Table of Contents
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Acknowledgments
Introduction
1-3
Cityscapes
5-18
Introduction
A. Basic sketch of the cities: Tokyo and Sapporo
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1. Systems of Transport
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2. Urban Design and Land Use
3. Public Spaces
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4. Religion as Part of the Modern Cityscape
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B. Comparing the Hong Kong Case with that of Japan
19-46
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Food Culture
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A. Japanese Meals
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B. Family Food
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D. Food from Convenience Stores
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C. Foreign Food in Japan
E. Other Foods
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Conclusion
47-70
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Cultural Presentation
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Introduction
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A. Museum in Japan
1. Yushukan: The Museum Of Yasukuni Shrine
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2. The Historical Museum of Hokkaido
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B. Shrines in Japan
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Conclusion
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The Worlds of Youth
71-96
Introduction
A. Education: Japanese Youth and English Learning
B. Entertainment: Cosplay and Western Popular Music
C. Sex Culture
D. Cosmetics and Beautification
Conclusion: The Worlds of Youth
Conclusion
97-98
Works Cited
99-102
Appendix
103
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Thanks to the 2008 Summer Field Study, we, the undergraduate students from
The Anthropology Department of The Chinese University Hong Kong, had the special
opportunity to explore Japanese culture — to enter and experience the local everyday
life in a different culture.
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In those twelve days, we had some amazing experiences and unforgettable
memories that we will cherish for a life time; we also learned so much that we could
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not have learned from books. We would like to take this opportunity to express our
heartfelt gratitude to the following people, for making our study trip fulfilling and
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successful:
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to The Lee Hysan Foundation,
for their generous support, which made the study trip possible.
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to Professor Gordon Mathews, Yoko Mathews and our tutor, Christine Ling,
for looking after and guiding us for twelve days. The trip would not be the same
without them.
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to our host families in Sapporo, Hokkaido,
for welcoming us into their homes with open arms and great patience answering our
endless enquiries about life in Japan.
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to the teachers and students from Tokyo University and Hokkaido University,
for giving us guided tours in Tokyo and Hokkaido University, and the opportunity to
exchange ideas about anthropology.
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And also,
to the Department of Anthropology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
for giving us this wonderful opportunity.
Without the people above, our trip would not have been as successful. Therefore, we
would like to express our thankfulness once more, from the bottom of our hearts, for
making all this possible. Thank you very much.
i
Introduction
Japan is a complicated and diversified country that cannot be only understood as a
spot on the map, but an idea, or even a set of values; amidst globalization, its impact on Hong
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Kong, Taiwan and other cultures and values are clearly visible. Although we live in Hong
H
Kong, we can always get touch with what’s happening in Japan via animation productions,
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comics, movie, fashion and food; we always feel we know Japan quite well. Yet sometimes
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we are shocked by what’s happening in Japan as reported in the media because they are
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beyond our imagination and knowledge – high youth crime and suicide rates in one of the
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richest countries where people are supposedly polite and self-behaved.
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anthropologists are eager to analyze Japanese society because the Japanese are facing a great
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challenge of social problems under the changes and conflicts between traditional and modern
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values. To a certain extent, we cannot understand Hong Kong values well enough without
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making the references to Japan’s values and cultures.
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In May-June 2008, the Department of Anthropology organized the annual field study
tour to Japan which was sponsored by
the Lee Hysan Foundation. We were given a
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valuable chance to explore Japanese culture through four dimensions - cityscapes, food
culture, cultural presentation and the worlds of youth. In the twelve-day field trip, we visited
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Tokyo, Sapporo, and Otaru to experience Japan. We had the chance to live in Japanese homes,
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make friends with Tokyo and Sapporo University students and exchange ideas with the
teachers and students in these two Japanese universities. Moreover, we were able to apply
some research methodologies (i.e. participant observation, recording, interview and analysis)
learned from our anthropology classes at the CUHK to try to explore various aspects of
Japanese culture.
1
1. Cityscapes
Cities in different societies shape the lives of their residents in various culturally distinct
ways.
This section of the exhibition compares the cities of Tokyo and Sapporo, and
compares both to Hong Kong, explaining their different systems of transportation,
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commercial activities, architecture, religious activities and land use. Through these
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discussions, we can see how Japanese culture creates and is created by the various
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contemporary Japanese cityscapes.
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2. Food Culture
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Food and foodways enable us to understand how “taste” is culturally shaped. This
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section of our field study report draws mostly on the participants’ food experiences during
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our visit in Japan. We investigated traditional foods, foreign foods, instant food as provided
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at convenience stores, and the home-cooked food provided by our host families.
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interesting to see how all these varieties of food claim themselves in different ways to be
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“Japanese.”
Cultural presentation is a matter of how societies present themselves through
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3. Cultural Presentation
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performances and exhibitions. This section examines museums and festivals: a famous
Tokyo museum justifying Japan’s wartime behavior, a museum explaining the history of
Hokkaido, and a shrine festival at a well-known Tokyo Shinto shrine. These performances
2
show an opposition between the official and unofficial, and the national, regional, and local,
in presenting different versions of contemporary Japan.
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4. The Worlds of Youth
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The youth in Japanese society are quite different from their parents in certain respects.
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They are a generation inheriting the world of their parents, and also potentially transforming
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This section explores the world of youth through their English education and
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their parents?
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the world of their parents. What does it mean that Japanese youth today are so different from
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learning of foreign cultures, their cosmetics and beautification, and their attitudes towards sex.
3
Introduction
Cities in different societies shape the lives of their residents in different, culturally
distinct ways (Zenner 2002). This section of the summer field study report compares the
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cities of Tokyo and Sapporo, and then compares both Japanese cities with Hong Kong,
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explaining their different systems of transportation, commercial activities, architecture,
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religious activities and land use. Through this examination, we can see how Japanese culture
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creates and is created by contemporary Japanese cityscapes.
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Cityscapes are an important aspect of contemporary life – how do cities in different
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societies shape the ways of life of those who live within them (Wirth 2002)? This section of
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the summer field report will give a quick overview of how the residents of the very different
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cities of Tokyo and Sapporo experience their lives within these cities.
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A. Basic Sketch of Tokyo and Sapporo
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The two Japanese cities of Tokyo and
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Sapporo, on the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido,
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are different in their cityscapes due to their
Figure 1: A partial view of the Tokyo skyline.
different histories of development over the past
several centuries. Tokyo, the most populous city in Japan, is an older city that was destroyed
in World War II and then rebuilt. Sapporo is a newer city, laid out along Western lines with
Japan: Cityscapes, 5
the automobile in mind. This section will explore the similarities and differences of these
cities by looking at their systems of transportation, commercial activities, architecture,
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religious activities and land use.
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1. System of transport: Tokyo
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Convenient railway networks in Tokyo
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Tokyo is the capital city and
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economic centre of Japan, with the
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largest population coupled with an
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extremely high population density. This
Figure 2: A schematic diagram of the Tokyo Metro
system.
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explains why it is not hard to find
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skyscrapers in central Tokyo city, and why the land prices are unreasonably high.
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Much of the daytime population of Tokyo (i.e. workers) lives an hour or more outside
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Tokyo, in the western or northern suburbs of the city. A sophisticated mass transport system
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has been developed to provide timely, frequent service and convenience that covers almost
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the entire land area of Tokyo (they do, however, end around midnight, forcing residents to
take very expensive taxi rides to get home). Another credit to the transit system is its high
efficiency regarding energy and land consumption due to a high number of people per vehicle
occupying similar area of land. One of the informants from the University of Tokyo
Japan: Cityscapes, 6
commented that the mass transport system in Tokyo is really convenient, “it is no use for me
to have a private car. I can go wherever I want easily by train.”
How This Convenient Railway Network Affects the Lifestyle in Tokyo
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With the convenient mass transport networks, the lifestyle in Tokyo is different from that in
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suburban areas. The population in Tokyo is extremely high, thus people are not encouraged to
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and it is not easy to have a private car because of the lack of land and the prevalence of
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narrow roads. The convenient railway networks with high service frequency reduce the need
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for people to have their own cars. People in Tokyo depend on the mass transport system in
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their daily lives. One of the informants from the University of Tokyo responded that he has
mass transport networks, he is not
planning to buy his own car. He
said that it is no use to have a
private car in Tokyo, “the railway
networks
in
Tokyo
are
well
developed; it is very easy to move
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already obtained a driving license in Tokyo, but due to the high cost and the convenience of
Figure 3: The complete diagram of the railway systems in the
greater Tokyo area.
between
central
Tokyo
and
different places. Taking railway networks is more convenient than driving a private car.”
Japan: Cityscapes, 7
2. System of Transport: Sapporo
An Automobile-Based Transportation System
Sapporo is a regional city, and is much smaller than Tokyo, thus it is more manageable
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in its urban design. This is true especially for the incorporation of a functional and
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comprehensive transportation system for the citizens. The automobile culture in Sapporo has
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been flourishing for many years. Visitors to Sapporo can easily get a feel for the importance
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of automobiles, since there are huge parking lots outside low-rise, yet large shopping malls,
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supermarkets, for example. As the visitor travels further away from the downtown core of
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Sapporo, they see more and more “Big-Box” malls and stores with their sprawling parking
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lots also prevalent in suburban North America.
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As one might notice such inefficient land use as parking area being larger than the main
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building is ubiquitous in Sapporo (except for the downtown area), giving rise to a larger
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physical and environmental footprint per person than in Tokyo. Another reason for that is
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Sapporo’s relatively sparsely distributed population plus its lower physical density of
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buildings. Sapporo has, nonetheless, a mass transit system of reasonable scale providing
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timely services, but it is no match to that in Tokyo for its population is far more dependent on
the automobile.
Japan: Cityscapes, 8
3. Urban Design and Land-Use
The city structure of Tokyo emerged over centuries, thus directions and addresses are
sometimes not clearly indicated. The city structure of Sapporo is centrally laid out, and so
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directions are simple and it is easy to navigate around the city. The orderly layout of the city
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of Sapporo is the result of the Western-designed structure of the city developed during the
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Meiji Restoration in the late nineteenth century.
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Urban Land-Use in Tokyo
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In Tokyo, it is obvious that places can be defined as the urban area and suburban area
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and each place has its own function. For example, if you want to buy computer products or
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electronic appliances, you will go to Akihabara (秋葉原). If you want to shop in Brand
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Boutiques, you should go to Harajuku (原宿). Tokyo, being the capital of Japan, should be
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more prosperous than other Japanese cities and hence it is reasonable for Tokyo to have more
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commercial areas and shopping areas that are having different centralized places.
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Urban Land-Use in Sapporo
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In Sapporo, there is no exact boundary between urban and suburban areas. You can see,
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however, the commercial, shopping areas and tourist sightseeing points are concentrated in
the area around the JR Sapporo Station. The surrounding area is the most prosperous place in
Sapporo. You can also find shopping malls or shops outside the concentrated part of the city.
One night one of the host families took one of the students to Jusco, a large shopping mall
Japan: Cityscapes, 9
with many parking spaces available to its visitors. It is situated next to a JR Station just one
stop away from Sapporo Station.
3.1 Climate and urban design
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In Sapporo, the schedule for building construction is shaped by the cold northern climate,
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with five months of snow-cover each year. Much of Sapporo city-life involves its effort to
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overcome winter snows; engineers are constantly working to design better buildings and
Sapporo has cool
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better urban amenities for dealing with the snow and low temperatures.
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summers with plenty of sunshine, followed by long, cold and snowy winters with seasonal
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northwesterly winds. Protection of residents from the extreme climate includes networks of
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underground shopping malls, central-heating systems, household electronic appliances like
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built-in heaters in bath-tubs, and so on. That’s why there are huge underground shopping
The climate of Tokyo, on the other hand, can be
considered tropical because of the “urban heat island
syndrome”: concrete and asphalt trap the sun's heat during
the day and release it at night, and continuously working
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malls which are linked with each other underground in Sapporo.
air-conditioners and millions of cars produce artificial heat
24 hours a day. It was the wind from Tokyo Bay that used
Figure 4: A view of the Sapporo
to cool down the city, but now the bay area is redeveloped
TV Tower.
Japan: Cityscapes, 10
with high buildings, working as a large wall cutting off the wind. Another concern of Tokyo,
aside from the climate created by human interference, is the ever-present danger of
earthquakes, for which the authorities are continually urging residents to remain vigilant. An
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earthquake destroyed Tokyo in 1923.
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4. Public Spaces in Tokyo and Sapporo
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Since it was developed and planned at one time, Sapporo has very systematic urban
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planning. Odori Park (Odori Goen 大通公園) is the central point of Sapporo city. The chome
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町目 (means “streets” in Japanese) extend to different directions from here. From the
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Sapporo TV Tower, visitors can view the symmetrical chessboard-like city layout. Odori Park
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is also responsible for Sapporo people’s identity
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construction. Many events including the Sapporo
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Lilac Festival and the Sapporo Snow Festival are
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held here every year. The events are an important
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source of amusement for the locals to help them
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make it through the long winters. It helps to unite
people together in this comparatively new and
immigrant city.
Figure 5: The Tanukikoji Syotengai of
Compared to Sapporo, Tokyo has a much
Sapporo.
Japan: Cityscapes, 11
more complicated setting. This is attributed to its long development history. The city was first
built during the Edo era (江戶時期, lasting from 1603 to 1868) and is still expanding today.
For example, different land reclamation projects are still in progress in the Tokyo Bay (東京
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灣) area. Odaiba (御台場) is one of the artificial islands created through land reclamation in
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this area of Tokyo. Company headquarters and the entertainment facilities make it an
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up-and-coming secondary city center. This is a way to ease the main city center’s burden of
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high population flow by spreading out the population to less densely trafficked places.
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Tanukikoji Syotengai
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Tanukikoji Syotengai is a famous shopping area in Sapporo. There are about 200 shops
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located throughout the seven chome. Linked with the Odori (大通) area and the Susukino1
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(すすきの) area, Tanukikoji Syotengai is known as the biggest shopping street north of
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Tokyo. In order in deal with the extreme snowfall, the whole street is covered with the arcade
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Venus Fort
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for protection, making shopping possible year-round.
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Venus Fort is a shopping mall in Odaiba, Tokyo. It is famous for its theme-park mall.
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With its European-style streets, the mall creates a kind of 17th to 18th Century
European-town atmosphere reminiscent of Venice. The ceiling of the building is enclosed
with an artificial sky that changes from daytime to sunset and darkness with respect to the
1
There are no Chinese translations for the Japanese name.
Japan: Cityscapes, 12
real time. This shopping mall is famous
and popular among the Japanese and
tourists. It is also regarded as a romantic
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place for dating. This phenomenon
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shows the admiration for foreign, and
gives its visitors a taste of European
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Figure 6: Inside Venus Fort, shoppers immerse
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themselves in recreated visions of Europe.
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travel without having to leave Japan or
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speak a foreign language.
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Different Universities in Japan
campus since the university has a strong
agricultural focus. In addition, some of the old
heritage buildings which were built since the
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In Hokkaido University, there is a huge farm on
early years of the university are still kept on
Figure 7: A heritage site within Hokkaido
campus. Some are now museums that showcase
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the history of Hokkaido University. As for the University of Tokyo, there are also some
heritage sites and old buildings such as the Red Door, which is the symbol of the University
of Tokyo.
It is admirable for these two Japanese universities to take their history seriously and to
Japan: Cityscapes, 13
preserve their precious old buildings. If we look at the situation in Hong Kong, we find that
old buildings are all being torn down for redevelopment. Although we don’t have a long
history like Japan, we have our own history and
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we have the responsibility of protecting it. Old
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buildings, with the traces of history of the
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people and events of the past, contain the
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memories of many people.
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Figure 8: The Red Brick in Hokkaido
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5. Religion as Part of the Modern Cityscape
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University.
housing, and public space (Fielder 2001),
religion as part of the modern cityscape is
understudied by scholars in the field.
Shintoism, a major religion in Japan,
contributes to the fundamental layout of the
cityscape in the religious aspects throughout the
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Unlike some other elements in a city, such as infrastructure (Cusveller et al 2000),
country. By looking at the different settings of
shrines (jinsha 神 社
Figure 9: A look at the surroundings of the
or jingu 神 宮
in
Japanese), we can better understand the social
Yasukuni Jinja in Tokyo from its entrance.
Japan: Cityscapes, 14
expression of the ideologies of the religion in the course of different periods of development
of the cities.
Tokyo, with a longer history of development and a more developed economic system
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than any other Japanese city, has changed its cityscape drastically over time. Hokkaido, in
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this sense, provides more resources in preserving the so-called Japanese tradition in religious
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architectural expressions. At the same time, with a shorter period of development under
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to a different form of religious organization in its cityscape.
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Japanese administration, Sapporo has a lower population density, which therefore contributes
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Sapporo – Shrines in the Jungle
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local to government 道府 is located), reflects traditional Japanese religious ideology through
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its presentation of Shinto shrines.
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Hokkaido Jinsha 北 海 道 神 社 and its affiliated temples or shrines provide an
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invaluable chance for us to explore the philosophy behind the architecture. The building
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blocks spread around the sacred mountain of Maruyama 円山 are decorated with tens of
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thousands of tall trees. The landscape, together with Maruyama Park, contributes to a major
part of the green space of the city of Sapporo.
Apart from the formally accepted Jinsha architecture, a large area consists also of the
unofficially developed hikers’ trail with the many gravestones erected along it, with statues of
Japan: Cityscapes, 15
the bodhisattva Jizo – mostly dressed up with baby clothing. The trail is believed to be
unofficially managed by the Shinto believers; and the cemetery is designated for unborn
children. The scenery seemed to be a little bit odd in the eyes of people who travelled from
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other countries, especially to guests who had just visited the Tokyo with its fewer spaces
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assigned for religious purposes – people like the students on this field study.
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Tokyo – Blocks of Religious Worshippers
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Tokyo, as the capital of Japan, offers another perspective for us to look at the Japanese
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religious layout by means of cityscape, which is quite different from that of Sapporo. Due to
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a shortage of land, temples or shrines in Tokyo are relatively small and sparsely located
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around the city. With the exception of the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮), most (or even all) of the
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religious architecture is surrounded by high-rise buildings or densely populated houses.
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Meiji Shrine, built by the Japanese people in memory of the former Emperor Meiji for
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his reform of Japanese social development is a special case in the Tokyo religious landscape.
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It is a giant shrine in a big forest next to the JR2 Station of Harajuku 原宿. There is a road
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that connects worshippers arriving from the train station to the worship center of Meiji Jingu;
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the path is extremely long and is covered by the shadow of trees.
Other examples of religious structures in Tokyo, in contrast with Meiji Shrine, would
seem rather “casual” as they are often standalone buildings in-between commercial buildings.
2
There are many different railway systems in Tokyo. Some of them are run by private corporations
and a few of them are run by the city government; however, JR (Japan Railway) is the nation-wide
public corporation owned by the Japanese government.
Japan: Cityscapes, 16
During our field study, we visited several of these sites in the city of Tokyo, such as
Kaminarimon (雷門) in the north, O’cha-no-mizu (御茶之水) next to Akihabara (秋葉原),
and some smaller shrines in both Shinjuku (新宿) and Asakusa (淺草).
on
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on
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The former two are large in size and relatively old as they occupy valuable pieces of
ity
of
H
land. Moreover, they were part of the historical growth of the Shinto religious tradition.
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ve
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Worshippers come from all over the city to visit these sites. However, the latter two are quite
C
hi
ne
se
small and only established very recently by groups of religious worshippers, with their
lo
gy
,T
he
construction based on the unit of the cho (町) – which could be understood as town, or blocks
A
nt
hr
o
po
of streets when referring to cities such as New York City (Tscharner and Fleming 1993) and
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of
Chicago (Hecht and Kovan 2002).
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The cho groups of worshippers are more active in holding collective religious activities,
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as opposed to individual worshippers. There are parades almost every week from one shrine
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to the other. On the first few days of our field study, we observed the religious parade in
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ht
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Shinjuku (see the Cultural Presentation section for further discussion of the Hanazono Jinja).
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B. Comparing the Hong Kong case with that of Japan
Regarding the question of cho activities, these could be explained with an analogy to
population density through a comparison with the Hong Kong case. The festivities observed
in Japan, including the organization mode, or theological representation, are likely the same
Japan: Cityscapes, 17
as those in the city of Hong Kong among the Chinese popular religions, especially those
which are linked tightly with Taoist worship. Like Shintoism, Taoism is also a religion based
on polytheistic beliefs. Parades are often held to celebrate the birthdays of specific gods or
on
gK
on
g.
goddesses. Without a centralized or “institutionalized” management of the religion, people
ity
of
H
have to maintain their collective religious identity through holding different kinds of local
U
ni
ve
rs
activities such as the parades among the cho communities in Tokyo, or the parades among the
lo
gy
,T
he
C
hi
ne
se
streets dwellers in towns of Hong Kong.3
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t
of
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nt
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o
po
Works Cited
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ep
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tm
Cusveller, Sjoerd, Oene Dijk and Kirsten Schipper. 2000. Remaking NL: cityscape, landscape,
infrastructure. Amsterdam: S@M.
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08
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ll
R
ig
ht
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es
er
ve
d
Fielder, Adrian. 2000. “Poaching on Public Space: Urban Autonomous Zones in French
Banlieue Films.” In Cinema and the City: Film and Urban Societies in a Global
Context, ed. Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice, 270-281. Oxford and Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishers in association with the International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research.
©
C
op
yr
ig
ht
Hecht, Ben and Florice Whyte Kovan. 2000. Art & Architecture on 1001 Afternoons in
Chicago. Washington, DC: Snickersee Press.
Hendry, Joy. 1999. An Anthropologist in Japan: Glimpses of Life in the Field. London:
Routledge.
3
One thing to note is that most of the funds for the religious activities were raised among the shops
and associations in Tokyo neighbourhoods, which is similar to the case of Yuen Long Town in Hong
Kong; but in the case of Sapporo, fundraising is organized directly by different groups of dwellers.
Japan: Cityscapes, 18
Tscharner, Renata von and Ronald Lee Fleming. 1993. A Changing American Cityscape. Palo
Alto, CA: Dale Seymour Publications.
g.
Wirth, Louis. 2002. “Urbanism As a Way of Life,” in Urban life: readings in the
anthropology of the city, ed. by George Gmelch and Walter P. Zenner, 65-82.
Publisher Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
©
C
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ig
ht
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ig
ht
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es
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en
t
of
A
nt
hr
o
po
lo
gy
,T
he
C
hi
ne
se
U
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
H
on
gK
on
Zenner, Walter P. 2002. “Beyond Urban and Rural: Communities in the 21st Century,” in
Urban life: readings in the anthropology of the city, ed. George Gmelch and Walter P.
Zenner, 53-64. Publisher Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Japan: Cityscapes, 19
Introduction
Food is both sustenance and symbol, providing physical nourishment and a key mode of
communication that carries many kinds of meaning (Allison 1997:308). Many studies have
on
gK
on
g.
demonstrated that food is a potent symbol of personal and group identity, forming one of the
ity
of
H
foundations of both individuality and a sense of common membership in a larger, broader
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ni
ve
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group. Japanese people have created its unique food culture. Through examining Japanese
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hi
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traditional food, family food, Japan’s foreign food, convenience stores’ food and regional
lo
gy
,T
he
specialties, we will see how these foods shape Japan’s food culture and how Japanese culture
en
t
of
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is reflected in food consumption.
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A. Japanese meals
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Introduction
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In this summer field study, we tasted different kinds of Japanese meals, such as sushi,
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ramen, and izakaya food. As a consequence, we found that the setting or presentation of the
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food served in Japan is entirely different from the Japanese food that we are accustomed to in
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Hong Kong. In this section, we will take some of the meals that we had in Japan as examples,
and analyze how the presentation and setting of Japanese foods reflect Japanese culture and
society at large.
Japan: Food Culture, 21
Japanese Restaurant
On the first night of the trip, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. It was a
typical restaurant but we ate many distinctive dishes. Most of us ordered dinner sets, and one
on
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of the sets featured a main dish of unagi (grilled eel). Other dishes of the set included udon (a
ity
of
H
thick wheat-based noodle 烏冬麵) in soup, and tofu.
se
Localization of global foods is inevitable--when foods are introduced to a new
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hi
ne
sweet.
U
ni
ve
rs
In Hong Kong, the taste of unagi sauce is salty, whereas in Japan it is more distinctively
to fit the tastes of that culture.
When
Japanese
food
was
introduced to Hong Kong, it took
root and altered itself slightly to
suit the preference of the local
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gy
,T
he
culture, they are usually changed
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Figure 1: An unaju (grilled eel over rice) dinner set eaten on our
diners.
Bento (meal-in-a-box 便當)
When we were on our way to the Sapporo train station after arriving in Hokkaido, we
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first night in Japan.
each bought a lunch box for lunch. “Ekiben” are the boxed lunches sold at stations and on
trains all over Japan. They are cheap and convenient, yet they often feature an array of locally
produced foods that showcase the local identity through these specialty agricultural or marine
Japan: Food Culture, 22
items. Some of us had ikura-bento,
which consisted of sake (salmon)
and ikura (salted salmon roe) on
on
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on
g.
soy sauce-flavored rice. It tasted
ity
of
H
good even though it was a little bit
ni
ve
rs
cold. Others purchased lunch boxes
se
area to add a touch of Hokkaido identity to the food for
hi
ne
featured crabmeat, one of the
U
Figure 2: This ekiben features the specialty from the Ishikari
specialties
of
he
local
lo
gy
,T
famous
C
travellers.
A
nt
hr
o
po
Hokkaido. In Hong Kong, unlike Japan, eating on the station area is not allowed; but in Japan,
en
t
of
buying one’s bento at the station or on the train is a pleasure enjoyed by many people.
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105 Yen Sushi
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The third night in Tokyo, we went to a 105-yen kaitensushi (sushi that moves around a sushi
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ht
counter on a conveyor belt) restaurant for dinner. We spent 1500 Yen per person for this
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dinner, equivalent to about 100 HKD. In this 105yen sushi restaurant, we could see exactly
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how the chef made the sushi. Their skills are very rough and their actions quite mechanical,
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probably because the restaurant emphasizes on affordability rather than artistic merit of their
food. We found it interesting that the temperature of sushi in Japan is warm, since sushi in
Hong Kong is served cold. Before the trip, we thought that sushi should be cool in
temperature in Japan too, but this was not the case. In addition to this, in Japan, the chef will
Japan: Food Culture, 23
put some wasabi (Japanese horseradish) in the sushi. In Hong Kong, people choose it
optionally since not all Hong Kong people can accept the taste of wasabi. In this case, again,
we can see how the presentation and preparation of food changes when it crosses cultural
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of
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po
lo
gy
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U
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ity
of
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boundaries.
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Figure 3: At the 105-yen kaitensushi (sushi moved around the
ve
d
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counter on a conveyor belt 回轉壽司) restaurant, we watched
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es
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three sushi chefs prepare different sushi right before our eyes.
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The Izakaya (Japanese drinking restaurant/liquor room 居酒屋)
We visited two izakaya - drinking places that serve food as well - in Japan, one in
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Tokyo and the other in Sapporo. Izakaya are important for Japanese social life. Japanese
©
people love to drink and enjoy a casual meal before they go home after work. Drinking is en
essential part of Japanese culture. That was why professors from both the University of
Tokyo and Hokkaido University took us to izakaya for a gathering after our visit to the two
universities.
Japan: Food Culture, 24
These two gatherings were markedly different from one another. The one we went to in
Tokyo was a high class izakaya. At first, we expected that we would have a very good meal.
Unexpectedly, our meal only comprised of four to five dishes of food for four people, and
on
gK
on
g.
each of the dishes were very small.
ity
of
H
We also had a small amount of
U
ni
ve
rs
alcohol. At the end of the meal, we
C
hi
ne
se
were all shocked by the expensive
lo
gy
,T
he
charge: over 2000 Yen per person!
A
nt
hr
o
po
Most of us still felt hungry after the
meal.
of
Figure 4: In the izakaya in Ueno, Tokyo, we were served
The experience that we had in
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en
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sashimi (sliced raw fish 魚生/生魚片).
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Sapporo was entirely different. When we realized that we would go to the izakaya with the
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professors and students from the University of Hokkaido, we did not expect that we could
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enjoy much food according to our experience in Tokyo. This time we were surprised by the
yr
ig
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abundance of food. There was mori-soba (chilled buckwheat noodles served on a flat basket
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涼式蕎麥麵), tempura (deep-fried vegetables and seafood 天婦羅), nabemono (a one pot
dish containing sliced beef, tofu, and various vegetables cooked in a clay pot 鋤燒), sashimi
(sliced raw seafood 魚生/生魚片), and sushi (rice with vinegar topped with sliced raw
seafood 壽司). Compared with the one in Tokyo, the charge was for the meal in Sapporo was
Japan: Food Culture, 25
far cheaper. We were interested in why there was such difference. Partly it had to do with
the particular restaurants chosen for each gathering, but beyond this, it reflected the great
difference in prices between downtown Tokyo and Sapporo.
on
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Ramen restaurants
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Ramen (wheat-based noodles served in soup 拉麵) is very famous in Sapporo, and we
U
ni
ve
rs
were fortunate to have caught a chance to have traditional ramen. There are eight different
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hi
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se
ramen restaurants in “Sapporo Ramen Republic”, and each of us ate a different kind of ramen,
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en
t
of
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po
lo
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,T
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among the dozens of different kinds of ramen these restaurants sold.
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Figure 5: We enjoyed some delicious ramen in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
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op
Most Hong Kong people think that ramen is a Japanese food. Many Hong Kong people
eat ramen in Japanese restaurants. In fact, Japanese think that ramen is really a Chinese food.
Ramen is an interesting case of a foreign food that was introduced to Japan but then localized
or hybridized. We say that this is a special case because when ramen was brought back to its
Japan: Food Culture, 26
place of origin, it has changed significantly such that this food's identity has shifted and
locals no longer recognize it as their own.
The Food Culture of Japan
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No cuisine or food culture can be understood unless its historical, geographical, social,
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and intellectual bases are understood as well. Since Japan is an island country, seafood is an
U
ni
ve
rs
important cooking ingredient. The enormous cultural influence from Asian countries,
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hi
ne
se
specifically from China and Korea, and later from Europe and America, has shaped Japanese
lo
gy
,T
he
food culture as well. Ramen is a good example of foods crossing geopolitical boundaries;
A
nt
hr
o
po
Japanese conceive of ramen as Chinese food, but it has become a Japanese traditional food in
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The Presentation of Japanese Meals
en
t
of
the eyes of foreigners, including the Chinese.
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ve
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The setting of Japanese meals is very distinctive. The setting of many Japanese meals
R
ig
ht
is a kind of art. People not only enjoy the taste of the meals, but the aesthetic setting as well.
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Normally, there are several dishes in a set meal, including a main dish, soup, vegetable, and
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drinks. The foods are contained in small bowls. This presentation style follows several
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principles — smallness, separation, and fragmentation. According to Anne Allison, “nothing
large is allowed, so portions are all cut to be bite-sized, served in small amounts on tiny
individual dishes, and arranged on a table in an array of small, separate containers”
(1997:224). Japanese food is coded as a cultural and aesthetic product. Food is broken or cut
Japan: Food Culture, 27
to make contrasts of color, texture, and shape. It is usually arranged as a circular mound on a
square dish, and a bland-colored food is set against a bright plate (Allison 1997:225). The
experience of eating Japanese food is one pleasing not only to the taste buds, but also to the
on
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on
g.
eyes.
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of
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To compare with Chinese food in Hong Kong, we can easily see the difference from
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ve
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Japanese food. The Chinese usually do not place much emphasis on the aesthetic appeal of
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hi
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se
food since they mostly focus on the quantity of food and the quality of the taste. In Hong
lo
gy
,T
he
Kong, fast food culture is prevalent in daily life of the local people. Fast food is the answer
A
nt
hr
o
po
for those who do not wish to or cannot afford to wait for a regular complete meal. Many
en
t
of
Hong Kong restaurants provide one-dish lunches or even one-dish dinners. In these meals, all
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the meat, vegetables and rice are served on a single plate, thus making separate containers
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unnecessary.
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B. Family food
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We stayed with different families during the trip in Hokkaido to experience the local
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culture as a part of a family rather than merely as a tourist. Our imagination of the Japanese
family is focused on the mother’s devotion to her family. She would only focus on taking care
of the family like preparing three meals and being a full-time wife and mother. We expected
that as guests with the local families, we would stay with the mother whole day long helping
Japan: Food Culture, 28
her to prepare the families’ meals and do some housework. The best part of living with a local
family would be getting the chance to enjoy some homemade Japanese cuisine. In reality, we
had an entirely opposite experience with our homestay families.
on
gK
on
g.
We will use one of our students’ experiences to highlight the changes to the family food
ity
of
H
culture in contemporary Japan and examine their implications. The first dinner that Karen
U
ni
ve
rs
Cheung had with the family was only with the daughter Ayaka and her schoolmates, as the
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hi
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se
parents had to attend a gathering. The host and her schoolmates took Karen to a restaurant to
lo
gy
,T
he
try the new style curry dishes unique to Sapporo. Curry in Japanese cooking is usually only
A
nt
hr
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po
cooked as a sauce while the new style changed it into a soup which is served with different
en
t
of
ingredients such as vegetables and seafood, chicken, pork, or beef. This new rendition of a
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Japanese favourite has only been invented in Sapporo within the last ten years. Speaking with
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ve
d
different local people we met during the field study revealed their perception of this local
because it warms you up and nourishes
you with many fresh vegetables.
The next morning, Karen had a
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ht
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specialty. Most of them remarked that the dish is very healthy and good for your body
western-style breakfast that included
salad, fried egg and toast (see Figure 6).
Ayaka told her that they usually had this
Figure 6: A simple breakfast of toast, salad, and an egg.
Japan: Food Culture, 29
kind of breakfast because it was less time-consuming and easy to prepare. Since her mother
had to work, they preferred having a quick breakfast rather than a more traditional Japanese
breakfast. Then Karen went to school with Ayaka and they later had lunch with other students
on
gK
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and friends in a food court of a nearby shopping mall. Lunch consisted of fried noodles with
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of
H
takoyaki (octopus balls), and these are specialties from Osaka. That night, Karen and Ayaka
U
ni
ve
rs
had dinner at Ayaka’s father’s cafeteria, which is also where her mother’s beauty salon is
C
hi
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se
located. The ground floor of the house is the cafeteria and the second floor is the beauty salon.
lo
gy
,T
he
That was the first time Karen met Ayaka’s parents since both of them were busy at work. This
A
nt
hr
o
po
is also the place where Ayaka’s family gathers everyday and dine together. The cafeteria is
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of
located in a residential area and the customers are mostly from the same neighbourhood.
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The white walls, wooden floor and small plants and flowers dotting the cafeteria give
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people a sense of harmony and relaxation; you almost feel like you are staying in a village in
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France. The dinner served at the cafeteria matched the atmosphere, meaning the food was in
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foreign style as well. For dinner, there was salad, a dish comprised of vegetables, two baked
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pasta dishes and some cheesecake for dessert. The dishes were not noticeably different from
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other western style restaurants but Karen felt that the food was very delicious and creative.
Yet as a traveler to Japan, we were a bit disappointed because Karen was expecting to try
some local Japanese dishes. She was pleased, however, to have dinner in this café as it taught
her the Japanese’s attitude towards food.
Japan: Food Culture, 30
During dinner at this cafeteria, drinks were served first before any main courses, and it
was expected that guests would finish the drinks sooner than the other dinner items. However,
not knowing this rule of Japanese etiquette, Karen’s drink was not finished until the last
on
gK
on
g.
dessert was served. The staff who made the drink for Karen asked Ayaka with a low voice, in
ity
of
H
a serious tone, if the taste of the drink was not good enough. This enquiry made Karen feel a
U
ni
ve
rs
bit embarrassed so she had to explain that it was her usual drinking pace. Moreover, many
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hi
ne
se
people in Hong Kong like to sip their drink slowly during a meal such that one drink is often
lo
gy
,T
he
sufficient to last an entire meal. Karen really appreciated the staff’s attitude to food and to
A
nt
hr
o
po
customers. They cared about the customers’ opinion and wanted to make improvements. As
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first and cook with a humble heart.
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of
they saw the dishes were not finished as quickly as as they expected, they would self-evaluate
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In the morning of the third day, Karen’s wish to have a Japanese style breakfast was
R
ig
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finally fulfilled. She had a sweet red bean rice ball on the way to a farm. She enjoyed it very
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much even though she was in a rush and had to eat on the go. On the farm, Ayaka and Karen
In Japan, it is a mother’s responsibility to provide meals for the family and this
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had soy sauce ramen, a commonly eaten food in Japan.
responsibility is socially constructed. During the days Karen stayed with the family, she had
no chance of having dinner with Ayaka’s family because Ayaka’s parents were busy running
their businesses, which occupied most of their time. Even for the family dinner, Ayaka had to
Japan: Food Culture, 31
go to her father’s cafeteria instead of going home. In the mornings, her mother can only
prepare a simple breakfast for her daughter within a limited time before she rushed back to
the salon to prepare for the day. The long-established ideal model where the mother stays
on
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on
g.
home to manage her family full-time has changed, as many families in today’s Japanese
ity
of
H
society shift into dual-income households. In the context of the transition from the housewife
U
ni
ve
rs
into a career woman, working mothers have to decide their proportion of engagement and
C
hi
ne
se
investment of time and energy in their career and family. For Ayaka’s family, her mother
lo
gy
,T
he
chooses to focus more on her salon business and thus spends less time fulfilling the
of
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o
po
traditional duty as a woman for her family.
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C. Foreign Food in Japan
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Introduction
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Japan is an open and modernized country that welcomes culture from all over the world.
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R
ig
We tasted many kinds of food during the 12-day field study in Japan. We ate one meal at a
ht
Western style restaurant — a neighborhood bar in Akihabara,Tokyo. We also tried a Sichuan
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restaurant in Tokyo, which was a Chinese style ramen restaurant. Chinese style ingredients
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were cooked together with Japanese ramen to make the famous dish chuka-soba
(Chinese-style noodles 中華拉麵). Our experience of different foods in Japan was not limited
to the city of Tokyo. Sapporo is the fifth largest city in Japan, and many international
restaurants like Korean, Mexican, Italian, fast-food hamburger restaurants and soup curry
Japan: Food Culture, 32
houses can be found easily. Among all the foreign restaurants in the two cities, European and
American restaurants form the majority. In Japanese, yōshoku means foreign food, Western
en
t
of
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o
po
lo
gy
,T
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U
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food in particular.
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Figure 7: Western restaurants are very popular in Japan.
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1. Reasons for Japan’s Wide Variety of Foreign Food
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Japan has opened its door to the rest of the world since 1954. With more and more
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connections with the rest of the world economically, politically and culturally, foreign foods
have since taken root in
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have also been brought to Japan. Many of these different foods
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Japan, especially Western (European and American) food. As a result, yōshoku is popular in
Japan and Western restaurants can be found easily. The fact that Japanese people can enjoy
food from all over the world attests to the extent of globalization. Globalization has sped up
under advanced development of communication technologies and transportation systems.
Geographic distance is no longer a major inhibiting factor to the transport of people, things or
Japan: Food Culture, 33
ideas. As such, cultural exchange becomes more readily possible than previously.
Of course, some foreign food arrived in Japan earlier while some arrived later, based on
the particular historical connections of the country of origin with Japan. Our visit to Japan
on
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on
g.
showed us the popularity of Chinese and Korean food in Japan. These foreign cultures and
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of
H
foods have been gaining widespread acceptance in Japan, and during our trip, we saw
U
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ve
rs
numerous large advertising posters for a new Pachinko game (upright pinball game) based on
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hi
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se
the hit Korean drama Winter Sonata. Besides the influence of contemporary popular culture,
lo
gy
,T
he
Chinese food is common in Japan due to a long history of culturexchange between Japan and
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o
po
China.
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t
of
Japan has a unique culture. It has often been a borrowed culture, such as learning from
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imperial China in ancient times and modeling itself on Western systems and ideas during the
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Meiji Era. Even today, we can see the results of cultural exchanges between Japan and other
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countries through the great choices of food in Japan.
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That the economic prosperity of the last few decades is largely responsible for the
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abundance of food choices in Japan seems quite obvious (Cwiertka 2007:417) Until today,
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Japan is one of the most prosperous countries in the world despite its decade-long economic
recession. In the past few decades, the new middle-class wanted to distinguish themselves
from the working class in food consumption by eating foreign food since it is more expensive
and extraordinary Western food to Japanese people is clearly a fashion and a symbol of
Japan: Food Culture, 34
refined taste. Economic prosperity improved the standard of living, people are willing to
spend more money on eating out and tasting different styles of food. These factors contribute
to a situation that attracts foreigners to start restaurant businesses in Japan, thus broadening
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the range of food choices to the diner.
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Foreign food has been integrated into
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Japanese daily life. Salad is the best example
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of a foreign food that has been incorporated
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into the average Japanese person’s diet.
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Salad was originally a foreign dish. It came
to Japan in twentieth century along with
Figure 8: Salad (second from the right in the
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bottom row) is a regular part of a Japanese meal.
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other aspects of Western culture. It is now
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commonly eaten during meals where Japanese food is served; it is served in izakaya as well
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Japan.
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as other Japanese restaurants. Salads are also often eaten as part of home-cooked meals in
Once a food enters a new society, it would be changed to fit the new consumers in taste,
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2. Localization of Foreign Food
setting and presentation; local ingredients are also often added. Hence, foreign food in Japan
will become Japanese to suit the preference of the local people.
Japan: Food Culture, 35
To provide a more familiar example of this process of the localization of foreign food, we
have what we call “si yau chaan teng” (soy sauce Western food, 豉油西餐) in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong and Japan have both been highly influenced by Western cultures, namely British
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and American culture. The influence of these cultures have left their mark in local people’s
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food consumption patterns. A similar situation can be found in Japan where many
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“Japanized” western foods can be found.
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Figure 9: Kare-raisu (curry rice 咖哩飯) and katsu-kare (curry pork cutlet 吉列豬排) are
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Japanese renditions of Indian curry.
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Japanese have the ability to turn all yōshoku or other foreign food into a Japanese-like
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food, which we will characterize as localization or Japanization. Omu raisu (Rice-filled
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omelette 蛋包飯), kare (Japanese curry 日式咖哩), chuka-soba (Chinese-style noodles in
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soup 中華拉麵) are the best examples of the successful localization of foreign food. These
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dishes are now often considered “traditional” Japanese foods by foreigners, such as Hong
Kong people. For example, curry powder is a mixture of various Indian spices. After its
introduction to Japan, Indian curry has been indigenized such that the dish is sweet rather
than spicy like its counterpart in India. Katsu-kare (curry pork cutlet 咖哩吉列豬扒) is a
Japan: Food Culture, 36
famous Japanese dish that features the localized version of Indian curry, and is usually served
over a bed of rice. It is very popular and there are restaurants that specialize in serving
Japanese curry dishes. To Hongkongers, Japanese curry is Japanese, one of the representative
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Japanese food dish.
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Besides Kare-raisu and Katsu-kare,
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another type of curry dish that we came
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across during our field study was soup
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curry. This dish hails from Sapporo,
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Hokkaido, where it is often eaten. Soup
curry is considered as both delicious
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Figure 10: Soup curry was invented in Sapporo, and is
different from other Japanese curries.
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and wholesome by the locals as it is
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cooked with many types of fresh vegetables and even served over multi-grained rice.
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Japanese food emphasizes aesthetic qualities in food presentation, together with a stress
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on the quality and freshness of ingredients and harmony between the food, the vessel, and the
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setting .An excellent example of this is Kaiseki ryōri (Kaiseki 懐石料理), where food is
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served not only for nourishment, but to be aesthetically pleasing and harmonious with nature.
This dedication to detail is also evident in foreign food, as non-Japanese dishes are also
presented to the diners in an artistic way.
Japan: Food Culture, 37
D. Food From Convenience Stores
In Hong Kong, we can find convenience stores easily, and many of us often go there to
buy a drink or a magazine. When we first arrived Japan, we were quite familiar with the easy
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accessibility of convenience stores. Virtually on every street, you can find a convenience
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of
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store.
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To many of the students on the field study, convenience stores are simply for buying
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drinks and snacks. Occasionally if we are hungry, we will go there for some instant noodles
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gy
,T
he
or Chinese dimsum. Up until our field study, we had never thought that someone could
convenience stores to purchase their daily meals since convenience store food we
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o
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frequent
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of
are familiar with is not healthy and there are very limited choices. However, our
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understanding of convenience store food had to be rewritten after our field trip to Japan.
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According to Cwiertka, “24-hour "convenience stores" (konbinikonbini) supply basic
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ingredients, a variety of snack foods, and ready to eat meals seven days a week” (2007:415).
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This demonstrates that there are many choices in the convenience stores, meaning you will
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not get bored having meals there, and the meals are nutritious food. In the convenience store,
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there is a large variety of products. Take drinks as an example: there are more than 20 kinds
of beers and wines, while there are also fruit juices, vegetable juices, soft drinks, coffee and
tea. You can choose whatever you want there.
Japan: Food Culture, 38
g.
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of
ity
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Figure 11: There are various chains of convenience stores in Japan, each with its
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distinctive appearance.
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When we stayed in a hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo, every night after we finished our whole
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day’s worth of exploration in Tokyo, we would go to the convenience store near our hotel to
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buy some snacks. It is interesting that many young people would go there too. As
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we observed, some of them were in groups of two to three people. They talked and ate, and
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sometimes smoked outside. Meanwhile, some people came alone. These people came to the
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convenience stores and stayed for about 15 minutes, finished their meals and then left. They
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wore suits and carried a briefcase. This is an especially common sight in Tokyo, as many
people left their homes in different areas of Japan to earn a living in Tokyo. People may
finish their work late and have no time to eat in a restaurant or cook at home. Some people
may not have much time to eat a meal, so they can choose to eat rapidly in convenience
Japan: Food Culture, 39
stores. For others, they might not want to eat alone in restaurants since eating at restaurants is
usually a social activity. Meanwhile, these individual might not want to cook at home by
themselves, thus convenience stores become one of their favorite and most readily available
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choices of dinner solutions. At a relatively inexpensive cost, convenience stores provide
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another stream of food, which is available all the time, and most importantly, taste good.
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There is growing importance of convenience stores in Japan. Writer Katarzyna Cwiertka
he
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writes of the implications of this boom in convenience stores when she writes the following:
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of
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o
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,T
Recent surveys reveal that the new generation of homemakers
who were born in the 1960s relics heavily on fast food and
food from convenience stores to feed their families, and find
everyday cooking boring (Iwamura 2003). Such accounts
indicate the possibility that the 20th-century “family meal” is
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crumbling as an ideal (Cwiertka 2007:416).
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In convenience stores, not only are the snacks and drinks available, but food like salads,
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bentos, katsu-kare, sausages and sushi can be found on the shelves. Some healthy foods like
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fruits, azuki onigiri (rice balls with red bean filling 紅豆飯糰) and vegetable juice are also
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available.
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Convenience stores also perform a social function, especially for youth. As mentioned
before, many young people gather at convenience stores. A number of them wear punk
clothes and have dyed hair. At 10 o’clock at night, most shops and department stores are
already closed, so convenience stores serve them as a place for meeting. They may not be
Japan: Food Culture, 40
able to afford the high cost of pubs, bars and coffee shops, but at convenience stores, they can
purchase inexpensive food and drinks. Moreover, there are a lot of magazines that you can
read freely.
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When looking at the differences of convenience store between Hong Kong and Japan,
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Japanese convenience stores are more popular. People in Hong Kong never regard it as a
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place for meals, but for snacks. This is mainly due to the limited number of choices there.
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People in Hong Kong think that food in convenience stores cannot help in maintaining a
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he
balanced diet, so convenience stores are relatively not as important in terms of meeting daily
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dietary needs in Hong Kong. In Japan, however, convenience stores are essential because
en
t
of
they provide various people with ready-to-eat meals at little cost. When they continue to have
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meals in convenience stores, they can still maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is one of the
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factors that accounts for the popularity of convenience stores in Japan.
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E. Other Foods
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When we talk about food, surely we must not only include the three meals of breakfast,
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lunch and dinner. We enjoyed as much local foods as we liked during the twelve days and
some items we ate were really surprising. The food can generally be categorized into three
groups, namely street snacks, edible souvenirs and specialty foods.
In Tokyo, our hotel was situated very close to the Hanazono Shinto Shrine. We arrived
Japan: Food Culture, 41
just in time to join the Annual Festival of this temple. To those of us interested in trying local
foods, there were more than twenty food stalls set up on two sides of the road leading up to
the temple offering many kinds of snacks. We tried a small cake which is prepared like the
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Hong Kong gai daan jai (round egg waffle 雞蛋仔). One of the most surprising foods
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available was chocolate-coated bananas. A banana was coated with chocolate or strawberry
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chocolate and colourful sprinkles, and then topped off with a piece of Koala's March biscuit
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(樂天熊餅). This snack only cost
snack. You have to play the pinball
game before you can eat it. There
were holes labeled as one, two,
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of
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100 Yen but it was more than a
three and nothing. These help to
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Figure 12: Chocolate sauce, colourful sprinkles and
koala-shaped biscuits combine to turn an ordinary banana
determine how many bananas you
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into a delicious snack at the shrine festival.
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could get. If the metal ball dropped into the hole labeled as one, it meant you can eat one
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banana. But if it dropped into nothing, then you could not eat anything or you would have to
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play this game again. Visitors of the shrine festival could taste all the typical Japanese street
foods such as grilled salted fish, takoyaki (grilled octopus balls 章魚小丸子) to recapture old
memories.
We also discovered an interesting thing while we were in Japan: there are vending
Japan: Food Culture, 42
machines all over the streets. These machines mainly sell drinks, but some of them also sell
food like noodles. The drinks sold
differed from machine to machine such
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that the consumer has a great number
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of drinks to choose from on a typical
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Figure 14: Two vending machines on the streets of Tokyo
ne
Hong Kong, the choices are limited and
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street. For the vending machines in
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at night.
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you could expect to find the same
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variety of drinks from one vending machine to the next.
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t
of
In the second half of the field study, we visited Hokkaido. Hokkaido was once an agricultural
in agricultural products. The Hokkaido dairy products
are very famous and during our trip, we consumed
local dairy products every day. We also visited the
Sapporo Beer Factory, the first beer factory in Japan.
The sweetest melons, long leg crab and white
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place. There were many farmland and the area is rich
chocolate were labeled as must-buy item in
Hokkaido.
Figure 13: At Nijo Market in Sapporo,
many local marine products are
arranged in a colourful display.
Japan: Food Culture, 43
However, when some of our Japanese friends saw this from the travel guidebook, they
laughed. They said Japanese people would not consume these as travelers. This could be
because they are too familiar with these foods and had no special feelings towards them. On
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the other hand, many Hong Kong people love food from Japan, and these local specialties are
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unusual to them. Most tourists purchase a lot of chocolate and some agricultural products to
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take back to Hong Kong as souvenirs for friends to have a taste of Japan.
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Conclusion
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During our twelve-day field study in Japan, we encountered many varieties of Japanese
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and international foods. Aside from enjoying the taste of these foods, we tried to explore the
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cultural meanings and social phenomena embedded in the food and the act of consumption.
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For instance, in dissecting the traditional Japanese meal, we gained an understanding of the
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values Japanese culture places on food, such as treating food as both nutritional nourishment
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and emphasizing the aesthetic appeal of the preparation and presentation of food. In
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analyzing our experiences of family food during our stay with our host families in Sapporo,
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Hokkaido, we realized the nuances in the ways Japanese women take up the role of wife,
mother, and worker that had implications on the family’s dietary practices.
We also observed other aspects of Japanese food culture, such as the presence of foreign
foods and the widespread availability of instant foods from convenience stores. When
Japan: Food Culture, 44
discussing our observations of the prevalence of international cuisines in Tokyo and Sapporo,
we found particularly useful the ideas of globalization and localization. Thanks to
globalization, different dishes have been imported to Japan, then subsequently localized to
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suit the taste of the local people and the kinds of ingredients available. During our trip, we
ity
of
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also noticed that convenience stores are dispersed across the cities of Tokyo and Sapporo,
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ve
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making the purchase of ready-to-go meals quick and easy. This type of convenience is
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especially important to the great number of people who, for various reasons, do not cook at
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gy
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home, and reflects the population flow towards major cities in Japan (such as Tokyo) for
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better employment opportunities. Lastly, in our observations of foods sold at a Shinto shrine
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of
festival and at popular tourists’ destinations, the consumption of foods serves not only to
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provide sustenance, but also evokes specific memories. For instance, childhood memories are
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evoked when someone decides to play a simple game determining how many
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candied-chocolate bananas they can eat at a shrine festival. In the purchase of local specialty
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foods – such as buying salmon and scallops in Hokkaido – tourists get to bring back
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memories of their travels in edible form that they can share with their friends and family back
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home. Thanks to our field study, we learned the significances of different foods in Japan,
deepening our understanding of Japanese culture and society as a whole.
Japan: Food Culture, 45
Works Cited
g.
Allison, Ann. 1997. “Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch-Box as Ideological State
Apparatus”. In Gender in cross-cultural perspective, ed. Caroline B. Brettell, and
Carolyn F. Sargent, 298-318. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
©
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op
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ig
ht
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es
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d
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en
t
of
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hr
o
po
lo
gy
,T
he
C
hi
ne
se
U
ni
ve
rs
ity
of
H
on
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on
Cwiertka, Katarzyna J. 2007. Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power and National Identity.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Japan: Food Culture, 46
Introduction
Culture is always presented in a myriad of ways through the public performances and
displays of different institutions in a society. In this section, we look into two museums -
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Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan and the Historical Museum of Hokkaido - as well as one shrine,
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Hanazono Jinja that we visited during our 2008 summer field study. Our examination into
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these site of Japanese cultural presentation will help us find out how Japanese display and
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perform elements of their culture, and the social functions and logic of these presentations.
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gy
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Yushukan is a military museum located within the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The
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Historical Museum of Hokkaido is located in Sapporo, and presents the history and
en
t
of
development of Hokkaido. Hanazono Jinja is an important shrine and a touristic spot in
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Tokyo, and it hosted a festival during our visit.
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We have decided to look into these museums and shrines because we hope to include
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both the national and folk community’s ways to present Japan. History museums are often
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used by a nation to set forth national propaganda and to educate their own people and foreign
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visitors. The nation’s international image is considered when its culture is displayed; public
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museums like the Historical Museum of Hokkaido and the Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan are
designed to directly display messages about a nation. Shrine festivals, on the other hand, even
famous shrine festivals like the one we observed at Hanazono Jinja, show the importance of
cultural tradition in a community and how a community is united through a festival. A shrine
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 48
festival is like a moving museum that allows people to perform their cultural tradition.
A. Museums in Japan
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1. Yushukan: The Museum Of Yasukuni Shrine
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Introduction
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Founded in 1882, the Yushukan is the oldest
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Japanese military and war museum located within
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objectives: to honor war heroes who gave their lives
,T
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Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It has two
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for Japan; and to display the military history of
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modern Japan, starting from the Meiji Restoration to
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the end of the Pacific War.
Figure 1: Yasukuni Shrine
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With the maintenance of Yasukuni Shrine, the
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museum's exhibitions are centered on Japanese war casualties and military activity from the
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start of the Meiji Restoration to the end of the Pacific War. After the addition of a new
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building and a complete renovation in 2002, the two-floor museum now has two large
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exhibition halls, twenty exhibition galleries, two theaters, and two special exhibition
galleries.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 49
First floor
The first floor entrance hall can be
entered free of admission. It contains a
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series of weapons used in the World War
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II period, including an A6M Zero fighter
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aircraft, a Type 89 15-cm Cannon and a
Figure 2: An A6M Zero fighter aircraft used in the
Type 96 15-cm Howitzer.
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World War II displayed at the entrance of the
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museum.
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The large exhibit room on the first floor continues to display the large weapons used in
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World War II, containing a bomber aircraft and a Type 97
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of
Chi-Ha recovered from Yap Island. The exhibition galleries
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11-19 on this floor are mainly about the development of the
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Pacific War, from the pre-war international relationship to the
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post-war memory, emphasizing the contribution and the spirit
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Figure 3: A sculpture of a
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soldier in the Yushukan.
of the Japanese army.
Various war-related materials are exhibited in chronological order from the Meiji
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Second floor
Modernization to the outbreak of second Sino-Japanese war in the exhibition galleries 1-10,
including different types of swords, armor, guns. This floor also houses two small cinema
theaters that play various documentaries related to the shrine, Japanese military history and
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 50
modern-day Japan.
Souvenir shop
The
museum's
souvenir
shop
sells
regional
the
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Shrine,
Sino-Japanese
H
Yasukuni
of
concerning
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souvenirs in addition to various books and documents
Yushukan sold many
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relationship and the Nanjing massacre. Toy army flags
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Figure 4: The souvenir shop at the
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military-related items.
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including the Imperial Japanese army flag and other
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military-related toys can also be purchased here. The museum also houses a cafe where the
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items on the menu are the same as the one used on Japanese Navy ships.
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How the Museum Presents the History of Japan
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Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan presents a controversial view of Japan's military history, with
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emphasis on heroic moments but almost no mention of negative incidents such as foreign
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comfort women and Unit 731 in Manchuria (Kamikaze Images 2008). The museum gives the
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nationalist perspective of Japan's war history and tries to portray a military history that all
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Japanese should be proud of, which is a view contrasting with many Chinese and Korean.
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Even many historians have questioned the views of history presented at this museum. Many
Japanese disagree with the presentation of history in Yushukan, just as, of course, many
Chinese do.
However, the logic behind this approach to presenting Japan’s history is worth
exploring.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 51
The Japanese Annexation of Korea
In 1905, Korea became a Japanese protectorate. Japan even annexed Korea in 1910
under the excuse that Ito Hirobumi was assassinated by a Korean (Wong 2001:102). The
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annexation was a strategic step in achieving Japan’s ultimate goal of invading China. In the
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explanation provided by the museum, however, the process of the Japanese Annexation of
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Korea was done in a peaceful diplomatic compromise signed by both agreed nations.
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The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War
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The controversial view of the Yushukan also
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showed in its narration of the outbreak of the
cause
of
the
outbreak
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the
of
the
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museum,
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of
Sino-Japanese War. In the caption in the Yushukan
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Sino-Japanese War was that Japanese troops in
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Beijing were suddenly shot at by the Chinese army.
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The gallery also showed a newspaper article that
the Marco Polo Bridge Incident- the
Japanese troop is attacked by the
Chinese troop suddenly
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justified the military action of the Japanese army.
Figure 5: A newspaper article reporting
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However, some scholars, like Immanuel C.Y. Hsu (徐
中約), suspect that the undeclared war was deliberately started by the Japanese Imperial
Army (2000:583).
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 52
The Nanjing Incident
The Yushukan museum labeled the Nanjing
Massacre as the “Nanjing Incident,” and discussed
as
the
“prosecution of Chinese soldiers disguised as
g.
civilians
on
Chinese
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Figure 6: The description of the "Nanjing
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massacre
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Incident" at the museum.
of
the
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civilians.”
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Moreover, Yushukan shows a 50-minute film entitled “We Shall Not Forget,” which
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supports the stance that Japan was not at fault in the Nanjing Massacre in 1937 and implies
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that Japanese leaders were wrongly convicted at the Tokyo war crimes trials (Kamikaze
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Images 2008).
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However, some scholars estimate that there were several hundred thousand people killed
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in the massacre, with evidence such as photos, newspapers and diaries from the westerners
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who lived in Nanjing at that time (Rees 2002: 32-35). Moreover, according to the official
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record of the Chinese government, there were more
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than three hundred thousand people killed in the
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massacre.
The “contribution” of the Sino-Japanese war
The museum does not only emphasize on the
heroic moments of the Japanese military history
Figure 7: This diagram shows the countries
"liberated" by Japan in WWII.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 53
but also hides all the negative impact of the imperial army. Furthermore, in one of the
exhibitions, it portrays Japan as the key to the liberation of other Asian countries from the
U.S. and European powers. But is what the museum show truly representative of reality?
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Why the Museum Presents History in This Way
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Without a doubt, the main purpose of founding the Yushukan is to spread the idea of
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nationalism among Japanese through appreciating those Japanese who took part in wars and
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even died for their country. The Yushukan honors all of Japan’s “war heroes” by displaying
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he
their mementos, such as the military uniforms they wore and various letters they left behind.
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Among those displays, photographs of deceased Japanese soldiers not only to memorialize
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those fallen soldiers, but also arouse visitors’ sympathy and respect. Three thousand small
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photographs of “war heroes” are shown at the end of the hallway, while each small
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photograph display the name of the deceased soldier, his military branch with rank as well as
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the place and date he died. Yushukan has a special gallery to display mementos in honor of
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those “war heroes” in the Greater East Asian War, with particular emphasis on special attack
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corps – soldiers that took part in suicide attacks. Displays are designed to arouse visitors’
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sympathy towards the departed Japanese war dead.
However, it is also used to educate visitors the value of “sacrificing yourself for your
country,” which is a means to be patriotic and promote nationalism.
It is interesting,
however, that although we are not Japanese, we did not face hostility from other museum
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 54
visitors, but friendliness. Perhaps they thought that the museum might have convinced us of
its one-sided historical vision.
The Yushukan claims that it reveals the truth of Japan’s war history, yet the information
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shown there has aroused a controversy between Japan and its neighboring countries,
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especially in China and Korea. The USA has also criticized and asked for a revision on some
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details in the military museum. The Yushukan only highlights the heroic memories and the
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achievement of Japan military history, but without mentioning any historical views of other
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countries, such as China, Korea and the United States, which often suggest Japan was at fault
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in wars. For example, there is not any information about foreign comfort women. One more
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example is that, for the Nanjing Massacre, it does not show the number of Chinese killed and
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how they were treated by the Japanese soldiers.
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In addition, the Yushukan museum often suggests that Japan was not at fault in
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launching World War II; it legitimizes the war by stating that Japan was simply “entering”
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China and other Southeast Asia countries because of lacking natural resources in Japan. The
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Yushukan museum also glorifies the Imperial Japan Army. For example, it mentions that
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Japan fought for the independence of Korea in the Sino-Japanese War and the aim of setting
up the South East Prosperous Sphere was to liberate those colonies from the Western Powers.
The military museum glorifies Japan’s aggressive militaristic past and claims that Japanese
military leaders were wrongly convicted at the Tokyo war crime trials. It suggests that Japan
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 55
was actually the victim in World War II as seen when the country was attacked by atomic
bombs. The Yushukan museum presents the military history in this way because the
managing organization wants to show that Japan need not bear the responsibility of World
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War II, and that all militaristic activities were legitimate and praiseworthy. Therefore,
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Japanese should be proud of it.
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How the Exhibition Affects the Visitors’ Understanding of the History of Japan
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For those who did not learn any Japanese history from elsewhere before visiting the
gy
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he
Yushukan museum, the exhibition becomes their first chance to understand Japanese history.
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While the Yushukan museum shows various “evidences” to support its historical view, it
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convinces some of the visitors to believe that they learn the “truth” from the museum. Very
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few of them would be suspicious of the creditability of the exhibition and doubt whether
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there is any bias or hidden opinions. When our group was walking through the exhibition, we
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met a British visitor who wanted to know more about Japanese history. He had learned the
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British version of the history of World War II, so he came to the Yushukan museum to get a
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deeper understanding of Japanese military history. We asked whether he believes in the
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op
exhibition or not. His answer was a simple “Why not?” since the British visitor did not
realize that the aims of setting up the Yushukan museum were to justify Japanese militaristic
action during World War II and to spread nationalism in Japan. This case shows how the
museum, as a powerful authority in shaping knowledge, affects the visitors’ understanding
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 56
and attitude toward Japanese military history, as well as the country and its people.
This exhibition also tries to reinforce the historic view of those Japanese who have
received formal education in primary and secondary schools. The exhibition in the Yushukan
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museum supports the idea in Japanese history textbooks, and makes the historical view of the
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two parties - the school and the museum - more plausible. However, many Japanese do not
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believe in the historical view of the Yushukan museum. Some Japan NGOs are even trying to
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urge the Japan government to admit that Japan was wrong in World War II and compensate
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those who were harmed by the Imperial Japan Army, including Chinese and Korean.
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On the other hand, the Yasukuni Shrine and the Yushukan museum are supposed to
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of
spread a particular form of historical view, to make propaganda and to spread nationalism,
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but their influence on the public is to be questioned. An old man we encountered in the
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Yushukan museum mentioned that those histories are wrong, and nowadays, Japanese
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teenagers do not care about their own history. Therefore, they have no future at all. This
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conversation shows that the awareness of understanding Japanese history among the youth in
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Japan is declining. Thus, it is suspected that the Yasukuni Shrine and the Yushukan museum
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are still effective and powerful tools to propagandize nationalism, especially among the
younger generations.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 57
2. The Historical Museum of Hokkaido
Introduction
The History of the Museum
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The Historical Museum of Hokkaido was opened
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on April 15, 1971, as one of the projects to
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commemorate the centennial of Hokkaido. The
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museum's mission is to contribute to the future of
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Figure 8: The engraving of the name of
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Hokkaido through an understanding of its past, to play
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the museum in Kanji near the museum
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entrance.
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a central role among museums and similar facilities in
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Hokkaido, and to provide the people of Hokkaido with a place for life-long study. In 1992,
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the Main Exhibition was updated to reflect social changes and the results of research in the 20
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years since the museum’s opening.
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The Setting of the Museum
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The museum is located in Nopporo Forest Park. It is a red building with five floors,
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including two underground. The museum has the following facilities: the Main Exhibition,
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the Classified Exhibition Room, Special Exhibitions and the Living Experience Room. The
Main Exhibition includes eight themes, 1)Island of Hokkaido, 2)Ainu Culture, 3)Age of Ezo,
4)The Early Modern Era, 5)Progression of Colonization, 6)From Recession to World War
Two, 7)The Post-War Period and 8)Tomorrow’s Hokkaido.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 58
The Exhibition, Facilities and Services of the Museum
The Historical Museum of Hokkaido uses many methods to enhance visitors’ interest
when visiting the museum. First of all, many models, pictures and photos shown in the
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exhibition are colorful and attractive. Text is minimized so that visitors would not feel bored
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Hokkaido and some large displays provide plenty of visual stimulation.
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reading through the text. Apart from a minimization of text, the video about the history of
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The museum’s facilities and services are sufficient for different types of visitors. When
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there is news about a special exhibit, the website of the museum is updated so that the public
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knows the latest news about the museum. The leaflets distributed at the museum are available
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of
in five languages and the Living Experience Room is specially designed for children, making
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one of the most important educational programs of the museum.
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The Educational Program of the Museum
Living
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well-established
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The Historical Museum of Hokkaido has a
to
educate
visitors
Room
using
a
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intended
Experience
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self-experience method. Activities and games
are changed regularly to match the theme of the
exhibition. The Room is designed for students,
especially primary school students, to learn
Figure 9: The Living Experience Room offered
numerous activities for visitors to try various
tasks of the early inhabitants of Hokkaido
Island.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 59
about the ways of living in Hokkaido’s past through different kinds of activities. After trying
the activities in the room, we found that those activities were interesting and could really
teach children about the activities done by past people as part of their everyday lives.
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Activities included making fire with dry wood, weaving, shooting, and others. One of our
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students, Andy, successfully started a fire with dry wood under the instruction of the staff. He
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thought this activity was interesting and helpful for visitors to experience the life of people in
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the past. The museum also provides museum tours led by guides to help visitors gain a better
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understanding of the exhibition.
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How the Museum Presents the History of Hokkaido
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The Main Exhibition displays all eight themes in chronological order. From theme one
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“Island of Hokkaido” to theme eight “Tomorrow’s Hokkaido”, the museum shows the
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geology and geography of Hokkaido and how people who lived here have adapted to the
After the natural history part, the
exhibition mentions the Ainu people, the
aboriginal people who lived and still live on
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environment and created their own culture.
Hokkaido Island. Under the title, “Ainu
Culture”, the Ainu and their culture are
Figure 10: Artwork showing the Ainu people going
to see a Japanese officer.
displayed by pictures, models, artefacts and
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 60
captions. It is interesting to see how the museum presents Hokkaido people’s “ancestors”. Let
us use some pictures to analyze how the museum presents how the ancestors of the Ainu lived
in Hokkaido.
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In this picture, two people are shown to
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have long beards, long hair and dark skin, in
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contrast to the very different appearance of the
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Figure 11: An artist's rendition of daily life
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contemporary Japanese in Hokkaido. The second
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other people in the picture, who are the
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among the Ainu.
picture also shows the Ainu people with a
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“primitive” image, showing us a scene from their daily life in the past.
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However, it is interesting that the museum focuses on the differences between the Ainu
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and contemporary Japanese, but never really explains why the Ainu culture is missing from
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Japan today.
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Why the Museum Presents History in This Way
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Every museum has its reasons and purposes for presenting history in a particular way.
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Through the display of different materials and themes, the history presented may be different
to visitors (Chang 1998) .In the Historical Museum of Hokkaido, it is easy to notice that the
displays of the museum stereotype the Ainu people into a primitive image. However, the Ainu
people were the earliest group of people living on Hokkaido Island. What makes the museum
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 61
present their supposed “ancestors” in such a way?
The Ainu people are supposed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the island of Hokkaido.
In the Meiji period, the Ainu people were forced to be assimilated by the Japanese
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government when a large number of Japanese moved to Hokkaido. It resulted in the later
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generations of the Ainu people having no way to know their identity and history. This
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situation may have led to the museum emphasizing the earlier differences of the Ainu from
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the Japanese as the museum wanted subtly to justify the government’s assimilation of the
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he
Ainu. Therefore, under such a political purpose, the history and the voice of the Ainu
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themselves are neglected.
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The lack of aboriginals’ opinions is a major problem of the presentation in the museum.
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Although there is a theme in the exhibition about the Ainu’s culture (Theme two, “Ainu
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Culture”), the Ainu people’s opinions toward the official history of Japan and the
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interpretation of their culture by the Ainu themselves are missing. It may also be the
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authority’s subtle tendency to exclude the Ainu people’s opinions. It may be because the Ainu
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are still “not treated politically as a distinct ethnic group in Japan” (Yuriko 1998: 1). It is
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obvious that the Ainu culture has been neglected in the presentation because of political
reasons.
Brief Summary – Comparing Yushukan and the Historical Museum of Hokkaido
Both Yushukan and the Historical Museum of Hokkaido provide a place for local people
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 62
and foreigners to learn and preserve Japanese history. However, when comparing Yushukan
and the Historical Museum of Hokkaido, the nature and the purposes of the two museums are
very different. For Yushukan, it aims to spread national propaganda and create a glorified
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imagine of the military history of Japan. For the Historical Museum of Hokkaido, on the
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other hand, it only briefly displays Hokkaido’s history in a relatively liberal and
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non-threatening way. Those differences in the perspectives presented in the two museums are
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mainly shaped by the different political burdens behind the establishment and organization of
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the museums.
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B. Shrines in Japan
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Introduction: Hanazono Jinja
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The Hanazono Jinja (Hanazono Shrine)
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is one of the most important shrines in
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Shinjuku, Tokyo. This important shrine
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formerly belonged to the Naito Shinjuku
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district in Shinjuku during the Edo era. For
300 years, it was developed by the local
Figure 12: The Hanazono Jinja in Shinjuku,
Tokyo.
community and became one of the important shrines on the Kōshū-kaidō route (one of the
five routes of the Edo period built to connect Edo with the old Kai Province). (Tokyo
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 63
Metropolitan Government 2008)
Every year late in May, a grand annual festival would be held on the grounds of the Inari
Jinja. Nowadays, the days of this fair have been fixed since 1976 on the Saturday, Sunday
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and Monday closest to the 28th of May. (Tokyo Metropolitan Government 2008)
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The Setting of Hanazono Shrine
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Similar to most Shinto shrines, Hanazono Shrine has all the important features of a jinja
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(Shinto shrine). First of all, the entrance of the jinja area, or the sacred area, is marked by a
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Torii, a formalized gateway arch. The Torii leads visitors through a long stone path and
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towards the main structure of the jinja, the shrine. On the left hand side of the shrine is the
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performing stage where music is played during the festival. On the right hand side is the
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storage area of parade kami, a miniature version of the shrine which is carried on the
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shoulders of selected participants of the parade. At the front of the shrine itself, there are the
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offertory box, candelabrum and bell.
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The Festival and Parade
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During the period we stay in Shinjuku, it is
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just the right time for us to visit the annual
festival of the Hanazono Shrine. Like every jinja
in Japan, the Hanazono Shrine has its annual
festival, or matsuri. To organize and run a
Figure 13: A large banner announcing the
date and time of rituals and parade of the
annual festival.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 64
matsuri, much manpower needs to be mobilized. Generally, a matsuri consists of three parts:
a festival market, a set of rituals and a parade. For a large festival, like the one in Hanazono
Jinja, it can draw a crowd from the local community and beyond. Kannushi (Shinto priest),
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local residents, and often tourists, are all participating in the festival. A matsuri such as this is
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a festival for the local neighborhood and the general public.
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Participants of Matsuri
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Japanese are the dominant participants of the festival; they are the majority of the crowd.
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This crowd is composed of people from all age groups, including children, teenagers, adults
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and the elderly. Both men and women take part in the festival. Besides their age and gender,
To
local
people,
a
matsuri
allows
participants to be recognized as part of a social
group. Locals wear jackets with logos or names
ht
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some of them can be recognized as part of a social group by the clothes they wear.
on them to identify themselves as specific clans,
districts or businesses in the area. According to
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Figure 14: Shrine festival participants dressed
Ashkenazi (1993:50), locals display themselves
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in jackets displaying their group membership.
in their group’s jackets or signs as a form of affirming their membership. This was common
in the festival of the Hanazono Shrine, as we witnessed during our trip. This is a declaration
of a sense of belonging to the group, and there is a certain degree of compulsory membership
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 65
forced by intra- and inter-group pressures - as we saw in a quarrel within a local group that
broke out after the festival, with members of the group furious at one person who was late in
arriving.
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Another form of social display is the display
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of support to the shrine community. The parade,
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especially, is a kind of high-profile declaration of
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support to the jinja and the neighbourhood, the
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element that form the shrine community. Any
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Figure 15: Lanterns and a board announcing
the donors' names and amounts of donation to
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individual and group can show their support, and
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the shrine.
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also their generosity, by donating money, which
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will be listed on a board outside the shrine during the festival. Ultimately, it shares the same
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social function of matsuri, which are cultural display and social gathering.
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Another group of people that is highly visible, as we noticed, are tourists. They can be
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composing of both Japanese and foreigners because the annual festival of the Hanazono Jinja
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is famous enough to attract Japanese and foreigners. Tourists are outstanding because they
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dress differently from the local participants; they do not wear parade jackets or traditional
clothes, and they do not participate in any rituals, but move around during the festival with
their cameras and video recorders.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 66
Tourists are interesting, as we have observed, because as outsiders, they are not excluded
from the whole festival. Instead, the organizers and the neighbourhoods are expecting them to
come. First of all, the Hanazono Jinja is one of the most famous shrines in Tokyo. On the
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website of Tokyo Metropolitan Government (2008), Hanazono Jinja is recommended as one
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of the attractions for tourists visiting Tokyo. The period in which the festival would be held is
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mentioned in the description of the shrine and is recommended as one of the major festivals
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to visit of that month. However, the participation of tourists in the matsuri is very limited. For
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The festival market is the place where they can
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most part, they are taking photos, shopping, tasting various foods and watching performances.
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spend most of their time.
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The organizers and the neighbourhoods
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generally welcome tourists to their shrine and
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festival to spend money on food and games.
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However, when rituals are performing or when
Figure 16: Children performing music during
the festival.
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the parade is marching, tourists become ignored, and even invisible to those Japanese
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participants. They are not being rejected, but become spectators. For tourists, the reason
which keeps them from leaving may be the entertaining element of the festival.
In fact, entertainment is not specially prepared for tourists, but for the festival, rituals
and the locals’ interest. Before, between and after rituals, Shinto music are played on the
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 67
stage by performers; children, youths and adults are all performers of Shinto music. It is not
only a kind of entertainment for the participants, but Ashkenazi (1993) believes that it is also
a way to encourage new generations of Japanese to participate in the Shinto festival tradition.
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Other than music, the festival market and the parade are both forms of entertainment for the
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entire community.
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The Parade
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The parade at Hanazono Jinja is one of the most important elements of matsuri. It also
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he
knows as shinko shiki. As we observed and also suggested by Ashkenazi (1993), the parade
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team can be divided into two parts: the formal
body involves the leading Lord’s parade and the
Shinko shiki, the miniature jinja carrying team.
In matsuri of Hanazono Jinja the ritual object is
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body of parade and the informal tail. The formal
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Figure 17: Carriers of the miniature jinja prior
the miniature version of the Inari Jinja. It is
carried by about 30 people, mainly male, and
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to the start of the parade.
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proceed along Yasukuni Street, Shinjuku Street and Meiji Street. This parade is not only an
attraction for locals and foreign tourists, but also a form of social and cultural display.
Moreover, spectators can form a long tail behind the main body of the parade and cheer
along the streets. This informal tail allows everyone to become part of the parade and, once
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 68
again, emphasizes the solidarity of the community.
Brief Summary – Matsuri, Social Functions and Cultural Display
Matsuri can serve an important social function of cultural display and social gathering.
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First of all, Ashkenazi (1993:145-162) viewed the matsuri as a powerful device which drives
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many local people, as well as newcomers, into the community. As we can see in the case of
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the Hanazono Jinja, it effectively promotes solidarity and maintains membership of
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individual within social groups. Secondly, Ashkenazi (1993:145-162) also mention that it
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festival all see themselves as members of this shrine.
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encourages a sense of common identity. The people involved in the organization of the
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Other than its function in creating social solidarity, the festival is also a place for social
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display. Members from different social groups display their wealth, status, and power to the
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community by actively taking part in the festival, by donations, and by organizing and
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mobilizing members. Furthermore, it provides a good means of entertainment to the local
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population. The participation of locals themselves is helping to preserve their own cultural
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tradition, and also repeating, enhancing and modifying that tradition. Therefore, observing
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matsuri can help us to gain insight into the cultural dynamics of local Japan.
Conclusion: Official and Folk Articulations of Japanese Culture
In choosing cultural presentation as our group’s topic, we have sought to understand
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 69
what the factors affecting these cultural presentations are. Obviously, political factors are a
particularly important in determining the presentations offered in history museums.
Governments (for the Hokkaido Historical Museum) or powerful private organizations (for
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Yushukan) have the power to decide what to include and exclude in museums so that
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particular political, social, or cultural purposes can be achieved.
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Shrines and festivals, on the other hand, are most affected by the involvement of the
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local community. As in Hanazono Jinja, traditional practices are preserved and carried
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locally-based and possibly more authentic way.
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forward through the involvement of the local people. Culture is thus presented in a more
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Works Cited
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Ashkenazi, Michael. 1993. Matsuri: festivals of a Japanese town. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
Chang, Yui-tan (張譽騰), 1998. Difang lishibowuguan ruhe zaixian “guoqu”: liang ge
yr
ig
ht
yingguo ge an de guancha 地方歷史博物館如何再現「過去」：兩個英國個案的觀察
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(The Representation of “The Past” in Local History Museum: Two British Case Studies).
A Symposium on Museology-Museum Presentation and Culture (博物館學研討會：博
物館的呈現與文化論文集): 124-137. Taipei: The National Museum of History.
Historical Museum of Hokkaido. 2008. “General Information”,
http://www.hmh.pref.hokkaido.jp/index.htm (accessed August 10, 2008).
Hsu, Immanuel C.Y. 2000. The rise of modern China. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 70
Huang, Kuang-nan (黃光男), 1998. Bowuguan xin shijue : bowuguan chengxian de siwei yu
tiaozhan 博物館新視覺：博物館呈現的思維與挑戰 (New Vision for Museums:
on
gK
on
g.
Thoughts and Challenges on Museum Presentation). A Symposium on
Museology-Museum Presentation and Culture (博物館學研討會：博物館的呈現與文
化論文集): 10-29. Taipei: The National Museum of History.
Kamikaze Images. 2008. “Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan”,
U
ni
ve
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ity
of
H
http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/museums/yushukan/ (accessed August 27,
2008).
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Rees, Laurence. 2002. Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II.
Cambridge: Da Capo Press.
po
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Tokyo Metropolitan Government. 2008. “Tokyo Tourism Info - Hanazono Shrine: Annual
ar
tm
en
t
of
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nt
hr
o
Festival”, http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/german2/topics/040527/4.html (accessed
August 31, 2008).
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Educational Publication Co.
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Wong, W.F. and K.P. Leung. 2001. New Essential Certificate History. Hong Kong:
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Yuriko, Fukasawa. 1998. Ainu Archaeology as Ethnohistory: Iron Technology among the
Saru Ainu of Hokkaido, Japan, in the 17th Century. England: British Archaeological
Reports.
Japan: Cultural Presentation, 71
Conclusion
Whenever Hong Kong people think of life in Japan, the picture conjured in their
minds would be a life surrounded by advanced technology, avant-garde fashion and luxurious
on
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Japanese food. Yet, could this imagined life represent a whole and realistic picture of
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Japanese culture? In fact, from an anthropological perspective, the way we study a society is
In the conclusion of our field study report, we would like to
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and participant observation.
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based on a holistic approach which should include, among other tools, in-depth interviews
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emphasize how important the field trip was for us to have a comprehensive understanding of
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Japan beyond what we thought we knew already from textbooks, comics, magazines, travel
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books, Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, television shows, movies, and songs.
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During the twelve-day field trip, we had an amazing opportunity to follow a
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professional anthropologist, our dear Professor Gordon Mathews, to conduct anthropological
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research with the knowledge we learned from lessons at the CUHK. Encouraged by his
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activeness, our classmates, through talking with all kinds of people everywhere, hanging
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around Tokyo and Sapporo, raising all kinds of questions and living in the home-stay families
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in Sapporo for four days, did excellent work in collecting data on the four major themes:
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Cultural Presentation, Food Culture Youth Culture, and Cityscapes. What we have learned
has been demonstrated to you in this report.
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Given our training in anthropology, we tried to apply the concept of relativism in our
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field study. We wanted eagerly to know how the Japanese feel about their country's landscape,
and how they explain Japanese culture in their own terms, as well as what they want to say
about the contemporary youth and food cultures in Japan. We tried our best to avoid
ethnocentrism and bias; we took great care to understand Japanese culture through the
Japanese people's own explanations and cultural context.
97
The field study provided us with a priceless opportunity to throw ourselves into
Japanese culture, especially during the home-stay experience. Living with the locals not only
enabled us to understand the superficial differences between cultures, but we were also able
to discover the embedded diversities. What we have gained through the field study is
on
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knowledge, experience, memories, and friends that textbooks, classroom lectures and the
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mass media can never provide.
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Appendix: Schedule of Activities (May 23 to June 3, 2008)‫‏‬
Day 1
23/5
- Departure from Hong Kong to Tokyo
- Explored the cityscape of Tokyo: Shinjuku, Kabukichō
Day 2
24/5
- Explored the cityscape of Tokyo from the top of City Hall
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- A tour in Akihabara
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25/5
- Participated in the Hanazono Shinto Shrine Reitaisai (Annual
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Day 3
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- Tried Western food and Japanese Sushi
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- Tried Japanese Ramen
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- Experienced youth culture in Harajuku and Shibuya
26/5
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- A tour in Yasukuni Shrine and Asakusa to understand the
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Day 4
27/5
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- Visited University of Tokyo (Department of Anthropology)
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presentation of Japanese culture in the contemporary context
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- Visited Ueno Park, Kan'ei-ji with Students from University of
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Tokyo
28/5
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- Departure from Tokyo to Sapporo
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- Dinner with students of University of Tokyo in an izakaya
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- Visited alternative school in Sapporo
Day 9
31/5
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30/5
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Day 8
- Experienced Japanese lifestyle with host families
- Experienced Japanese lifestyle with host families
- A visit to Odori Park in Sapporo
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29/5
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Day 7
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- Met home-stay families and began home-stay experience
1/6
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Day 10
- Visited Historical Museum of Hokkaido
- Explored the cityscape of Otaru
2/6
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Day 11
- Party with students and host-families from Sapporo
- Explored cityscape of town center of Sapporo, visited Nijo
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Market
- Visited the University of Hokkaido
- Dinner with students from the University of Hokkaido in an
izakaya
Day 12
3/6
- Return to Hong Kong
103