Feeding Japan : the cultural and political issues of dependency and risk

This edited collection explores the historical dimensions, cultural practices, socio-economic mechanisms and political agendas that shape the notion of a national cuisine inside and outside of Japan. Japanese food is often perceived as pure, natural, healthy and timeless, and these words not only fuel a hype surrounding Japanese food and lifestyle worldwide, but also a domestic retro-movement that finds health and authenticity in ‘traditional’ ingredients, dishes and foodways. The authors in this volume bring together research from the fields of history, cultural and religious studies, food studies as well as political science and international relations, and aim to shed light on relevant aspects of culinary nationalism in Japan while unearthing the underlying patterns and processes in the construction of food identities

Recalibrating risk through media : two cases of intentional food poisoning in Japan

In 2008, a case of intentional food poisoning involving Chinese imported dumplings resulted in mass panic in Japan. Within a context of sensitive bilateral relations and Japanese agriculture in decline, the media were key to the enhanced risk perception among the public. To shed light on the concrete ways of risk recalibration by the media, the article compares the incident's coverage to a strikingly similar event in 2014 involving domestic produce. Drawing on the social amplification of risk framework, a qualitative content analysis shows how the specific discursive construction of both incidents led to two different levels of risk, primarily through the framing of the incidents by references to former experiences and symbolic connotations. At the intersection of food, media and risk, the article also contributes to the understanding of perceptions of domestic as opposed to foreign or imported risks, and those in power to label these as such

Let's eat Fukushima' : Communicating Risk and Restoring 'Safe Food' after the Fukushima Disaster (2011-2020)

The Fukushima nuclear disaster posed food safety risks on an unprecedented scale in Japan. In its immediate aftermath, information on the scale and the extent of the contamination of the food chain was scarce. Facing an anxious public, the government was tasked with defining and ensuring food safety amidst uncertainty. Via three case studies spanning from 2011 to 2020, this article draws on risk communication theory to analyze the Japanese government’s response to food safety risks after Fukushima and its development over time. It finds that initial responses did not take the food-related risks facing consumers seriously. Instead, the response was aimed at mitigating the economic risks faced by producers. This increased both public confusion and uncertainty, and consumer avoidance. Over time, the government’s response has improved, and elements of the policy have shifted towards more inclusive and interactive practices. Still, the article finds that ten years after Fukushima, the governmental risk communication is primarily aimed at correcting and dismissing consumer concerns while expressing certain fatigue with ongoing consumer avoidance. The article shows how the goal of risk communication changes from reassuring to correcting, and finally to closure. While the risk communication’s main message remains consistent and simple – local produce is safe, eat local produce -, its target audience also differs. The article demonstrates that on top of ongoing shortcomings in terms of participation, the actual content of the government’s risk communication also fails to assist in informed decision-making. Instead, the government makes the decision for the citizen

Home work: post-Fukushima constructions of Furusato by Japanese nationals in Belgium

Rogers Brubaker remarks that “as a category of practice, ‘diaspora’ is used to make claims, to articulate projects, to formulate expectations, to mobilize energies, to appeal to loyal- ties.” It is in times of crisis and trauma, we will argue in this paper, that these practices con- struct and intensify an awareness of community, generated by emotion, feelings, and affect. When the 3/11 Triple Disaster struck Japan in 2011, Japanese nationals living abroad took a dia- sporic stance and immediately showed their commitment and loyalty to the homeland by organ- izing fundraising and charity events as well as moral support activities. Interpreting these events from the perspective of gift-giving (Marcel Mauss), it can be argued that remittances and material gifts served to show solidarity of an individual as well as a group to the homeland (furusato) and thus strengthening the feeling of belonging to it. Yet, what is the “homeland” that they support? The idea of homeland is a concept that is culturally and thus historically negotiated, and dia- sporic communities tend to develop a romantic idea of it. In Japanese, the English term “home- land” would be captured by the term furusato, which already embraces a strong element of nos- talgia and memory (similar to the German “Heimat”). It originally refers to one’s place of birth and is recently used to point to the “idea of originary, emotive space.” Based on fifteen in-depth interviews with both short-term and long-term Japanese residents in Belgium, this paper sets out to analyze the effect the triple disaster of 2011 had on the Japanese diasporic communities in Belgium