About the middle of July, Ruth and I and our three children—Reid, Reese and Wendy—some 
of their spouses and one grandchild traveled to Japan to promote U.S. beef for a couple of weeks. It was a great learning experience for our children as well as an opportunity for them to enjoy a different culture. We attended a lot of functions geared around the beef trade in Japan and learned a great deal about the Japanese consumer.
of their spouses and one grandchild traveled to Japan to promote U.S. beef for a couple of weeks. It was a great learning experience for our children as well as an opportunity for them to enjoy a different culture. We attended a lot of functions geared around the beef trade in Japan and learned a great deal about the Japanese consumer.A highlight of the trip was attending a professional baseball game between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Orix Buffaloes. Chiba is coached by Bobby Valentine, who was my teammate on the California Angels and my manager when I played for the Texas Rangers. Before the game, Bobby and I jointly promoted U.S. beef at a special event for the fans. Then I had the pleasure of throwing out the game’s first pitch. To round out our day, my family and I hosted a reception in one of the stadium’s open-air boxes for Japanese beef buyers.
We enjoyed visiting with the Japanese people. We discovered that, like Americans, the Japanese place a premium on tenderness and all-natural qualities in their beef. But there are differences too. Japanese homes don’t have a lot of freezer space, so they don’t shop in volume. Instead, Japanese consumers shop for fresh food every other day to prepare the next couple of meals. They take a lot of time selecting the right beef cut.
The Japanese enjoy a wide selection of beef products ranging from their native Kobe and Holstein beef to imported beef from the U.S. and Australia. Yet what I came away with was the respect that the Japanese have for U.S. beef and their excitement about being able to purchase it.
It was a great trip because it combined all my passions – family, baseball and beef.