A reminder of what I am missing on lamb day

I have mentioned a few times in the past, on City-cost, that lamb and mutton are not common in Japan. I do occasionally miss eating lamb, particularly roast lamb which is a common Sunday dinner in my home country. Unfortunately, supply, history and taste preferences in Japan all worked against lamb becoming a mainstream meat in Japan.

Despite that, today, and April 29th annually, is Lamb Day 羊肉の日 (Yōniku no hi) in Japan. The fact that my Japanese husband didn't even know that lamb is called "Yoniku" in Japanese indicates just how uncommon a meat it is in Japan! Unlike cattle, pigs, or chickens, sheep were not a major part of Japan's agricultural landscape. Even in Hokkaido, Japan's main sheep-raising regions, numbers were modest and most sheep were kept for wool, not meat. Lamb only became more available after World War II when food shortages pushed people to try new protein sources.

The reason why April 29th is Lamb Day is because 4/29 can be read as "yo (4) ni (2) ku (9)" the Japanese for lamb. The anniversary was established by the Jingisukan (Genghis Khan) Food Promotion Council in Sapporo, to try and promote lamb and subsequently a lamb dish of Hokkaido called "Jingisukan," the Japanese transliteration for Genghis Khan.