The Well-Tempura'd
Nation:
Japan, television food shows, and cultural
nationalism
By
Todd Joseph Miles Holden
Graduate School of International Cultural Studies
(GSICS)
Tohoku University
Sendai, Japan
Prepared for the
Asia-Pacific Sociological
Association
5th Conference
July 4th to 7th
Brisbane,
Australia
Asia Pacific Societies:
Contrasts, Challenges and Crises
Session:
Media, Culture and Identity
Abstract: assertion
Food is not a trifling matter on Japanese
television.
Aired year-round and positioned on every channel in every
time period throughout the broadcast day, the lenses of food
show are calibrated at a wider angle than heavily-trafficked
samurai dramas, the national sport beisuboru, or music shows.
Abstract: methods
In this paper I demonstrate this by reporting
the results of a systematically-collected,
qualitatively-analyzed sample of TV food
programming. The results reveal:
Abstract: results (1)
At their simplest, food shows work (both in
isolation and as a unity) to reproduce
traditional Japanese cuisine and cultural
mores, educating viewers about regional
customs and history.
Abstract: results (2)
In this way, and perhaps most saliently, foodtalk engages nihonjinron -- the theory of the
uniqueness of Japanese culture. Food talk is
shown to be insular, exclusionary, reproductive,
and, therefore, serves as a powerful pull toward
cultural nationalism.
Abstract: results (3)
In other ways, food-talk is socializing. It often is
framed in the context of competition and
teaches viewers about:
• planning and aesthetics,
• imparting class values, and
• a consumption ethic.
Abstract: results (4)
Additionally, because it often arises in conjunction
with the appearance of television, film, sports, and
recording stars, food discourse also works to
reproduce popular culture.
Abstract: results (5)
Finally, despite its interior focus, whether
inadvertent or not, food shows also serve as
globalizers. They teach viewers about the
"peculiar" practices of far-away countries and
expose viewers to ideas, words, people and
ways of life beyond Japanese borders.
Abstract: results (6)
In this way, then, food shows can assist in
integrating outside influences and lifestyles
into Japan
Abstract: conclusions (1)
Taken together, then, food shows
serve not only as a medium for
reproducing Japanese society, but
a tool for decoding its deeper-most
structure, as well.
Abstract: Conclusions 2)
As such, they can serve as a means for
greater theorization about Japan.
Kani tabe (ni) iko, Ha ni kan de iko (Let's go eat crab,
Let's go bite [crab])
Puffy, 1997
In 1997, the singing duo, Puffy, followed up their mega
hits, Ajia no junshin (Asian purity) and Kore ga watashi
no ikiru michi (This is the way I live), with a song whose
key lyric concerned the pleasure of chomping crab.
Throughout Japan--on radios, in variety shows, as
backing in TV commercials, over speakers in elevators
and restaurants, heavily trafficked in CD rental stores
and karaoke boxes--Japanese were singing the praises
Opening Observation
This is not the only instance of food entering
Japanese popular culture.
In contemporary Japan, in contemporary J-Pop, food
is everywhere.
Premise
Most often, though, food is not the main dish. It is
part of a larger discourse centering on deeper
socio-cultural themes, such as:
* historical practices
* professionalism
* preparedness
* intelligence
* organization
* westernization
* aesthetics
* glo-calization
* pleasure
* Japanese uniqueness
* competition
* star culture
* capitalism
* health and body
* gender
* sexuality
* identity
Aim of this Presentation
To consider the social and cultural
discourse that flows through food
Perspectives
Sociology of Culture
Raymond Williams (1981:33-5):
“Any adequate sociology of culture must… be an
historical sociology…
It must recognize “on the one hand, the variable
relations between ‘cultural producers’… and
recognizable social institutions; on the other
hand, the variable relations in which ‘cultural
producers’ have been organized or have
organized themselves, their formations.
The Institutional Formation we consider
is Television
TV is part of the “increasingly capitalized
corporate sector” which “produc(es art) for
the market.” This involves the “conception of
art as a commodity and of the artist… as a
particular kind of commodity producer.”
(Williams: 1981:44)
Television is a “new media” which has
necessitated the rise of “more complex and
specialized means of production and
distribution.” (p.45).
Socialization, Social Construction, Cultural
Reproduction
Berger and Luckmann (1967):
An institutional world tends to present
society members with an objectified
external reality.
This “objectivated social reality” is
internalized in the course of socialization;
It is then used to produce the conditions
which will, in turn, reproduce that very
same social reality.
TV’s Social Reproduction Function
Television plays a major role in the
socialization (internalization) and
reproduction (maintenance) processes—
nurturing and replenishing a societal
member’s “cultural stock of knowledge”.
About Culture
“Culture is a verb…”
-- Street (1993)
* Culture is an active process of meaning making;
* Thus culture is ever in formation. It is constantly being
re/produced through human action.
* This is opposed to the view (held in some quarters)
that culture is an accoutrement, a tool, a mere element
within a larger structure or milieu.
About Cultural Studies
Hall (1992): “(Cultural Studies) has to
analyze… the constitutive and political
nature of representation, itself.”
Thus… in Media-Centered Studies of
Culture
 One must focus on how the visual and verbal
representations construct their object
 One must ask: What is the image purporting to
represent? How does the image construct the thing it
is purporting to represent? (From Hall, ibid.)
Food Shows are Media



They are not just CONTENT.
They serve as a conduit which transmits social
content;
As media, they change relationships between
people, as well as between people, their culture
Mapping this presentation :
1. Serves up a sample week of food
programming on Japanese TV;
2. Looks at a handful of other programs
pertaining to food;
3. Identifies some of the key cultural themes
that emerge through the aegis of food on
TV;
4. Considers a number of key ideas that are
communicated in food-related TV
advertising.
A Content Analysis:
Key Analytic Categories:
1. Straight Cooking
2. Food with Guests
3. Cooking as Part of Show/Food
Introduced during course of Show
4. Food as an Element in Discovery of/
Travel to Place/Region
A Most Conservative
Accounting:
Food Shows amount to 5% of the programming between 6
a.m. and 6 p.m. on any given day.
“Food with Guests” and “Cooking as Part of the Show”
average 2 hours each per day.
By Comparison: News accounts for 15% of the broadcast
day for all stations from 5 a.m. to Midnight
These figures do not include the minutes in which food is
introduced as a minor or inadvertent part of the show.
Typical Examples of Inadvertent or
Peripheral food-discourse
 May 9, 2001 (late evening):
 Binbaba: An entertainment show with singing
and light talk contained a segment in which
guests and staff tasted (and endured) exotic
foods, such as toasted scorpions.
 Tonight 2: An adult (generally sexually-
tinged) infotainment show featured two
reporters trekking to Nagoya to sample
parfaits, fried rice and Italian food. They
introduced a dessert shop, a bistro and a small
kitchen and brought ice cream back to the
studio for on-air sampling.
Typical Examples of Inadvertent or
Peripheral food-discourse
May 25, 2002:
 NHK News: A visit to an elementary school in
a small city hosting the Slovenian soccer team.
The children at the school were sampling the
food of Slovenia for an entire week during
their lunch period.
 Commercial News: Sports reporters were
invited to a pre-World Cup event in which they
were treated to an eleven course meal that
would be offered to VIP ticket holders at the
up-coming world cup event.
Gendering Implicit in Food
Shows
 Beyond the names of regular food shows (such as
“Letsu! Okusama hiken [Lets! Wife, you must see]) is
the gendering implicit in time distribution.
 Those between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m fall
disproportionately between 8 and 10 a.m. and 4 and
6 p.m.—times that most salaried men are
presumably not able to view TV.
 Indeed, the patterning suggests that the target
population is women who will have some time just
after their husbands and children have departed for
the outside world and prior to their return at the
dinner hour. It also affords ample time in the late
morning/early afternoon for out-of-doors shopping.
A Sample Week of Food Discourse
Day
日
月
火
水
木
Douchi
no ryori
shiou
金
土
Show
Riori
Banzai
SMAP x
SMAP
Ninki
mono
de
ikou
Tonnerus
no nama
de
daradara
ikasette
Time
6 p.m.
10 p.m.
8 p.m.
9 p.m.
9 p.m.
11 p.m.
11 p.m.
Theme
Come to
know stars
through the
foods they
like
Competition,
Sexuality,
Image mgt.,
Commercialization
Leveling
(of taste,
ideas,
and
status)
Emphasis on
technique,
craft,
preparation,
“ki”
Competition,
Information,
Cultural
nationalism
Competition,
Ingenuity,
Skill,
some
nationalism
Intimate
glimpses
of stars
abetted by
food
preparation
Ryori
Chyuno
bo-desu
tetsujin
yo
SMAP x SMAP
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
Nakai-kun entertains a guest who
requests a certain dish. The four other
SMAPsters (in teams of two) compete
against one another to prepare the
meal.
“Corner”/Segment
Facilitated competition; measures skill;
serves as a vehicle for the expression
of sexuality; serves as the basis for
selling recipes and SMAP goods.
Food works to manage each idol's image.
Ninki mono de ikou
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
Five famous people must
appraising a series of paired
items—each seemingly identical.
Which is authentic and which is a
bargain-basement copy?
Peripheral
Used as a measure to determine
the knowledge/intelligence of the
guest.
One effect of the recurrent
criticism from the hosts observing
in a control booth is a leveling:
stars are no more (and often less)
competent than the audience
Tonnerus no nama de daradara ikasette
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
Two members battle each
other by trying to master a
craft—in this case cooking.
“Corner”/Segment
Way of showing ability and
learning the proper techniques
Underscores the importance
of rules, organization,
preparation, technique, the ki
(aura, essence) of cooking.
Thursday, 9:00 p.m. Douchi no ryori
shiou: (Which one? Cooking Show)
Douchi!? (Which one!?)
Douchi!? (Which one!?)
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
Competition between rival foods to
win the hearts of a panel of seven
singers, actors, writers and athletes.
Two hosts seek to sway the panel
during the on-going in-studio food
preparation.
Center Stage
Opens doors to world history and
Japanese culture. Also serves to
spur competition, create tension and
entertain.
Educates about Japanese culture.
However, one clear message is that
Japanese food is distinct, special,
irreplaceable, and generally
unbeatable.
Friday, 11:00 p.m. Ryori no tetsujin. (The
Ironmen of Cooking)
Friday, 11:00 p.m. Ryori no tetsujin.
(The Ironmen of Cooking)
Society as War
This show, which ran for 300 plus airings was retired
last year. Like sumo the weak were thrown into the ring
with the strong. The challengers were Japanese (or
operated in Japan), though occasionally they came
from overseas. Almost without exception they were
men. The strong were four teachers from Hattori
senmon gakko, arguably the premier training ground
for chefs in Japan. Each sensei specialized in a
particular cuisine: Japanese, Chinese, French or Italian.
Friday, 11:00 p.m. Ryori no tetsujin.
(The Ironmen of Cooking)
•The challenger could choose which chef he would battle.
•Both were allowed to bring a team to assist.
•The chefs were provided with fully-equipped kitchens
positioned side by side on a sprawling sound stage
•They prepared a full-course meal for four celebrity judges
within a set time frame (usually one hour).
•Just prior to start time they were informed which one
ingredient had to be used in every course.
•The contestants had to finish within time AND satisfy the
judges' in terms of planning, creativity, composition, aesthetics
and taste.
Society as War…
•
A reporter and cameras waded into the trenches,
conducting interviews and offering play-by-play.
•
Jump-cut editing quickened the pace of the show
•
A running clock added suspense
•
Consistent with one message encoded in
Japanese history was this: it is very hard to
defeat the big power. Hattori senmon gakko
usually won
Ryori no tetsujin
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
One ingredient, an independent
challenger against a pro… one
hour to prepare a full course meal
for a panel of judges.
Center Stage
The vehicle through which
competition is manifested—by
which winning and losing is
determined.
Underscores the notion that the big
power usually wins. Competition,
creativity, aesthetics and some
history thrown in.
Saturday 11:00 p.m. Chyu-bo-desu yo (It’s a
Chef’s Kitchen!)
Chyu-bo-desu yo
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
A famous guest helps prepare a
meal. 3 professional “coaches”
and 2 (very inexpert) hosts assist
while interviewing the guest.
Central/Peripheral
Serves to facilitate discovery of
the “inner guest”.
The audience comes to know
more about the guest. At the
same time, they are entertained,
learn more about food
preparation and the economic
sector of society is (however
modestly) supported.
Other Shows of Note
 Gotchi Batoru
 Zumu-inu Asa
 Letsu! Okusama Hiken
 Oban desu!
Thursdays 9:00. Tunnerusu no minasan no
okage deshita. ("Tunnels' because of
everyone")
In this show, cooking is a regular “corner”.
Two guests--a male and female—seek to
guess which of 4 prepared dishes
includes one item that the other guest
absolutely detests.
Thursdays 9:00. Tunnerusu no minasan no
okage deshita. ("Tunnels' because of
everyone")
Thursdays 9:00. Tunnerusu no minasan no
okage deshita. ("Tunnels' because of
everyone")
There is more than a bit of sadism in this
show as the guest is forced to continually
eat something that turns his or her
stomach--all the while smiling and
pretending s/he loves it. In many ways this
suits the Japanese cultural value of gaman,
of bearing up under intolerable conditions.
Friday 7:00 p.m. Gotchi Batoru (Banquet
Battle/(I will) Treat (you) Battle)
 A pun meaning both “Banquet Battle” as well
as “ ‘I will treat you,’ Battle”
 SCENARIO: a group (4 Gotchi regulars and
(usually) 1 guest go to a famous restaurant in
Tokyo. The restaurant can be Italian, French,
Chinese, Japanese… All members must guess
the price of the dish served to them. The
person whose guess is farthest from the true
price must purchase everyone’s meal.
Gotchi Batoru
An Info-tainment Show in that:
1. a narrator describes the ingredients of the
dish;
2. the audience views the chef preparing the
dish;
3. the “patrons” discuss the food as they
taste and guess its price;
4. Advisories flash on the screen informing
the audience whether a guess is close or
far off.
Zumu-inu Asa
Regional reporters stationed throughout
Japan introduce the cuisine in their
particular local “beat”.
Letsu! Okusama Hiken
SCENARIO: a reporter strolls through a
neighborhood, knocks on a door, invites
him/herself in and shows the TV
audience what is being prepared for
dinner or else what has already been
consumed by the family inside.
“Okusama, konya no okazu wa?”
Oban desu!
At the local level, all 3 networks have their own
news/infotainment shows which feature a
food corner.
In “Oban desu!” viewers send recipes into the
station and the show’s hosts try cooking a
selected recipe on air. After they have
completed the task, they call up the person
who submitted the recipe and ask: “our effort
came out like this—is that how it is supposed
to be?”
Oban Desu!
In this way food is the medium for
interaction and participation in public
culture. It also involves, to however small a
degree, performance and identity.
Saturday 12:00 p.m. Merenge no kimochi (Feelings Like
Meringue)
Saturday 12:00 p.m. Merenge no kimochi
(Feelings Like Meringue)
Like many food shows, Meringue uses
food as a vehicle for understanding
another human being. In this show it is
a star (author, comedian, singer, actor).
The person (generally male) will be
“interviewed” by 3 female hosts and
then introduce the hosts and audience
to a food that they like to cook.
Sunday 6:00 p.m. Riori Banzai
(Hail Cooking)
Riori Banzai
Situation
Food’s Position
Food’s Function
Effect
Like many of the shows listed above,
a celebrity guest introduces his/her
favorite food. 2 hosts comment on it.
There is usually also a
recommended spot where a
maitre’d or chef discusses the food
and hosts sample the ambiance.
Center Stage
Food serves to decode the guest’s
personality.
Beyond serving as a spur to the
economic system, food softens or
changes the celebrity’s image.
Ubiquity / Invisibility
Well beyond the formal data that can be
identified by coding TV Guides and
content analyzing TV shows whose
conscious definition or primary theme is
“food”…
Is the informal, invisible data that floods
TV programming about food
Ubiquity / Invisibility
In short, food is present in an
overwhelming number of shows—even
those which have nothing to do with
food.
Shows like: quiz shows, sports, news,
travel, and late night talk shows
Continuity Editing
Advertising plays an enormous role
in placing food at the center of
Japanese society
Function of Ads
 Used as a device to heighten tension or
underscore the show’s major themes
 Ads interrupt:
 just before a judge’s decision (SMAPxSMAP,
Douchi, Tetsujin)
 when it is revealed whether the host can
follow the correct procedure (Tonnerus)
 before the delivery of the punchline to a story
a guest is telling (Merengue)
 prior to announcing which star correctly
evaluated an item (Ninki mono).
Ad Function
 But ads are not departures from the world of food,
as a large proportion of them are devoted to
edible items.
 In this way, they underscore food's intimate
relationship to economy--a point that
SMAPxSMAP and Meringue make with their tie-in
goods and yearly recipe books offered for sale. A
point underscored by shows which provide maps
to and menus of the restaurants where the weekly
chefs operate.
Food Ads on TV: some
numerical data
Food Compared to Other Products:
Raw Numbers (March 2001)
Total Ads, March 2001 (3656)
# of Food Ads, March 2001 (681)
Most Frequent Ad Categories
(Collapsed)
Electrical
Food
Events
Cars
Sundries
Top Categories of Ads (Itemized)
Events
Food
April
2000
Telecom
Sales
Sundries
Health
Station Info
April
2001
0%
50%
100%
Cars
Drinks
Sw eets
Alcohol
Electrical
Top Categories of Ads (Itemized)
25
20
15
10
5
April
2001
April
2000
0
Events
Food
Telecom
Sales
Sundries
Health
Station Info
Cars
Drinks
Sweets
Alcohol
Qualitative as well as Quantitative
Just in terms of numbers, then, advertising
serves to reproduce food-culture in Japan
However, qualitatively, as well, the content
of food-ads works to emphasize themes
that are most central to social structure
and in social consciousness
Emphasis on secondary sociocultural discourse.
Embedded in this commercial discourse one finds
deeper social themes such as health, diet, gender
roles, sexuality, race, globalization, even death.
Predominant themes
include:
* Gender Roles
* Health
* Sexuality
* Diet
* Sexism
* Fitness
* Body
* Star-cult
* Consumption
* Identity
* Nationalism
Gender Roles
Food ads reinforce
the message that
women stay inside
and cook while
men go out and
play
Gender Roles
Or else that
women wait at
home for their
husbands, who
they happily
greet at the end
of the day with
a warm meal
Gender Roles
Ads reinforce
the idea that
women are
food shoppers
And that that they
set high standards
for freshness which
must be met in
their kitchen
Gender Roles
Ads continually send
us the message that
women keep their
families nourished,
healthy and happy—
even when they have
moved away to college
or work in another city.
Sexuality
Through food comes
discourse about
heterosexual intimacy
Sexuality
And
women
as the
objects
of
lesbian
fantasy
Sexuality
So, too, physical
contact and the
expression of emotion
are present in ad text
Sexuality
Food also is the
occasion to
present men as
desired subjects
Sexism
And food
ads are a
medium
through
which
women are
continually
partialized
Sexism
In food ads,
women are:
ever
objectified,
taken
advantage of,
and put on
display
Body
Part and
parcel of
this trend
is the
emphasis
on bodies
Body
Both for
women
And
men
Health
Ads for energy drinks and antacids
often focus on the difficult life of
the salary-man
Which, of course, also
reproduces notions of
gender roles
Nationalism
Aside from the flag-mimicking trademarks of many
food companies, ad text often makes reference to
nationalism…
Nationalism
In this ad, a man is preparing food in his kitchen, only to
find himself transported onto a tennis court, facing a
powerful foreign player, armed only with a frying pan.
When the egg simmers in the pan, it
appears as a percolating Hinomaru
Identity
A large area of secondary discourse
in food ads
Identity:
Example 1
A Japanese woman bumps into an Indian man
on the street…
Identity: Ex.1
She thinks: “Oh!
Curry…”
Which she
promptly rushes
home to eat.
Identity: Example 2
“What would you like?”
the waiter asks…
Cut to a
room full of
patrons who
chant “Sato
rice cakes”
Cut back to
the customer
who says: “I
think I’ll have
Sato rice
cakes!”
Identity: Example 3
"Even if it’s raining, don't let
it bother you…"
Identity: Ki ni Shinai
(don’t worry/don’t let it bother you)
"Even if they laugh at you,
don't let it bother you…"
Identity: Ki ni Shinai
(don’t worry/don’t let it bother you)
"Even if you don't know,
don't let it bother you."
Conclusion
What is Food?
While a considerable amount of primary ad
discourse is centered around food, it is ersatz
food (vitamin-enriched waters, sugarless
gums, food supplements) which has recently
come to dominate ad space.
Challenging Old
Conceptions and
Patterns
Not only does this signal a change in dietary habits,
it suggests changes in human behavior and
orientation: toward a face-paced lifestyle,
convenience, rapid consumption, disposable
goods, solitary living, eating away from home.
What Food Talk Tells Us:
 Food is often framed in the context of
competition;
 It teaches viewers about planning and
aesthetics;
 It imparts class values;
 It encourages a consumption ethic;
 Because it is intertwined with singers,
actors, artists, comedians, and sports
heroes, food discourse is also inevitably
about the reproduction of popular culture.
Food for Conclusion
One question remains: "why food?“
What is it that qualifies foods as a suitable
source and medium for filtering the raw
material of popular culture?
For one, food is something that all Japanese
share in common. It is an essential part of
daily life.
Food for Conclusion:
Beyond that, though, there is the legacy of the
not-so-distant past.
Embedded in the consciousness of nearly a third
of the population is an era of food shortage,
which has given rise to overwhelming
abundance.
TV's food-talk is of interest to
almost all viewers
 Because of food’s history (the agrarian basis of
Japan; its postwar saga from dearth to bounty);
 Food’s place in Japanese folklore (animist roots
and ritual);
 Its ubiquity;
 Its easy availability to nearly all societal
members; and
 Its penetration into many aspects of everyday
life.
Food is a Part of the Structure
of Every Viewer’s Life
Thus, it serves as a fathomable conduit
for all manner of other talk.
To invoke information theory, there is
very little noise on the channel when
food is involved, so pure information
can pass unfettered.
Bringing Food Talk within the
Orbit of the Opening Concepts
An analysis informed by Cultural
Studies, Semiology, and Sociology
of Knowledge and Sociology of
Culture suggests:
Food Discourse:
Communicates about the nature of
society
Reproduces the basic structures and
values of that society
Socializes member/viewers into the
logics and behaviors of that society
Via Commercials:
food serves as a medium for the
processing of gender-related
themes, sex-roles, body, health,
sexuality, nationalism and identity
In TV programs…
In looking at the numerous segments that
introduce food in the course of travel or
meeting guests…
We see that food is used as a means to
decode/understand a person or place.
This is equally true whether the place is
Nairobi, Hakodate or Tokyo; whether the
person is Jackie Chan or Kimura Takuya.
PROXIMATE EFFECTS
The array of food discourse works to:
 reproduce traditional Japanese cuisine and
cultural mores;
 educate viewers about regional customs
and history;
 teach viewers about the "peculiar" practices
of far-away countries;
 Thereby engaging the global/local dialectic.
ULTIMATE EFFECTS
 Sustained food discourse aids in reproducing
nihonjinron--the spread of views about the
uniqueness of Japanese culture.
 As such, food talk tends toward cultural nationalism.
 At the same time, food talk assists the
integration of outside influences and lifestyles
into Japanese society.