Final Essay

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Japanese Food In International Society

The tradition of cuisine is deeply rooted in the nation’s culture. It is a good way to introduce and explain culture from the aspect of food, and Japan can be said that it is one of the countries succeed in spreading their culture through the promotion of Japanese cuisine. However, is this Japanese cuisine and image of it actual and correct? Now, Japanese culture of food is exposed to danger of misunderstanding. Sushi is the most popular Japanese food in the world. However, when I went to Vermont states in US for SEA program, I had a strange experience of Sushi. After few weeks I arrived there, I got tired of American junk and heavy food, so I was eager for “natural” Japanese food. I went to an Asian restaurant in downtown and ordered “Sushi-roll with soup.” I imagined the sushi roll with tuna and miso soup, but in fact, they served the Sushi role with fried shrimp and Tom yum goon (it’s from Thailand)!  Also, my friend from South Korea said Korean people eat sushi with Gochujang (it is Korean spicy source) I made a survey of the Japanese food around the world by the interview to foreign people. According to my survey, foreign people ate Sushi as their first experience of Japanese food (see fig.1), and it is their favorite now (see fig.2). However, there are so many wrong Sushi restaurants such as my experience, so their experience may not be possibly the real Japanese food. According to the report by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Japan, there are about 25,000~30,000 Japanese restaurants around the world (The Current Situation Of Japanese Restaurants In the World). Also, the report says that almost people know Japanese food and they can use chopsticks very well and Japanese food is getting popular more and more. There are an increasing number of Japanese restaurants outside Japan but they do not use Japanese ingredients or cooking methods and still continue to operate under the guise of a Japanese restaurant. There are so many wrong Japanese restaurants sometimes owned by foreign people and they serve not Japanese food. In order to avoid misunderstanding and make foreign people have a positive impression of Japanese food, Japan should promote Japanese food abroad more actively by registering it as Cultural Heritage and increasing opportunities for foreigners to experience the actual Japanese cuisine.

 Fig.1: the data from 50 surveys on facebook and interview

     

Fig.2; the data from 50 surveys on facebook and interview

Firstly, what is the definition of Japanese food? In her book, “A companion to the anthropology of Japan”, Jennifer Ellen Robertson says “Japanese cuisine is best known abroad for its emphasis on the freshness and quality of ingredients, and beauty of presentation…together with a stress on them and harmony between the food, the vessel, the setting, and the season in which food is served” (417). Also, she mentions that the Japanese food culture is multicultural one and it embraces foreign ingredients and dishes, along with an impulse to domesticate them (417). According to my survey, foreign people’s impression to Japanese food is mainly healthy, tasty, beautiful, or lots of variety.

Secondly, The first Japanese restaurant in the foreign country was BENIHANA in US. In 1964, the company was founded by Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki. They opened its first restaurant in Chicago in 1968, and they served Teppanyaki (Japanese steak style). After that Japanese cuisine was expanded to the whole country, and there are 68 BENIHANA restaurants now. Americans became to know what Japanese cuisine since then. Also, in the documentary, The Japanese Table Sushi: Now a Global Taste (NHK International), it is said that in 1970s, sushi went popular in US and it spread out rapidly to the world. In the past, many people shied the way to eat raw fish and thought it was savage, but after few decades, eating raw fish is taken as a matter of course. Now, eating sushi is one of the social status symbols in Europe and US. Sushi boom changed the perception in the world.

From these facts, Japanese cuisine has a typical and traditional culture, so it should be succeeded to the future. Also, foreign people admire the sensitive and beautiful culture of food. Thus, Japanese people should take pride of their wonderful cuisine. They have to avoid the spreading of misunderstandings of Japanese cuisine such as my experience.

To protect Japanese culture against these issues and increase consumer confidence in Japanese restaurants and promote the export of Japanese products, Japan should make Japanese food as cultural heritage. Once, MAFF tried to make a system of certification of Japanese restaurants in foreign countries. This was called “Sushi Police” by world media, and some countries criticized it. As a result, MAFF gave up to make a certain system and entrust to NPO to certificate them. Similar system is put into effect in France and Thailand, but actually it is difficult to make a border which distinguish the “right” restaurant and “wrong” one. Also, such restaurants called “wrong” may adapt Japanese food to local taste. It can be said as the fusion of cultures. It is not “wrong” thing. Japan should pay attention to the diversity of culture and understand it. Nowadays, MAFF holds a conference and attempts to make Japanese food be on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage to press for improvement in quality and reliance of Japan. French, Mediterranean, and Mexican foods have been already registered, and Korean court food will be registered next November. Registration of Japanese food is a better approach to protect it than certification because they can say that it is recognized as the wonderful culture by UNESCO, and they will get the reliance of their own food culture. Also, if Japanese food is registered, Japanese government will set aside more budgets for promoting. It can increase the opportunity to advertise it to the whole world. It will help to make foreign people know the actual Japanese cuisine, so it can decrease the number of “wrong” Japanese restaurants and misunderstanding of Japanese food. Therefore, Japanese government should carry out this project.

Japan has a wonderful, beautiful, and sensitive food culture. Japan can bring it abroad to get rid of misunderstanding or hatred toward Japan and it is also for more prosperity of Japanese economy. However, we have to pay attention to the balance between our culture and local one. In his book, “The cultural politics of food and eating”, Theodore C Bestor says,

Just because sushi is available, in some form or another, in exclusive Fifth Avenue restaurants, in baseball stadiums un Los Angels, at airport snack carts in Amsterdam, at an apartment in Madrid, or in Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, or Moscow, doesn’t mean that sushi has lost its status as Japanese cultural property Globalization doesn’t necessarily homogenize cultural differences nor erase the salience of cultural labels. Quite the contrary, it grows the franchise. In the global economy of consumption, the brand equity of sushi as Japanese cultural property adds to the cachet of both the country and the cuisine. A Texan Chinese- American restauranteur told me, for example, that he had converted his chain of restaurants from Chinese to Japanese cuisine because the prestige factor of the latter meant he could charge a premium; his clients couldn’t distinguish between Chinese and Japanese employees (17-18).

For foreign people, the significance of the existence of actual Japanese food is sometimes not necessary. They just want to enjoy the good taste. However, to avoid misunderstanding of Japanese culture whish has the danger of spreading negative impression of it, Japan should introduce the actual and real Japanese food abroad. Therefore, the government should protect Japanese food culture and promote it to the world, but also they should pay attention to the diversity of culture and understand it.

Works Cited

Japan. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.       “Nihonsyoku Restoran No Kaigai Hukyu Ni Tsuite [Current Situation And Spreading Of Japanese Restaurants In the World]”. MAFF. June. 2010. Web. 1 Nov. 2011 <http://www.maff.go.jp/j/soushoku/sansin/nihon_syoku/index.html>.

"Kaigai No Tondemo Nihonysoku [Strange Japanese Food In Foreign Countries]." News Medikara OH!. Asahi TV: 13 feb 2008. Television. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e85rD9xo4G0>.

NHK International. The Japanese table: SUSHI, now a global taste. NHK International, 2003. DVD.

Robertson, Jeniffer. A companion to the anthropology of Japan. 1^st ed. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005. Print.

"Setting the Japanese Food Standard?." Japanese Food 101. 28 Apr. 2007. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www.japanesefood101.com/index.php/more-information-on/setting-the-japanese-food-standard/>.

Theodore C. bestor. “How Suhi Went Global.” The cultural politics of food and eating. 1^st ed. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005. Print.