Kobe Bryant: The Basketball Superstar’s Strange, Tasty Link To Japan

Kobe Bryant, the basketball superstar who was killed in a helicopter crash in southern California on Sunday, had an unusual link to the country of Japan. His father, a journeyman NBA player named Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant, named his son after Kobe, a city in central Japan that he visited in the 1970s, or after Kobe beef, a meat delicacy produced in the region.

Regardless of the true origin of his name, Kobe Bryant’s brilliant NBA career and global fame guaranteed his permanent connection to the Japanese city and its famous gourmet beef.

In 1998, Bryant visited his namesake city to observe and financially support reconstruction projects in the wake of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. In 2001, Bryant was named a “friendship ambassador” for the city of Kobe.

Kizo Hisamoto, the mayor of Kobe, praised Bryant on Monday: “Our city had the good fortune of crossing paths with Kobe Bryant as his father named him after the city, given his love of Kobe beef… He became the city’s ambassador and told the world about us. Kobe Bryant was an international superstar, who also held a special place for the people of Kobe city. We would once again like to express our gratitude for the support Kobe Bryant gave to this city and offer our heartfelt condolences.”

Tetsunori Tanimoto, secretary general of the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association, also gave his condolences. “We think it is thanks to his name that the value of Kobe beef as something valuable was no doubt raised globally. It was our great honor for us to have him use our important name. He helped make Kobe beef known throughout the world,” Tanimoto said. “We have always felt a closeness to him. It is so sad. And we offer our deepest condolences.”

Kobe Bryant himself was oddly ambivalent about his famous first name. In an interview with GQ magazine in 2010, he said he didn’t know why his parents named him Kobe. “If you ever figure out what that explanation is, let me know,” he said.

What cannot be doubted is that the Japanese loved and admired Bryant for his hard work and insane training protocol.

When the elder Bryant coached the Tokyo Apache basketball team in the late 2000s, he spoke of his son’s passionate devotion to training and relentless work ethic.

“This has nothing to do with basketball,” Joe Bryant said in 2007. “We are talking about the program that [Kobe] runs on the track, a six-week program, and we gave them [his Japanese players] a little piece the other day and they were [huffing and puffing]. I want to be able to get them through that and get them into marathon shape so you don’t get tired at all. It’s like a marathon runner’s [stamina].”

Darin Satoshi Maki, a Japanese-American basketball player who grew up in Los Angeles, played for the Apache. During one training session, Maki saw Kobe Bryant’s regimen up close.

“I remember our very first season under Joe Bryant, he took the Japanese players for a minicamp at the Lakers’ practice facility,” Maki said. “We got there early and Kobe was all by himself, drenched in sweat, and Jelly reminded us how we had to put in the extra hours to be great. We heard the stories on TV and the internet but to see it in person, we were just in awe of him and that kind of set the tone for us in that camp.”

As for the beef product that Kobe Bryant may have been named for, it is derived from one of several breeds of wagyu, or cattle, bred throughout Japan, but is by far the best known outside the country.

Kobe beef is made from Tajima breed cattle slaughtered in Hyogo Prefecture (which has Kobe as its capital city). This particular cut of beef is renowned for its high levels of fat marbling and extraordinary flavor.

Kobe beef is also very expensive.

In Japan, the meat retails for up to $179 a pound for the rib-eye cut. The beef is pricey because it is derived from cattle deemed to be of pure bloodline.

“Kobe beef is the only wagyu brand in Japan where the Hyogo Prefecture gets involved in protecting the genetic integrity of the Tajima herd,” said Hisato Hamada, co-founder of the Wagyumafia group of restaurants. “This goes right down to determining the… Tajima bulls whose sperms are used to artificially inseminate the female Tajima cows to preserve the genetic traits of this bloodline.”

Kobe beef also falls under the purview by a handful of farmers who must adhere to strict quality guidelines.

“There are more than 200 Tajima farmers in the Hyogo Prefecture producing about 6,000 head of Tajima cattle every year,” said Hamada. “Only 3,000 head of them make the cut as Kobe beef each year.”

Hamada added that the succulent Kobe beef is the painstaking result of genetics and farming skills.

The Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association explained that the Tajima cattle that is the source of Kobe beef have maintained a pure bloodline for centuries. “Protecting this lineage has also meant protecting its delicious taste, and this contributes to the high cost of producing this delicacy,” the Association stated. “Although Kobe beef delights the palates of people around the world, it [accounts for] less than about 0.2% of total beef consumption in Japan. This scarcity is another factor contributing to its high price.”