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Japanese Culinary Mobilities

Made by Chuanfei Wang according to the statistics from MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries] (2015).
Increase in Japanese Restaurants Around the World

In recent years, Japanese restaurants have proliferated around the globe, increasing fivefold in the last decade according to Japanese government reports (MAFF 2017). Our project studies this global spread of the Japanese restaurant, based on interview and archival data. (see our publications for more)

Chefs perform a welcome ceremony in the Anthologia restaurant in Shanghai (photo by James Farrer)
Japanese Restaurants as Performance Spaces

The Japanese restaurant is not just a business, It is a social space in which multiple actors come together to produce a culinary performance for consumers. Contemporary Japanese restaurants employ not only Japanese but a multicultural cast of culinary workers from around the world. (see our publications for more​)

The Taishu Izakaya in New York is part of a global boom in izakaya culture (photo by James Farrer)
Culinary Mobilities: the Global Movements of Japanese Cuisine

Our project uses the term "culinary mobilities" to describe the organization of contemporary Japanese cuisine as a constantly shifting configuration of producers, consumers, suppliers, and products centered in global culinary cities and their accompanying networks. (see our publications for more​)

GJR Cover.jpg
GJR Cover.jpg

Drawing heavily on untapped primary sources in multiple languages, this book centers on the stories of Japanese migrants in the first half of the twentieth century, and then on non-Japanese chefs and restaurateurs from Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia, and the Americas whose mobilities, since the mid-1900s, who have been reshaping and spreading Japanese cuisine. 

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