The price of Japanese calves is rising, with demand soaring on the back of the shrinking ranks of domestic cattle breeders.
This could have a huge affect on the nation's dinner tables, along with the impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which would allow an influx of large quantities of cheaper foreign beef.
At a recent auction of Japanese calves at a cattle market in Kobayashi, Miyazaki Prefecture, crowded both with buyers and sellers, cattle farmer Tsubasa Miyazono, 27, griped about the rising price of calves.