Yonago - The Wagyu Show & Bull Fight

We arrived in Yonago and checked into our modest hotel in Yonago, across the street from the Yonago Train Station (a good place to get a hot cappucino in the morning). The hotel was more modest than the modest hotel we stayed at in Tokyo. My bags fit in the room, but barely.

In the morning we went off to the Show and the Prince of Japan and his wife, the Princess welcomed the guests. I felt like I had found a gold mine - I happened upon a book booth that had not only the first edition of "100 Most Influential Wagyu Sires of Japan" (first published in 1995), but also the 2nd edition, published in 2003 - as well as the Third edition, which had been published only days ago. It is all in Japanese, but I have been able to decipher a few of the better sires, as well as note the breeding patterns. Quite fascinating.

There were mobs of Japanese there, probably around 50,000 and on the second day twice that number. There was an exhibition hall noting the history of the breed and several more tents that featured various products　(genetics, farm tools, etc)...

Then there were the pens of Wagyu (with pedigrees in Japanese hanging over the animals) - the workers were more than happy to go over the pedigrees as best they could and talk about their ages and condition and so on. Often, the younger helpers were anxious to practice their English skils.

Before the first judging show - we hopped on a bus that took us 30 minutes away to a traditional Japanese bull fight. In JAPAN (SORRY THE CAPS LOCK GOT STUCK ON AND I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO TURN IT OFF) THE BULL FIGHTS ARE AMONG BULLS - THERE IS NO MATADOR AND THE BULLS ARE NOT HURT OR KILLED. IT WAS FUN FOR THE FIRST FEW FIGHTS, BUT THEN IT SEEMED TO US FOREIGNERS THAT WE WATCH THE BULLS IN OUR OWN PENS DO THE SAME THING DAY AFTER DAY - BULLS JUST LIKE TO FIGHT AND BUTT HEADS ALL DAY.