I am so interested in cooking and I've always wanted to cook with Kobe beef and have heard its delicious. 
Those cattle go back a long ways. They were brought to Japan from China around the 2nd century AD, around the same time as the cultivation of rice.
Oh wow. I didn't realize that. Do the cattle eat a special diet? 
They are grain fed. There was a ban on them being imported for awhile,  and just recently have been allowed to be imported to the US in 2012
I see. Why were they banned at all?
It was to prevent an outbreak of disease. There are 4 breeds -- the Japanese Black, the Japanese brown, the Japanese Polled and the Japanese Shorthorn
Is there any one breed that is better than the other? Or are they pretty similar?
The Japanese Black is said to be the most popular. They were all derived from cross-breeding in the early 20th century with stock from Europe
Very interesting. Is there a larger population in the States now than there has been in the past? 
Yes there is now. Way back when in Japan, they didn't eat the cattle for religious reasons and didn't even drink the milk back then either