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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."