It is my understanding that the reason for this conference is to determine the constraints to expanded consumption of US beef in Japan. There are, of course, many variables to consider. You can image that I, as an animal nutritionist, and specializing in ruminants, would like to concentrate on -- and please, no pun or double meaning intended -- the production side. But, rather than surcumb to a natural desire, I will address most of my talk to the consumption side as that is where I feel the major constraints lie. This approach is intended to complement Dr. Mari's paper, not supplement it even though there will undoubtedly be some overlap since we did not visit about our topics previous to this conference. Hopefully, there will be questions about production and how it relates to US beef exports to Japan.