On July 15 and 16, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo’s Agricultural Attaché Evan Mangino and Agricultural Specialist Kakuyu Obara traveled to Iwate prefecture in the far northeast of Japan’s main island to learn more about Japan’s fifth ranked producer of wagyu (Japanese beef cattle) and the home of “tankaku wagyu” (Japanese shorthorn) cattle. The Attaché and the analyst visited the Iwachiku slaughter facility, which is approved for export to the United States, to learn more about the Japanese meat grading system and the Iwate prefecture meat packers’ view of the domestic and international market environment. Unique to Iwate, tankaku wagyu cattle producers raise their animals on communally managed pastures during the summer months, unlike black wagyu which are almost exclusively confined to indoor housing/feeding. While pasture grazing lowers the production costs of tankaku wagyu considerably, Iwate ranchers continue to abandon the breed in favor of black wagyu, which offers considerably higher profit margins.