Amid the increasing interest in Japanese cuisine worldwide, if you ask foreigners visiting Japan what they would definitely like to eat, one of the first dishes they cite is wagyu (Japanese beef).
     Among the various types of wagyu, Kobe beef has been widely known overseas for a long time, and indeed many foreigners think that wagyu means Kobe beef. Japanese are aware that there are various kinds of wagyu, but even so their image of Kobe beef tends to be one of a rare, out-of-reach delicacy that one almost never sees in daily life. Really, what is this Kobe beef? Why is it so special?
     Bifuteck Kawamura (Beefsteak Kawamura), whose main restaurant is in Kobe, has been serving Kobe beef as a specialty restaurant for more than half a century. Recently I had the good fortune to savor prime Kobe beef for the first time in my life at its Ginza branch restaurant in Tokyo. The special taste moved me so much that I just had to go to the restaurant again and ask them to tell me more about Kobe beef.