How to Eat Life: Meat Information Center in Shinagawa, Tokyo

This information center exists near Shinagawa JR Station. I visited there in the winter of 2012 because I didn’t know what meat processing was at all. When we enjoy meat dishes, we want to know what kind of meat we have and how to cook them, but we never want to think about how the meat is processed from domestic animals. This museum shows us the real process of butchering.

Formerly, we, Japanese, didn’t have any animal meat until the end of the Edo period, and animal meat processing was thought to be a dirty job. This is the reason that meat processing workers have been discriminated against for a long time in Japan even though almost all Japanese have many kinds of meat today. 

Firstly, we must write down our names and addresses at the entrance of the museum because the administrator doesn’t want any insults or malicious people to come here. Taking photos is prohibited in the museum. There are many exhibition panels which illustrate a the flow of meat processing. We can also learn how to tan the leather and about the hygiene system of processing meat. Additionally, some video programs teach us about the real meat processing procedures with searing images.

Surprisingly, there is a real slaughterhouse next to this museum, and almost five-hundred cattle are slaughtered here everyday.   I didn’t know that such a huge abattoir existed so close to Shinagawa Station. When I came out of this museum, I found a cattle wagon passing by. We should learn the meaning of life and food.

You can see the Tokyo Tower in the center of the photo, and the buildings on the right side are all slaughterhouses! Here is the brochure of the facility.