Yoshinoya D&C Co., Japan's largest chain serving sliced beef over a bowl of rice, is one of U.S. beef's most outspoken supporters. Days after last month's discovery of the sick cow in Washington state, the 1,200-outlet chain held a news conference declaring that almost all of its beef is American, and that it will continue serving U.S. beef in Japan. Beef from Australia or Japan just doesn't taste as good in its "beef bowls," which cost a modest $2.60 per helping, the company says. So if the import ban continues and its beef supply runs out -- probably in the next few weeks -- it says it will have no choice but to stop selling its flagship beef bowls altogether.

Switching to non-American beef "would just end up damaging our brand," declares Hisashi Ikegami, managing director at Yoshinoya. Grain-fed cows from the U.S. create just the right marbling in beef that is suitable for the restaurant's special soy and ginger sauce, the company says. While Australia has reported no cases of mad-cow disease, the company claims that grass-fed Australian cows have tougher meat that turns an unappetizing yellowish color when marinated in its sauce. The company serves U.S. beef in its 82 outlets in the U.S.

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TOKYO -- When U.S. health and agricultural officials try to push Tokyo this week to resume buying American beef, they are likely to face tough resistance from the Japanese government. But they will also find vocal support from Japan's $117 billion restaurant industry.

Japan banned imports of U.S. beef last month after the discovery of a case of mad-cow disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, in a cow in Washington state. Japan, which is the U.S.'s top beef importer by value and which bought $900 million of American beef in 2002, says it wants the U.S. to implement stricter testing measures to ensure its beef is safe. A meeting is expected tomorrow.

The import freeze is hurting Japanese restaurants, many of which rely on U.S. beef because it can cost about half the price of Japanese beef. Now supplies in the restaurants' freezers are dwindling. The shortage was exacerbated this week, when the Japanese government ordered wholesalers to refrain from selling certain types of U.S. beef imported before the import ban. The order includes T-bone steaks, which are cut from near the vertebrae, as well as other beef cuts using the bones or brains of the animal. Brain and spinal tissue from an infected cow is thought to contain the highest risk of passing on the disease.

In an unusual move for Japan -- where public support is traditionally scant for U.S. demands to open its markets -- Japanese restaurant chains are now proclaiming that U.S. beef is safe, and are demanding that the Japanese government allow imports. Last week, the Japan Food Service Association, a trade group, sent a letter via the U.S. embassy to President Bush, asking him to quickly propose new measures that are persuasive enough to sway the Japanese government.

Mad-cow disease is believed to spread to humans who eat infected beef, though there aren't any known cases of people catching the human version, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, from eating U.S. or Japanese beef.

Yoshinoya D&C Co., Japan's largest chain serving sliced beef over a bowl of rice, is one of U.S. beef's most outspoken supporters. Days after last month's discovery of the sick cow in Washington state, the 1,200-outlet chain held a news conference declaring that almost all of its beef is American, and that it will continue serving U.S. beef in Japan. Beef from Australia or Japan just doesn't taste as good in its "beef bowls," which cost a modest $2.60 per helping, the company says. So if the import ban continues and its beef supply runs out -- probably in the next few weeks -- it says it will have no choice but to stop selling its flagship beef bowls altogether.

Switching to non-American beef "would just end up damaging our brand," declares Hisashi Ikegami, managing director at Yoshinoya. Grain-fed cows from the U.S. create just the right marbling in beef that is suitable for the restaurant's special soy and ginger sauce, the company says. While Australia has reported no cases of mad-cow disease, the company claims that grass-fed Australian cows have tougher meat that turns an unappetizing yellowish color when marinated in its sauce. The company serves U.S. beef in its 82 outlets in the U.S.

Jonathan's Co., a family restaurant-chain operator that buys 40% of its beef from the U.S., also says it wants to continue to use American beef because prices are cheaper than Japanese beef. The import ban has caused already-high Japanese beef prices to soar. Wholesale prices of Japanese beef of comparable quality to imported U.S. beef have risen 34% since the ban.

For now, Yoshinoya is trying to stretch out its beef supply by offering a sprinkling of alternatives on its menu, including curry, fish and chicken bowls. But that may be insufficient to lure longtime fans such as Kenichi Nezu. The 32-year-old Internet-company employee recently headed to Yoshinoya for one last beef bowl.

"Yoshinoya without beef bowls is not my image of the restaurant," he says.