Miyazaki Beef

**Miyachiku flagship shop** (opposite Miyazaki Station, open 10am-7pm) sells A5 sirloin at ¥8,800/100g and operates a 2nd-floor yakiniku restaurant where that same sirloin costs ¥13,200. The meat counter clerk will cut steaks to your exact thickness preference—1.5cm for home grilling, 3cm for aged steaks. Ask for "霜降りサーロイン shimofuri sirloin" (literally "falling frost") to get the highest marbling grade. **At yakiniku restaurants, order this sequence:** Start with tongue (tan, ¥1,800) to calibrate your palate—it's lean and lets you taste char flavor from the binchōtan charcoal. Then misuji (top blade, ¥2,400)—when grilled 30 seconds per side, the fat marbling heats just to translucence but the meat stays cool inside, creating a hot-cold contrast. Finish with ichibo (rump cap, ¥3,200)—this cut has the richest beefy flavor beneath the fat. Skip the rosu (ribeye) which every restaurant serves but is too fatty to appreciate the beef itself. **The cattle auction happens every Tuesday at 10am** at Miyazaki Central Wholesale Market (20 min from downtown). Buyers from Tokyo restaurants bid on live cattle by generation, birthweight, and grandmother's milk production. Public can watch from the gallery (free). Cattle that score A5-BMS 11 or 12 (highest possible marbling) sell for ¥3-4 million per head. **Miyazaki Prefecture produces 4,200 head/year** versus Matsusaka's 2,500 or Kobe's 6,000. The limited supply means authentic Miyazaki beef is only reliably found in Miyazaki City itself. Tokyo restaurants claiming "Miyazaki wagyu" often serve A4 grade or blend cattle from other prefectures. The certificate should show birth prefecture (宮崎), slaughter date, and individual cattle ID number (10 digits starting with "45").