Story and Photography by Oklahoma Pork's Business Coordinator Matti Carlile
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to travel on a United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) trade mission to Tokyo, Japan. The “Heartland Team” as our group was known included 21 individuals representing pork, beef, corn and soybeans from all over the United States. This trip confirmed the relationship between Japan and the United States is incredibly strong, and the impressive Japanese professionals we met throughout the week feel confident our partnership will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Staff from the USMEF Tokyo office served as fantastic hosts throughout the experience.
We had a packed week, but a few highlights included visiting a culinary school, touring the Tokyo Meat Market, and venturing out to the countryside to see a Wagyu farm. We were able to observe a demonstration from an influencer teaching students at the culinary school how to properly cook pork and beef. After the demonstration, we were able to eat what he had prepared and chat with the students. With English being their second language, we communicated mostly through photos. They loved seeing photos of Oklahoma pigs and pig farms. Then, the Wagyu farm was also neat to see! We traveled to the city of Sendai by bullet train. Once we got to Sendai, a bus took us to the farm. On the way there, we passed a hog farm. I was hesitant that is what it was, but then a pig’s head popped over the side door. Confirmed... it was a pig farm!
Other highlights I really enjoyed were the retail visits. Wow – the pork is Japan sure is red! Our hosts related the redness to the freshness of the meat, which is really important to Japanese consumers. Pork is the most consumed red meat in Japan. Go, team pork! My favorite activity from this meaningful week in Tokyo was eating at a restaurant called Katsuya. They opened up early and served us tonkatsu (pork loin fried in breadcrumbs). It was SO good! The neatest thing was that they use all U.S. pork – the chef even mentioned getting a lot of their pork from Seaboard Foods!
I am proud to have represented Oklahoma pork producers on this incredible opportunity. I made memories with people from the United States and Japan that will last a lifetime. For a fun recap of the trip, check out this short highlight video from USMEF.