Various factors, some of which have been touched upon below: 1. There is almost 0 chance that you've tasted beef from a wagyu cow from the city of Kobe. Aside

Various factors, some of which have been touched upon below: 1. There is almost 0 chance that you've tasted beef from a wagyu cow from the city of Kobe. Aside from import/export costs, the cost in Japan (having actually eaten Kobe beef from Kobe) is far closer to about $400-600 per steak (2kg perhaps?) 2. Americans have been importing wagyu cattle and crossbreeding them with cows here to create American "Kobe beef" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu#United_States