Tokyo, the largest metropolitan area on the globe with a population of about 36 million, isn’t the place where you would expect to find six hectares in the centre of the city dedicated to the Metropolitan Meat Market.

It isn’t just a market – it slaughters in the region 450 cattle per day and trades over 600 carcases per day, including the carcases that are brought to the auction to be sold.

We visited the facility on day one of the Irish Trade delegation that travelled to Japan in early December. We were given a good overview of facts and figures on the factory and the Japanese beef production system.

Carcase grading

The complex carcase grading system was also explained to us, where meat quality, beef marbling, colour and brightness is all taken into consideration.

In simple terms, the stamps that we were advised to observe on the auction line were A5 (top class) and C1 (ranked bottom class).

When I think of Japanese plants and factories, efficiency and lean manufacturing are the buzz words that come to mind. It was clear early on during our visit that tradition carries a lot of weight in this Tokyo meat market where carcases are sold one at a time.

We spent some time on the auction floor where only registered buyers are allowed to bid on the individual carcases.

Hopeful bidders swarm around in large numbers to examine the carcases as they come down the line, ready to be auctioned.

Each person wore a hard hat, a white coat and waved a flash light about the carcase as they checked carefully the marbling of the flesh.

Electronic bidding

Each bidder was equipped with a wireless handheld transmitter used to submit their bids. We never got to see anyone with one of the devices as they were concealed in their pockets, so the competition didn’t know you were bidding.

There were a number of screens placed around the walls and hanging from the ceiling, all displaying the same details for the carcase being auctioned at any one time. Weight, grade and of course the auction price. The price falls until someone bids using their transmitter.

If the number of bidders fell to two, the indicator light became green.

If only one person was bidding at a particular price, the indicator light became red.

If it remained red for 5 seconds, that bidder had secured a purchase. But if one or more bidders rejoined the fray, the price rose again and the light went back to green.

Despite the complex grading system, buyers appeared to place a lot of importance on just using the naked eye as they rushed to examine the carcase ahead of each sale.

Wagyu carcase

Tradition is something that may have a strong role to play in the demand and value of Wagyu beef.

The carcases would result in heavy penalties in any Irish processing plant, with the fat cover making the carcase look white in colour and the marbling so heavy that it dilutes the red meat almost 50:50.

The fat cover and marbling can only be described by suggesting that you picture the heaviest covered carcase that you have ever seen and multiply it by 10.

Then you are close to what a Wagyu carcase looks like. But nowhere near the price, which we were told would average €10/kg, with highs of €25/kg.

Given the crowds that are around the meat market and the numbers involved in the processing plants, Wagyu beef price has to feed a lot more mouths than a kilo of beef can physically feed.

The average bargain sale price for Wagyu sirloin was over €82 per kg in 2011; the price for Wagyu chuck was over €44 per kg.