Beef consumption in Japan: What can be learnt from sub-national data

Japan consists of four large islands - Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu - and roughly 7 000 smaller islands and islets. In terms of natural terrain and climatic conditions Japan is a diverse country. There are also differences in the history, life styles and dietary habits of people living in different parts of Japan. This paper investigates the relationship between the consumption of beef and income, prices, and selected socio-economic factors in nine Japanese regions. The analysis found that consumption of beef at the regional level is influenced to differing degrees by income and by the prices of substitutes. In the heavily populated Kanto region, for example, containing the metropolises of Tokyo and Yokohama, the demand for beef was found to be not very responsive to changes in income, compared to the predominantly rural region of Hokkaido. This suggests that changes in income will have a relatively small impact on beef consumption in the Kanto region, compared to its effect on beef consumption in Hokkaido. A more general conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that programs designed to increase beef consumption in one part of Japan may need to be modified for other parts of the country if this same objective is to be achieved.