Optimistic

When a Japanese official <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/02/17/build/wyoming/75-beef-imports.inc" target="_new">states</a> that he expects Japan will end it's ban on US beef and that, more importantly, Japanese consumers are looking forward to it I have to be optimistic. I don't particularly believe him but I have to be optimistic.<br />n<br />nI have read quite a few stories in the past that state Japanese consumers are afraid of US beef since the <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> outbreak in Canada but now that this story has come up I can't track any of them down. Karma or more reason for optimism? I did find <a href="http://www.asahi.com/english/opinion/TKY200502150118.html" target="_new">this</a> opinion piece from a Japanese paper that states;<br />n<br />n<blockquote>That U.S. beef is popular was evident by the way bowls of gyudon, rice topped with beef, sold like hot cakes when the dish was featured on the menu of Yoshinoya D&C Co. outlets for a single day last Friday. Even outgoing U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker remarked that “the Japanese consumer enjoys and still wants to eat U.S. beef.'' Clearly, the U.S. government is eager to resume beef exports to Japan.</blockquote><br />n<br />nSo optimism is the word of the day in the beef industry, at least my little corner of it, and the sky is blue and the sun is shining. Happy Optimistic Day.<br />n<br />n<b>Perhaps I am still very much of an American. That is to say, na