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Change in Japanese Diet Has Enhanced U.S. Trade Development

In the last 65 years, Japan has undergone the biggest change in terms of trade development with the United States.

"It started after World War II in the 1950s with PL-480," says Mike Conlon, USDA agricultural attaché to Japan. "Before World War II they didn't eat bread or milk products or meat products, and their diet changed dramatically after World War II."

Conlon says that much of the credit for those changes goes to the marketing efforts of USDA and other partners since the mid-1940s.

"For instance, today they are a huge importer of wheat and they eat quite a bit of bread for breakfast; up until the 1950s they didn't do that. Likewise dairy products; that's a relatively recent phenomenon and up until World War II they didn't eat a lot of meat. But thanks to some of the promotional efforts of USMEF they are now a huge market for meat imports."

Conlon says marketing efforts will continue to build on past success. Japan is currently the U.S.'s third largest market globally.