Tradition and Japanese Social Organization: Institutional Development in a Tokyo Neighborhood

Anthropolog

Cuisine and Identity in Contemporary Japan

Anthropolog

Visible hands: Auctions and institutional integration in the Tsukiji wholesale fish market, Tokyo

As an anthropologist specializing in Japanese studies, I am often struck by the uncharacteristic willingness of economists to consider cultural and social factors in their analyses of Japan. Probably the economic system of no society is subject to as much scrutiny, analysis, and sheer speculation regarding its 'special character' as is Japan's. Put another way, emphasis on the special qualities of the Japanese economy suggests a recognition -- implicit or explicit -- that cultural values and social patterns condition economic systems. It remains an open question whether this recognition reflects empirical reality (e.g., perhaps the Japanese economic system is less autonomous than those in other societies) or is an artifact of interpretative conventions (e.g., perhaps both Western and Japanese observers are willing -- if at times antagonistic - partners in ascribing radical 'otherness' to the Japanese economy and therefore are more likely to accord explanatory power to factors that might otherwise be considered exogenous.) Recognition, however, that Japanese economic behavior and institutions are intertwined with and embedded within systems of cultural values and social structural relationships does not imply unanimity of opinion about the significance of this fact

El sushi en una economía de oferta: mercancía, mercado y la ciudad global

Urban anthropology has been simultaneously challenged and transformed as forces of globalization —variously defined in economic, political,social, and cultural terms— have been theorized as de-territorializing many social processes and trends formerly regarded as characteristic of urban places. Against a seemingly dis-placed cityscape of global flows of capital, commerce, commodity, and culture, this paper examines the reconfiguration of spatially and temporally dispersed relationships among labor, commodities, and cultural influence within an international seafood trade that centers on Tokyo’s Tsukiji seafood market, and the local specificity of both market and place within a globalized urban setting. https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X51La antropología urbana ha sido desafiada y transformada de manera simultánea debido al efecto desterritorializador que, según algunas teorías, las fuerzas de la globalización —definida de diversas formas en términos económicos, políticos, sociales y culturales— han ocasionado en muchas tendencias y procesos sociales antes considerados característicos de las zonas urbanas. Ante un aparentemente desplazado1 paisaje urbano de flujos globales de capital, comercio, mercancía y cultura, este artículo estudia la reconfiguración de las relaciones, espacial y temporalmente dispersas, entre el trabajo, las mercancías y la influencia cultural en el comercio internacional de mariscos, cuyo centro está ubicado en el mercado de productos marinos de Tsukiji, en Tokio. También analiza la particularidad local tanto del mercado como del lugar mismo en un entorno urbano globalizado. https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X5

Sushi in the United States, 1945-1970

Sushi first achieved widespread popularity in the United States in the mid-1960s. Many accounts of sushi’s US establishment foreground the role of a small number of key actors, yet underplay the role of a complex web of large-scale factors that provided the context in which sushi was able to flourish. This article critically reviews existing literature, arguing that sushi’s US popularity arose from contingent, long-term, and gradual processes. It examines US newspaper accounts of sushi during 1945–1970, which suggest the discursive context for US acceptance of sushi was considerably more propitious than generally acknowledged. Using California as a case study, the analysis also explains conducive social and material factors, and directs attention to the interplay of supply- and demand-side forces in the favorable positioning of this “new” food. The article argues that the US establishment of sushi can be understood as part of broader public acceptance of Japanese cuisine

When East Meets West: International Change and Its Effects on Domestic Cultural Institutions

Domestic governments increasingly face the pressure to follow policy developments occurring at the international or supranational level. Yet international laws and policies need to be “translated” to suit domestic political institutions and newly adopted policies may challenge or contradict preexisting domestic policies, institutions, and interests. To explore the domestic impact of international institutional developments, we studied the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and its adoption in four countries (Japan, China, France, and Germany). Using historical institutionalism, this comparative case study sheds light on the effects of the Convention on cultural governance systems in two supposedly different “camps” within the UNESCO: the East and the West. The study argues that it is the interaction and entangled relationship of exogenous and endogenous factors over time, particularly the timing and sequence in which they constrain and facilitate change, which shape actors’ preferences and institutional development at both levels

Disasters, Natural and Unnatural: Reflections on March 11, 2011, and Its Aftermath

Anthropolog

How Sushi Went Global

Anthropolog

El sushi en una economía de oferta: mercancía, mercado y la ciudad global

La antropología urbana ha sido desafiada y transformada de manera simultánea debido al efecto desterritorializador que, según algunas teorías, las fuerzas de la globalización —definida de diversas formas en términos económicos, políticos, sociales y culturales— han ocasionado en muchas tendencias y procesos sociales antes considerados característicos de las zonas urbanas. Ante un aparentemente desplazado1 paisaje urbano de flujos globales de capital, comercio, mercancía y cultura, este artículo estudia la reconfiguración de las relaciones, espacial y temporalmente dispersas, entre el trabajo, las mercancías y la influencia cultural en el comercio internacional de mariscos, cuyo centro está ubicado en el mercado de productos marinos de Tsukiji, en Tokio. También analiza la particularidad local tanto del mercado como del lugar mismo en un entorno urbano globalizado