The recent outbreak of avian flu in Yamaguchi Prefecture has not only shocked restaurants and the fast-food industry, but has highlighted the government's inability to prevent such deadly diseases from emerging in Japan.
Many were shocked by the outbreak of avian influenza -- the first in Japan since 1925 -- that occurred at the Win Win chicken farm in the town of Ato, especially as it came after the government banned the import of U.S. beef in December following the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease there.
At an emergency meeting late last year over the mad cow case, Kiwamu Yokokawa, president of the Japan Foodservice Association and chairman of the Jonathan's Co. restaurant chain, asked, "What is going to happen to the procurement of cooking materials if, besides mad cow disease, the bird flu now prevalent in South Korea breaks out in Japan?"