Offal is big business in Aisa and one example of this is beef tongue. It’s fast, cheap, easy to prepare and tastes good when prepared and cooked correctly.

It’s an especially big hit for city working people who pop out for lunch.

Gyutan Negishi is a chain of 39 restaurants in Tokyo that specialise in tongue dishes. They serve Irish tongue and specifically promote it on menus as being from Ireland.

Tongue is seen as a high-protein, low-carbohydrate meal for the health concious Japanese consumer.

Japan imported 22,330t of beef tongue in 2018 and Ireland made up 238t of this, which was worth €1.36m. In terms of value, the Japanese market is able to return almost twice the price of traditional destinations like Belgium and France.

Table 1 outlines the prices paid by different markets at the moment.

The average weight of a beef animal's tongue is around the 1.5kg mark, with older animals having heavier tongues up to a maximum of 2kg. This would mean the value of the tongue is retailing at €86.62.

Ninety-nine tonnes of beef tongue has been exported from Ireland to Japan from January to March 2019.

The first leg of the trade mission to Japan draws to a close on Wednesday with the travelling parties moving to the South Korean city of Seoul for the second leg of the trade mission.