Aki-Essays: Yasufukugo (1-11-09)

“Yasufukugo,” a bull which had lived from 1980 until 1993, had been rated as amongst the most tasty progenitors and has produced lots of offspring. More than two decades after death, “the legend” welcomed its secondary advent, accompanying seemingly conflicting outcomes: prospects in the beef market, and questions about animal rights.

Today around the food industry in Japan, sorts of food advertisements--fliers and TV commercials--appeal forms of beef to consumers and indeed many of them relish such products without consideration of animal rights. Though the ongoing economic conditions are not so good, still these consumers normally can afford to purchase meat products and pay extra for higher qualities. “Hida-gyu” is on the list.

Hida-gyu is a qualified kind of cattle that originated from Yasufukugo; they have black fur and are raised in Gifu prefecture for more than 140 months; they are graded between the 5th and the 3rd classes by the Japan Meat Grading Association. (Otherwise, they are labeled as different “Hida-wagyu.”) [this doesn’t quite make sense; if they are not rated between 5 and 3 they are given some other designation, you mean? If so, some additional explanation may be needed.] In fact, it is said that Yasufukugo has produced some 39,000 offspring, but only 25-30% of them have been qualified as Hida-gyu. The relatively small population made Hida-gyu further expensive.

After his death more than 20 years ago, Yasufukugo was “resurrected” in a manner of speaking. It was reported last week that a Kinki University team used cloning technology and succeeded in giving birth to four cubs which were identical to Yasufukugo. The team took sperm out from the bull’s frozen and preserved testicles--which had lain in storage for 14 years--and selected live sperm cells with no chromosomal damage. The team used a special cultivation medium to culture sperm cells. Then the team removed the nuclei from these sperm cells and put them in place of nuclei whose sperm would be engaged in the uteri of five cows. As a result, these cows became pregnant and gave birth to four clones, two of whom are still alive.

This success alluded to the possibility of the production growth of Hida-gyu and marketing it at more affordable prices, to be good news for some consumers. Indeed, the mass media introduced positive public reactions to the report about the successful cloning while others were skeptical about the safety of the facsimile beef. (To reassure those consumers, it was announced that the Food Safety Commission in the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, would guarantee the safety of the beef.)

Japanese make use of animals: They take in protein from various kinds of animal meat--beef, pork, chicken, deer, boar, horse and others; There are those who own pet animals--a dog, a cat, a bird, a snake, and other varieties--to be pleased or consoled by them; And there are those who go to zoos and circuses.

Japan has a long history of eating animal meat, although the kinds of hunted animals have changed over years, according to a website.

From the primitive period until around the beginning of the sixteenth century, Japanese had hunted animals such as deer and boars, even experiencing a ban on eating the meat of cattle, horses, dogs, chickens, and monkeys by the emperor Tenmu in 676 (although he didn’t put the ban on deer and boar meat, and lifted the ban during the agricultural span between April and September.)

Later on, there was another suspension of eating animal meat, but it was lifted in 1871. Occasions for eating animal meat had not been as often as today. But since Japan began accepting different food cultures from abroad, the disposition of Japanese to eat animal meat such as beef has become significantly higher up to the present. Today, Japanese consume all available kinds and larger amounts of animal meat.

As it is already an established norm to eat meat, regular Japanese may be incapable of attributing any importance to the lives of livestock. What is unfortunate is that the word, “vegetarian,” those front runners many of whom care much about animals with their rights, hasn’t seen the prevalence of itself in this country, and there is usually no one around who objects to eating animal meat and brings the topic in.

This situation, however, may possibly change. [Supported by computerization and mechanization, --makes no sense in this context; how does computerization/mechanization support ability to talk?]

These days growing numbers of people in developed countries like Japan tend to talk about obesity. Some in this kind of discussion groups have successfully been in shape, living on recommendable diets which consist of reduced meat intake and calories. Even though their diets are not as strict as vegetarians’, if the success was combined with ethics and they got the word out, Japanese might begin thinking about animal rights. [how? Unsupported; how are ethics and dietary preferences related?] Otherwise, in the near future tens of thousands of Japanese might be relishing cheaper Hida-gyu without consideration of cloning or animal rights. [again, unsupported; is cloning bad? If so, why? How are animals’ rights being violated? How are the two issues connected?]

While those are animals adored as pets--dogs and cats are perhaps most popular--others are slaughtered to be eaten. Cattle, pigs and chickens are respected as food rather than a refractory pet when they are delicious and loaded with a lot of protein. Breeding these livestock is easier than doing deer and boar. In short, the destinies of animals rely much on how they can be helpful for humans, being involved in their commercial and economic activities. Yasufukugo and his offspring may have been fated to fall victim to bioscientific manipulations.

Meanwhile, the general perception of a kind of animal may fix how its members are dealt, depending on the country.

For instance, average Japanese people wouldn’t mind eating whale meat, regarding it as fish, while those who regard it as mammalian meat don’t. A scene in which a mother whale is nursing her baby helps conjure up the equivalent one of humans and keep people from mistreating the animal.

In a separate case, Australians know how annoying hopping kangaroos are and sometimes eat kangaroo meat. It is reputed as chewy and smelly but more enviro-friendly because those marsupials don’t emit as much methane as cattle and swine do. Some people familiar with livestock even suggest that putting kangaroo meat in place of beef will slow down the pace of global warming. However, most Japanese must perceive kangaroos as the cute symbol of Australia, and it is uncertain whether they can immediately begin consuming kangaroo meat even if packages on shelves show reasonable prices.

After all, not a smallest number of Japanese must have got excited hearing the news about the successful cloning of Yasufukugo and the scientific method’s high potential to churn out Hida-gyu beef, although ethical questions were hidden under the surface, which the public didn’t seem to be concerned about.

During this writing (/typing) a female pet dog of my best friend fell into critical condition due to her congenitally weak heart. “She has gotten hospitalized,” she told me on the phone. I know that the canine has supported her life so much. Yet I can’t say out loud that the pet should welcome its secondary birth even if conditions for cloning are in place.