Exactly one year ago, Yoshinoya had to stop selling their primary dish (gyodon beef bowls) as a result of the import ban on US beef. Unlike some of their competitors, who switched to Australian or Chinese beef, Yoshinoya maintained that only US beef is suitable to make gyudon and had to come up with a completely changed (and not really convincing) menu. To commemorate that day, Yoshinoya today used up the remaining stock of frozen American beef from last year in a one-day special campaign. People (and TV crews) were lining up in front of their restaurants, and they even imposed a four-bowls-per-person limit. While being able to get a gyudon lunch, it was already sold out when I came back for dinner.

In between visits to Yoshinoya, we attended another quasi-culinary highlight, the Sunny Health Microdiet Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Forum (which with its impressive architecture warrants a visit in itself), which was kind of a beauty pageant for people who turned their lives around by losing pounds (and there was also a chance to win a trip to Hawaii, which is why we went).