Sara Lavingia

Hazzard
IMS 3310. HO1
February 5.2014
Eisenhower #1
Adaptation is a necessity in life, especially when it comes to the global
economy and trying to survive as an economic power. A culinary specialty
delivered to Americans by the Japanese, sushi has become a staple meal.
However, the dwindling amount of fish has caused Japan to be innovative and
start looking for other sources of meat. Japan is the perfect example of adapting
to changes in environment that can not only stabilize a countrys economy, but
also help it surpass others. Japan took fate into its own hands by deciding to start
producing beef as an alternative to to fish. Not many countries would take on the
challenge of going into the new and unknown territory of raising cattle to replace
their main delicacy of fish meat. There was a large push for Japan to selfproduce beef since they halted any American imports on beef in 2003 due to the
mad cow disease scare. Not only did they strive in producing beef, Japan is now
the second largest producer of beef in the world. Japans willingness to go
against its cultural norms that have been in place for decades contributes to why
they are the third largest economic power in the world.
Survival of the fittest: a phrase that has been used for centuries, although
is rarely embraced. Japan is surviving due to clever domestic decisions. Few
people would think of food playing such a large role in an economy, but food is

part of every culture and society. For decades, Americans have fallen in love with
the uniqueness of Japanese culinary arts. Japanese television show called Iron
Chef began airing on The Food Network in the United States and symbolized
the affect Japan has on American cooking (Fujii). Since the sushi market has
made such a large impact, it will be interesting to see how Japan continues to
innovate and adapt, and how those changes effect the rest of the world, and
more importantly the global economy. More modifying may be necessary sooner
than expected, due to the decrease of a current 3,600 head of Braford cattle,
down from 5,000 six years ago. It can be expected that when the time comes,
Japan will move on to the next thing and continue to lead the global cuisine
economy.

Fujii, Akio. "Exporting Japanese Food Culture." The Globalist.

12 Dec. 2013. http://www.theglobalist.com/exporting-japanese-foodculture/
Strom, Stephanie & Tabuchi, Hiroko. A Break for Embattled
Ranchers. The New York Times. 28 Jan. 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/business/global/japan-to-easerestrictions-on-us-beef.html?_r=0