Books by Stephanie Assmann
Rural communities in Japan have suffered from significant depopulation and economic decline in po... more Rural communities in Japan have suffered from significant depopulation and economic decline in post-war years. Problems of declining birthrates, aging populations, agricultural decline and youth migration to large cities have been compounded by the triple disaster of March 11, 2011, which destroyed farming and fishing communities and left thousands homeless. This book aims to identify these challenges and to explore the opportunities for bringing sustainable revitalization to Japan's rural areas. Exploring new forms of regional employment, community empowerment, migration and sustainable energies, the authors demonstrate the potential for increased prosperity in rural Japan. The book will be of interest not only to students of Japanese society and development, but also to those outside of Japan who are seeking new approaches for tackling dedepopulation challenges.
Spanning nearly six hundred years of Japanese food culture, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present c... more Spanning nearly six hundred years of Japanese food culture, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present considers the production, consumption, and circulation of Japanese foods from the mid-fifteenth century to the present day in contexts that are political, economic, cultural, social, and religious. Diverse contributors--including anthropologists, historians, sociologists, a tea master, and a chef--address a range of issues such as medieval banquet cuisine, the tea ceremony, table manners, cookbooks in modern times, food during the U.S. occupation period, eating and dining out during wartimes, the role of heirloom vegetables in the revitalization of rural areas, children's lunches, and the gentrification of blue-collar foods.
Framed by two reoccurring themes--food in relation to place and food in relation to status--the collection considers the complicated relationships between the globalization of foodways and the integrity of national identity through eating habits. Focusing on the consumption of Western foods, heirloom foods, once-taboo foods, and contemporary Japanese cuisines, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present shows how Japanese concerns for and consumption of food have relevance and resonance with other foodways around the world.
Papers by Stephanie Assmann
Finnische Piroggen, vietnamesische Reisbaelle und finger food aus Singapur: Feldforschung und kul... more Finnische Piroggen, vietnamesische Reisbaelle und finger food aus Singapur: Feldforschung und kulinarische Begegnung in Hokkaido
Finnische Piroggen, vietnamesische Reisbälle und finger food aus Singapurä Feldforschung und kulinarische Begegnung in Hokkaido.
Report about Workshop "Local/Global Food as Revitalisation", taught in co-operation with Susanne ... more Report about Workshop "Local/Global Food as Revitalisation", taught in co-operation with Susanne Klien, Summer 2016.
Spanning nearly six hundred years of Japanese food culture, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present c... more Spanning nearly six hundred years of Japanese food culture, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present considers the production, consumption, and circulation of Japanese foods from the mid-fifteenth century to the present day in contexts that are political, economic, cultural, social, and religious. Diverse contributorsoincluding anthropologists, historians, sociologists, a tea master, and a chefoaddress a range of issues such as medieval banquet cuisine, the tea ceremony, table manners, cookbooks in modern times, food during the U.S. occupation period, eating and dining out during wartimes, the role of heirloom vegetables in the revitalization of rural areas, children's lunches, and the gentrification of blue-collar foods. Focusing on the consumption of Western foods, heirloom foods, once-taboo foods, and contemporary Japanese cuisines, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present shows how Japanese concerns for and consumption of food have relevance and resonance with other foodways around th...
The Globalization of Asian Cuisines: Transnational Networks and Culinary Contact Zones, Ed. James Farrer, Palgrave Macmillan 2015: 165-185., 2015
This volume is a collection of historical and ethnographic accounts of Asia's increasingly global... more This volume is a collection of historical and ethnographic accounts of Asia's increasingly globalized cuisines. Using extensive empirical research, the authors describe the increasingly transnational organization of culinary fields, multicultural culinary contact zones, and state-led culinary politics. Chapters include studies of the pathways in which Asian cuisines cross borders and subsequently interact with local culinary systems. Authors also study how cuisines from abroad enter into Asian cities and are modified in transnational urban settings. Multi-sited and cross-border ethnographic fieldwork and comparative qualitative case studies uncover the culinary networks and the cultural politics of these traveling cuisines. This volume shows that cuisines in Asia are less and less produced locally but rather in networks of producers, suppliers, entrepreneurs and patrons moving across borders.
2011 marked the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL).... more 2011 marked the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL). After Japan ratified the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1980, this second legislation, the EEOL, became Japan’s major legal framework for implementing gender equality in private companies. The strong emphasis on gender equality also becomes evident in the Abenomics policy, which incorporates the support of women in the workplace as one part of a multidimensional growth strategy.
However, gender equality in the workplace has yet to be fully implemented. This article aims to assess whether the EEOL remains an adequate tool for implementing gender equality in Japan. In this article, I will also reflect on the meaning of gender equality in contemporary Japan in light of demographic changes that will ultimately alter Japanese society.
Food, Culture & Society. An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Volume 16, Number 1, March 2013: 7 - 19., Mar 2013
In recent years, the number of food safety incidents in East Asia has led to increased concerns a... more In recent years, the number of food safety incidents in East Asia has led to increased concerns about threats to food safety in the region. Indeed, following the 2008 melamine scandal in China and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in Japan, these concerns are now at unprecedented levels. This article presents an overview of research in social and cultural anthropology, sociology and area studies on food safety and food sovereignty in China (excluding Taiwan) and Japan. One research area captures emerging research on consumer education initiatives and environmental networks that provide guidelines to food preparation skills and food choices. A second research area addresses providence and efforts of culinary heritage preservation that are linked to national identity building and revitalization, in particular in economically disadvantaged areas. As anthropologist Sidney Cheung has argued, recent trends in research on food have shifted from an analysis of food as a marker of social status towards environmental and health issues that are not linked to social status and have an impact on all consumers.
Asian Politics & Policy, Volume 4, Number 2: 273-287., 2012
Twenty-five years after the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in Japan, th... more Twenty-five years after the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in Japan, this review introduces a number of Web sites of the Japanese government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and institutions such as universities that aim to implement gender equality in the Japanese workplace.
Asian Politics & Policy, Volume 3, Number 1, 149-152., 2011
This review provides an overview of the online representation of the governmental campaign shokui... more This review provides an overview of the online representation of the governmental campaign shokuiku, which aims to improve the nation’s nutritional habits. The term shokuiku was created through combining the Chinese characters shoku (to eat, food or diet) and iku (to nurture, education or guidance) and can roughly be translated into English as “food education” . Specifically, the review features the shokuiku-related Web site contents of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (MEXT).
Ed. Parissa Haghirian. Japanese Consumer Dynamics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 165-184. , 2011
This chapter identifies recent trends in food consumer behaviour that correspond with development... more This chapter identifies recent trends in food consumer behaviour that correspond with developments on the food retail market. The first part of this chapter identifies trends in food consumer behaviour in light of demographic developments and a diversification of eating habits. The second part provides an overview of major food retailers such as convenience stores, department stores, supermarkets and food specialty stores.
Anthropology News, co-authored with Yi-Chieh Jessica Lin, Invited Column for Anthropology News, May Edition: 38-39., 2011
Spanning environmental, political and popular culture domains, the anthropology of food in East A... more Spanning environmental, political and popular culture domains, the anthropology of food in East Asia is a vibrant field of scholarship. This article traces areas of current interest and future collaboration that include food safety, agriculture, globalization and national identity.
Asian Politics & Policy, Volume 2, Number2: 291-294., 2010
Japanese Foodways, Past and Present, 2010
Japanese Foodways, Past and Present, 2010
Japanese Foodways, Past and Present, pp. 243-256., 2010
This chapter examines Slow Food and "Traditional Vegetables" as governmental initiatives and NGOs... more This chapter examines Slow Food and "Traditional Vegetables" as governmental initiatives and NGOs that seek to protect a culinary heritage in Northern Japan. However, access to these "traditional" foods remains limited and is restricted to a small audience of consumers who can afford luxurious food items. The future of local culinary food products lies in a linkage with tourism and the integration of such haute cuisine food items into conventional eateries and food retail stores.
The Asia-Pacfic Journal: Japan Focus, Apr 12, 2010
The Hibiya Tent Village set up during New Year 2008/09 where 500 temporary workers gathered to se... more The Hibiya Tent Village set up during New Year 2008/09 where 500 temporary workers gathered to seek food and shelter after their sudden job losses revealed the gradual process of deregulation of Japan’s labor market that has taken place since the Koizumi administration and culminated in the revision of the Labor Dispatch Law in 2004. The work of the political scientist Margarita Estévez-Abe which describes the evolution of an employment-based welfare arrangement favoring particular corporate interest groups of the former ruling party LDP while excluding growing numbers of temporary workers from efficient welfare protection serves as an initial theoretical framework of our analysis. We augment our analysis with recent data on the re-regulation of the Japanese labor market such as the introduction of emergency employment measures after the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2008, a re-regulation of the Labor Dispatch Law, an improved integration of particular employment groups and reforms of the employment insurance and the part-time law in order to show that Japan under the DPJ is gradually moving towards implementing a more balanced welfare system which seeks to stabilize employment conditions and enable greater numbers of temporary workers to access welfare protection.
Ed. Parissa Haghirian. Innovation and Development in Japanese Management and Technology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 139-156, 2010
This chapter focuses on gender equality in the Japanese management system. Precisely, this chapte... more This chapter focuses on gender equality in the Japanese management system. Precisely, this chapter describes the reforms of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) and its implementation in Japanese firms. Two case studies presented indicate that the EEOL remains a guideline for Japanese corporations and allows for subjective interpretations of its implementation.
Globalization, Food and Social Identities in the Asia Pacific Region, ed. James Farrer. Tokyo: Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture., 2010
This paper looks at two citizen movements in Japan that address the country’s low self- sufficien... more This paper looks at two citizen movements in Japan that address the country’s low self- sufficiency rate of merely 40% and the issue of food safety. Recently, a series of food scandals that also involved imported food products has alarmed Japan, such as the incident of Chinese dumplings that were tainted with pesticides (gyôza jiken) at the beginning of 2008.
Food Action Nippon defines itself as a citizen movement (kokumin undô) that provides information about domestic food products and balanced eating habits. Slow Food Japan is an NGO and part of the worldwide Slow Food Movement that originated 1986 in Italy. Slow Food Japan seeks to preserve a cultural heritage such as vegetables, fruits and cattle that are in danger of vanishing and tied to a specific region and special cultivation techniques.
Taking these two citizen movements—a governmental initiative and a global movement—as examples, I argue that the quest for a return to supposedly safer domestic foods reflects a search for national and local identity expressed through the (re)discovery and promotion of local foods.
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Books by Stephanie Assmann
Framed by two reoccurring themes--food in relation to place and food in relation to status--the collection considers the complicated relationships between the globalization of foodways and the integrity of national identity through eating habits. Focusing on the consumption of Western foods, heirloom foods, once-taboo foods, and contemporary Japanese cuisines, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present shows how Japanese concerns for and consumption of food have relevance and resonance with other foodways around the world.
Papers by Stephanie Assmann
However, gender equality in the workplace has yet to be fully implemented. This article aims to assess whether the EEOL remains an adequate tool for implementing gender equality in Japan. In this article, I will also reflect on the meaning of gender equality in contemporary Japan in light of demographic changes that will ultimately alter Japanese society.
Food Action Nippon defines itself as a citizen movement (kokumin undô) that provides information about domestic food products and balanced eating habits. Slow Food Japan is an NGO and part of the worldwide Slow Food Movement that originated 1986 in Italy. Slow Food Japan seeks to preserve a cultural heritage such as vegetables, fruits and cattle that are in danger of vanishing and tied to a specific region and special cultivation techniques.
Taking these two citizen movements—a governmental initiative and a global movement—as examples, I argue that the quest for a return to supposedly safer domestic foods reflects a search for national and local identity expressed through the (re)discovery and promotion of local foods.
Framed by two reoccurring themes--food in relation to place and food in relation to status--the collection considers the complicated relationships between the globalization of foodways and the integrity of national identity through eating habits. Focusing on the consumption of Western foods, heirloom foods, once-taboo foods, and contemporary Japanese cuisines, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present shows how Japanese concerns for and consumption of food have relevance and resonance with other foodways around the world.
However, gender equality in the workplace has yet to be fully implemented. This article aims to assess whether the EEOL remains an adequate tool for implementing gender equality in Japan. In this article, I will also reflect on the meaning of gender equality in contemporary Japan in light of demographic changes that will ultimately alter Japanese society.
Food Action Nippon defines itself as a citizen movement (kokumin undô) that provides information about domestic food products and balanced eating habits. Slow Food Japan is an NGO and part of the worldwide Slow Food Movement that originated 1986 in Italy. Slow Food Japan seeks to preserve a cultural heritage such as vegetables, fruits and cattle that are in danger of vanishing and tied to a specific region and special cultivation techniques.
Taking these two citizen movements—a governmental initiative and a global movement—as examples, I argue that the quest for a return to supposedly safer domestic foods reflects a search for national and local identity expressed through the (re)discovery and promotion of local foods.
A kick-off workshop for this project was held in December 2010 at Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany. A team of Japanese and German sociologists is currently working on securing funding for a follow-up research project.
I will identify four areas in which the kimono is being kept alive in Japan. First, I argue that the kimono is related to consumption. Not only does the purchase of the garment itself involve consumption, but the training of how to wear a kimono is also related to consumption of education and experience. Conventional approaches towards the kimono that emphasize manners and etiquette coexist with innovative approaches that experiment with age and gender boundaries. Secondly, mastering the art of the kimono can be interpreted as a form of cultural capital whereby the kimono fulfills a role in social distinction. Thirdly, I argue that wearing a kimono has become an expression of collective individualism that is often embedded in group activities. I conclude that the kimono has become a communicative symbol to convey an individual attitude towards societal conventions and national identity.
KEYWORDS: consumption,Japan,consumerculture,kimono,fashion, national identity, reinvention, cultural capital
The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze, by George Solt (University of California Press, 2014),
Slurp! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen – Japan’s Favorite Noodle Soup, by Barak Kushner (Brill, 2012),
The Noodle Narratives: The Global Rise of an Industrial Food into the Twenty-First Century, by Frederick Errington, Tatsuro Fujikura and Deborah Gewertz (University of California Press, 2013).
A kick-off workshop for this project was held in December 2010 at Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany.
I am currently involved in an edited volume entitled Globalization and Asian Cuisines: Transnational Networks and Contact Zones, which is part of four-year ethnographic project and being edited by sociologist Professor James Farrer, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. Below please find a description of the project.
PROJECT PRECIS
Food is a focus of cultural politics, whether in individual projects of projecting acosmopolitan self-identity through dietary practices or national projects of projecting culinary soft power through promoting national cuisines. This volume of essays documents the politics of producing Asian cuisines in the contemporary age of rapid culinary globalization. Local, national and transnational issues shape the production and meanings of cuisines, while cuisine are also used as a way of talking about or influencing larger social relations.This project aims to make original contributions to ethnography of Asian culinary contact zones, or spaces in which transnational cultural flows and local foodways interact. This includes studies of the ways in which Asian cuisines cross borders and subsequently interact with local culinary systems. It also includes studies of how cuisines within Asian cities, including imported cuisines, are also modified or employed in local, national and transnational cultural politics. As ethnographies of globalization, each contributor makes use of qualitative fieldwork and historical ethnography to produce a story of historical developments as well as a thick description of the cultural and social production of cuisine themselves.