Yeah I'd thought it was a Japanese technique too, but that was just an assumption on my part I guess.
As for the Chinese? Barbarians all of them . . . but we're giving them a run for the money!!
The 'modern' U.S. feedlot is about as tortuous as it gets, and polluting in a big way too. Corporate animal husbandry may have brought prices down, but at an enormous cost to all of us and the animals too.