August 21, 2002

For months, Japanese consumers have been hearing about American beef directly from some of the women who work in the U.S. industry. But now the U.S. Meat Export Federation "Aisareru beef," or desire beef, message will be carried "woman-to-woman" through the words and recipes of Yu Hayami, a Japanese celebrity wife and mother.

According to Shinobu Shimada, director of consumer affairs in USMEF's Tokyo office, "We choose Yu Hayami as our campaign spokesperson because of her international - especially American - background, her cooking talents and her fame as a TV personality. She is widely known to our target audience and matches with our women's campaign concept as well. She is married, a homemaker with a professional career who has a 14-month old daughter and is expecting her second child in January."

Born in Japan and raised from three to fourteen years of age in the United States, Yu returned to Japan to pursue a career in entertainment. She has evolved into a versatile performer in movies, on stage and television, and as a recording artist. She was graduated with a bachelor degree in Japanese Culture from Sophia University in Tokyo and has traveled worldwide acting as an ambassador and representative for Japan. Her most recent achievement has been on stage, having just completed three seasons as Cosette in the Japanese adaptation of "Les Miserables," which received overwhelming reviews from theater critics.

During a media reception to launch the new cookbook, Yu demonstrated roast beef and beef pasta salad recipes on stage, while six other recipes from the cookbook also were available for tasting. The 98-page color cookbook, "American Beef Cooking; Yu Hayami's Party Recipes and Daily Menu," features more than 70 recipes and is published by Magazine House, one of the Japanese leading publishers. The cookbook sells for 900 yen including tax (about $7.50) and is available in more than 3,000 book stores throughout Japan.