, which swallow unknown things in polluted oceans, livestock raised under complete human management provide meat that is an extremely hygienic food with minimal health risks. Intellectuals like Fukuzawa contributed significantly to the meat-eating trend in Japan.

The state also tried to promote meat-eating. The Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Toshimichi Okubo (1830–1878), set out to improve the poor quality of native cattle by purchasing breeding bulls from advanced agricultural countries in the West. By repeatedly crossbreeding them with Japanese breeds, they aimed to increase the number and size of domestic cattle. Starting in the 1860s, Shorthorn and Devon breeds were brought from Britain to be leased to farmers nationwide. As soon as it was discovered that these British breeds did not suit Japan's geographical conditions, they switched to importing Ayrshire, Simmental, and Brown Swiss breeds from mountainous regions like Scotland and Switzerland to develop the domestic environment for meat production.

Furthermore, the Meiji government, which advocated for "Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed Forces," moved to adopt beef because meat was essential for the rations of advanced Western armies. The Navy was quick to add beefsteak and roast beef, as well as canned beef as portable rations, to their military diet. The Army, initially skeptical, also began accepting beef as rations in 1877, and from then on, the habit of eating beef became established among soldiers.

Thanks to these efforts, by the 1880s, the aversion to eating beef disappeared, mainly in urban areas, and a "gyunabe" (beef hot pot) boom—the ancestor of modern sukiyaki—erupted. Shohei Kimura (1841–1906) started a gyunabe chain in 1880, opening at least 22 stores in Tokyo starting with Mita Shikokumachi (now Shiba 2-5 chome, Minato-ku). As it gained popularity particularly among the middle class, beef eventually became a food symbolizing the "Civilization and Enlightenment" (Bunmei Kaika). Thus, the fuse for Japan's meat-eating trend was lit.

However, Japan's meat-eating trend stagnated after the 1890s because a production system capable of meeting the expanding demand could not be established.

First, the policy of semi-forced crossbreeding with Western breeds failed due to opposition from producers. Cold eyes were cast upon officials who were repeatedly sent to Europe and America under the guise of research at enormous expense, and the attitude of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, which viewed Wagyu only as a vessel for Western breeds, came under fire. At the root of the problem were the geographical constraints of domestic livestock farming. While cheap beef could be supplied in the US or Australia where cattle could be raised in large numbers on vast land, Japan, with its many mountainous areas, lacked the conditions for large-scale livestock farming. Even if feed were to be cultivated, it would have to compete for farmland with grain production for human consumption. Improvement policies alone were not enough.

Successive wars added to this poor supply system. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), and World War I (1914–18) not only strengthened militarism but also required large amounts of beef as rations, leading to a sharp decline in the number of cattle in Japan and a surge in beef prices. In response to this situation, efforts were focused on the production of pork, which is easy to raise and has high reproductive capacity. Additionally, movements to popularize meats other than beef, such as utilizing old horses as meat, became active. Meanwhile, to meet the pressing demand for beef, the import of foreign beef also began in earnest. In the 20th century, fresh meat and live cattle began to be transported across the sea from Australia, Qingdao in China, and Korea.

It is interesting to note that although this foreign beef was cheaper than domestic beef, profitability and affordability did not directly lead to its popularization. Why? Globally, intercontinental beef trade using freezing and refrigeration technology dates back to the 1860s. Major livestock producers like the US and Australia exported a lot of meat to European countries, which had become large markets. However, in Japan, there was deep-rooted distrust of new technology, and frozen/refrigerated beef did not catch on easily. For example, Qingdao beef was called "ohiya" (cold water), and both dealers and consumers hesitated to eat foreign beef transported from distant locations, fearing it had lost its freshness.

In this regard, the case of Korean beef is suggestive. After 1910, Korean cattle, which had become colonial cattle, were imported in large numbers to the mainland from Busan and Wonsan as live cattle, unlike the beef imported as fresh meat from Australia and China. Korean cattle, which were popular as draft animals, were put to work on domestic farms and then fattened just like domestic cattle. This means they were slaughtered without being recognized as foreign and entered the stomachs of Japanese people. The background to this was related to pre-war business practices. Today, livestock are slaughtered near the production area and transported long distances as frozen/refrigerated meat before being sold in consumption areas. However, at that time, livestock were turned into food only after arriving at slaughterhouses near the consumption area, and it is thought that there was a sense of security in being able to directly confirm the origin and the freshness of the carcass.

It was not until the 1970s that foreign chilled meat began to be bought without any sense of oddity, along with meat vacuum-packed by cut in supermarkets.

As we follow a world that now seems to have turned toward de-meatification, is there anything Japan can learn from the dawn of its meat-eating era?

One thing to mention is the method of recommendation by the state. Just as "Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed Forces" was a national policy for the entire nation, if we truly aim for de-meatification, we need to set a grand ambition. However, what history teaches us is the importance of appropriate engagement with producers and consumers. We must avoid actions like semi-forcing Western breeds on domestic cattle producers, and we must develop a de-meatified economy so as not to enter an emergency (war) before the domestic production system is ready.

However, even if the production system is ready, if social demand is weak, de-meatification will remain halfway. During the Meiji period, as a byproduct of militarism, many citizens became familiar with the taste of beef through military service and learned of its high nutritional value, which caused the aversion to meat-eating to disappear. To dispel resistance to meat alternatives like soy meat, it would be effective, for example, to partially incorporate artificial meat into school lunches as part of food education. At that time, we should also pay attention to naming. History teaches us the importance of words, as seen in how frozen/refrigerated meat was renamed "chilled meat" to remove the "ohiya" label.

Furthermore, the role played by opinion leaders who advocate for de-meatification cannot be overlooked. At the dawn of meat-eating, intellectuals and scientists led by Fukuzawa developed educational activities through print media such as newspapers and magazines. The role of leading the way for de-meatification will likely be taken by influencers who effortlessly use digital media, including SNS. If new eating habits spread easily among the younger generation, YouTube and Instagram could have a significant impact.

Additionally, visualizing the production, distribution, and sales process could be key. Modern consumers do not reflect on the "farm to table" journey of a product, and as long as it does not have a shape that reminds them of an animal, they do not directly link meat to cows, pigs, or chickens. What we see from the acceptance of foreign beef before the war is that the reactions of consumers were completely different: the origins of Australian and Qingdao beef were visualized through their product names, while "Korean beef," which was primarily imported as live cattle, was made invisible. If we intend to achieve de-meatification by giving consumers a perspective on animal welfare, we will need a system where consumers can trace for themselves how meat came to be sold in the supermarket. In fact, technology already exists to scan product barcodes or QR codes with a smartphone to instantly obtain production and distribution information, much like a package tracking service, but we must determine whether such new consumer habits should be rooted in Japan.

Finally, Japanese food is a cuisine that is easy to de-meatify. Soybeans, the raw material for Japanese food, are used in "tofu," "natto," "soy sauce," and "miso," and are rich in plant protein. Japanese food is easily adaptable to vegetarian and vegan diets, and many traditional restaurants provide vegetarian and vegan-friendly dishes for foreign guests, such as changing even the dashi (broth) to plant-based ingredients. As the post-pandemic era begins and foreign tourists return to Japan, the resumption of exchange with other countries could trigger a rapid progression of de-meatification. While soybean production is not necessarily environmentally friendly, it remains an important ingredient for promoting de-meatification.

Japan, which does not have high meat consumption even by global standards, possesses a food culture where de-meatification is relatively easy to achieve. To that end, we may need to slightly modify some of the ingredients in the favorite foods of elementary school students.