Japan loses beloved bowl of beef

TOKYO - A top politician mourned its passing and a truck driver started a brawl when his order was refused. All week, office workers and laborers have mobbed restaurants at lunchtime for a final mouthful.

The cause of the fuss? The Japanese beef bowl.

Tokyo's 2-month-old ban on American beef imports - because of fears over mad cow disease - hit the Japanese lunchtime crowd this week as restaurants serving the cheap and filling gyu-don - beef and onions on rice - were running out of meat.

The most popular of the restaurants, Yoshinoya, dealt the biggest shock, announcing it would serve its final beef bowl this past Wednesday, prompting a mad "beef rush" of 2-million customers - double the usual - at its 900-plus outlets.

This country is the most lucrative overseas market for American beef - it bought about $1-billion worth in 2002 - and much ends up in gyu-don bowls.

Japan and 30 other nations halted imports of American beef in December after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington state. It is calling for stricter U.S. measures to stop the disease's spread.

In the meantime, a staple of the middle-class lunch crowd is fading away.

Low-cost restaurants like Yoshinoya, which relies on U.S. suppliers for 99 percent of the beef used in its trademark dish, have been unable to find a satisfactory alternative to American meat. Gyu-don lovers say Australian beef has a different taste.

The beef bowl is a natural favorite for those in search of a quick, cheap lunch, particularly after a decadelong economic slowdown has eaten away at Japanese wallets.

Servings of gyu-don - often ordered by buying a ticket from a vending machine and handing it to the waitress - start at about $2.50.

"I used to eat frequently here because it's cheap and good," said Hirokazu Takemoto, an office worker, who had just tried Yoshinoya's new curry rice bowl - one of the items introduced to replace gyu-don. His assessment? "It was okay."

Some of the uproar turned violent. A drunk truck driver started banging on the counter of a Yoshinoya in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday when he was told all the gyu-don was gone, then assaulted two customers who tried to calm him down.

Even U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who was in town this week, noted the fuss.

"When I next return, I would like to be able to come to the beef bowl and try what sounds like a very tasty product," he said Wednesday after talks with Japanese officials. "But that depends on Japan reopening its market."

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