The most brilliant summer homework idea ever: Eat wagyu for Yakiniku Day

Teachers, feel free to assign us this year’s and next year’s homework while you’re at it!

For better or for worse, conducting independent research projects is a staple of summer vacation homework for Japanese schoolchildren across the country. If answering one of these questions about the future on Kit Kat wrappers didn’t quite do it for all of the procrastinators out there, Zen-Noh, a federation of agricultural cooperatives in Japan, would like to offer them an alternate solution: Eat wagyu (Japanese beef).

▼ Japanese children had a month of fun but must now shift their focus back to school–and scramble to finish their summer homework if it’s not already done.

The proposal isn’t quite as random as it seems because the last Sunday in August this year is Yakiniku (grilled meat) Day–a fun linguistic play on August 29 because the syllables “ya-ni-ku” can also be interpreted as “8-2-9” in Japanese.

Zen-Noh is quite dedicated to their summer homework idea, too. They even created a special website for schoolchildren with possible research questions to explore and downloadable worksheets. Perhaps most humorous are their suggestions for convincing mom and dad to buy into this particular brand of homework:

Some of their cunningly crafted suggested approaches include:

“It’s not that I want to eat yakiniku but that I need to do my homework!”
“It’s not for the meal budget–it’s for the school budget!” 
“It’s not that I never did my homework. I was waiting until August 29 from the start!” 
“It’s not that I want to eat yakiniku but that I want to eat with you, Grandma.”
“The most delicious wagyu in the world is the one that you grill, Grandpa.”

In terms of possible research angles, Zen-Noh suggests comparing…

▼ Different cuts of wagyu

▼ Wagyu sourced from different prefectures (bonus points if you convince the ‘rents to get high-end Kobe, Matsuzaka, Omi, or Yonezawa beef…!)

▼ Different ways to eat wagyu to make it as delicious as possible

You can download the above worksheets in a combined PDF file with a fancy cover page by visiting the website and clicking the orange button that reads “ダウンロード.”

While it’s undeniably a savvy business idea on Zen-Noh’s part, in reality many Japanese beef suppliers and restaurants have faced hardships throughout the pandemic. That reason alone is excuse enough for us to gladly do this particular assignment–in fact, we’ll happily do yours, too.

Source: Zen-Noh via ITmedia
Top image: Pakutaso
Images: Zen-Noh
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