Good Meat Day (Ii Niku no Hi)

What Is Good Meat Day?

November 29 is "Good Meat Day" (Ii Niku no Hi) in Japan, from the wordplay "ii" (good, 11) and "niku" (meat, 29). It was established by the "Council for Better Miyazaki Beef Production" in Miyazaki Prefecture and is registered with the Japan Anniversary Association. The council was launched in 1986 (Showa 61) by organizations in Miyazaki involved in beef production, distribution, and consumption, to let more people know how good Miyazaki beef is.

What Is Miyazaki Beef?

Miyazaki beef is Japanese Black cattle raised in Miyazaki Prefecture and graded meat-quality 4 or higher by the Japan Meat Grading Association. At the National Wagyu Cattle Competition, it won the Prime Minister's Award at four events in a row (in different divisions), a first: Tottori in 2007, Nagasaki in 2012, Miyagi in 2017, and Kagoshima in 2022. After suffering heavy damage from foot-and-mouth disease in 2010, it won again in 2012, showing its recovery. Since the 1986 Kyushu tournament, the winner of each grand sumo tournament has received Miyazaki beef as the Miyazaki Governor's Prize. In 2013 it was served in first class on JAL's flights to Europe and North America, and in 2018 it became the first individual beef brand on the menu at the Academy Awards party in the United States.

• Breed: Japanese Black cattle (kuroge washu)
• Origin: produced and raised in Miyazaki Prefecture
• Grade: meat-quality grade 4 or higher
• Branding: from 1986, beef meeting set standards has been sold as "Miyazaki beef"

A History of Meat-Eating in Japan

The Nihon Shoki records that in the reign of Emperor Tenmu, an order was issued banning the eating of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys, and chickens. Even afterward, Shinto taboos and Buddhist influence kept people away from meat. After Japan's ports opened at the end of the shogunate, a beef hot-pot restaurant is said to have opened in Yokohama in 1862, and Yukichi Fukuzawa wrote "Nikushoku no Setsu" in 1870 urging people to eat meat. Beef hot pot became a symbol of "civilization and enlightenment" and later developed into sukiyaki. From the Hikone domain near Lake Biwa, dried beef was presented to the shogun's family in the late Edo period in the name of "health medicine." The Hikone domain was allowed to keep cattle to obtain ox hide for drums it offered to the shogunate, and this is said to have nurtured a beef-eating culture. Omi beef, which follows this line, has some 400 years of recorded history and is counted among the "three great wagyu," a label given to three of Kobe beef, Matsusaka beef, Omi beef, and Yonezawa beef. Since the 1980s, wagyu branding has advanced across Japan; regional collective trademarks were allowed under the 2006 trademark-law revision, and geographical indication (GI) protection began in 2015.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Enjoy dinner with a slightly better cut for yakiniku or sukiyaki than usual
• When buying beef, look at the origin and grade labels
• Look up the differences among Kobe, Matsusaka, and Omi (Yonezawa in some lists), the "three great wagyu"
• Order a branded beef direct from its region and compare flavors with coworkers or family

Tracing Japan's Distance From Meat

Japan's meat-eating culture, which took off with Meiji-era beef hot pots, spread widely with postwar changes in diet, and meat is now an everyday staple. November 29 is a day to think back on the history of the meat dishes we know today.