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Theodore
C. Bestor is Professor of Anthropology and Japanese Studies at Harvard
University, and is past president of the American Anthropological
Association’s East Asian Studies Section and the Society for Urban
Anthropology. His many publications include: “Neighborhood Tokyo” (1989),” Doing
Fieldwork in Japan” (co-editor, 2003), and his most recent, “Tsukiji:
The Fish Market at the Center of the World” (2004). His current research
looks at the development of Japanese food culture and his ongoing project
on “Global Sushi” examines the “global reach” of
Japanese seafood markets, their impact on markets and fish industries,
and the popularity of sushi and other types of Japanese foods..
1.
Background
2.
Neighborhood Tokyo: Miyamoto-cho
3.
Tokyo's Tsukiji: The Fish Market and the Center of
the World
4.
Japanese Food Culture: Looking at Sushi as a Japanese
Food and Icon
5.
Issues of Food Safety and Hygiene
6.
Lessons to be Learned from the Field: Linking Kansas
with Japan
7. Concluding
Thoughts
Background
LARZALERE: First, how did you discover Japan?
Bestor: Well, I get asked that question
a lot. In a way, it was all by accident--certainly
not intentional on my part. As a teenager, I lived
in Seattle. And so in Seattle, there is a certain
consciousness of Japan and there is a Japanese-American
community and Japanese-American kids in my school--so
it wasn't as if I didn't know anything about Japan.
And, of course, Seattle is the closest port city
in North America to Japan so there are all kinds
of historical connections. But I didn't have any
connection to Japan as an individual.
And when I was fifteen, my father who taught
American history at the University of Washington,
was invited
to go to Japan as a Fulbright American Studies lecturer.
And he came home one day and said, "Guess what,
we're all going to Japan in spring." And my reaction
was completely, "Why would I want to do that.
That's terrible." I was just a fifteen-year-old
kid. I just wanted to hang out with my friends.
So I begged and pleaded with my parents--"Please
don't make me go to Japan. I'll be good and do my homework.
I won't cause any trouble. Just let me stay home." And
of course, my father said, "Don't be ridiculous,
it's a chance of a lifetime." So, anyway, at the
age of fifteen, I arrived in Tokyo, with almost no
real knowledge of Japan. I sort of vaguely knew about
Mount Fuji, geishas, cherry blossoms, [and that] Commodore
Perry opened Japan to the United States.
I was completely unprepared for Tokyo--this vast,
modern, industrialized city. I knew it was a big city,
but I had no frame of reference. And I still remember
my nose pressed to the glass in the back of the cab,
coming from Haneda airport into central Tokyo. Looking
at all these lights and neon signs. That, of course,
I couldn't read a word of--I didn't know what they
were saying. And the first few days, walking around
with my father, and feeling there was a lot of familiarity.
I recognized the things of a modern city. But I didn't
know what anybody was saying--I didn't know if this
was a bank or was this a school or was this a hospital?
L: Of course, not understanding the language.
B: Not understanding the language, not being able
to read anything. But we were in Japan for six months
and my father had a chance to travel around and give
lectures at various places. I traveled a fair amount
around parts of Japan. We spent a few weeks in Kyoto,
some time in Kyushu. And just the experience, as a
fifteen-year-old suddenly being exposed to this big
new world that I knew nothing about, was intriguing.
So, I hesitate to say I discovered Japan but Japan
was there to hit me in the face. It was that experience.
L: When did you realize your calling as an anthropologist?
B: At the age of fifteen, I doubt that I had
ever heard the word "anthropologist." Although
I do remember a friend of my father's gave him a copy
of "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" [Benedict
1946]. I didn't read the whole book but I read parts
of it. And what intrigued me was there was a way to
think about other societies. It wasn't just these impressions
flooding over me. It was systematic way to think about
another society.
So, when I got to college I knew I wanted
to take more courses on Japan. I didn't know what
I wanted
to do but I knew I wanted to learn more about Japan.
And I had formed this vague impression that anthropology
was one way of understanding other places. So I took
a couple of freshman anthropology 101 kinds of classes.
They weren't about Japan at all--they were about New
Guinea tribes people and peasants in the Andes, and
so forth. But still they kind of clicked because I
realized those courses were also talking about people's
daily lives, and how they made sense, and how you could
make sense of other countries, of other countries at
the ground level.
So, it was a combination of the experience of being
in Japan, sparking an interest in trying to figure
out how understand other places. And then, just clicking
with an anthropology class when I took one.
L: So you were a freshman majoring in anthropology?
B: Well, sort of--I can't remember when I
said, Yes, this is what I'm going to study!"
But it was during my freshman year that I started taking
some anthropology classes and proceeded from there.
Next: Neighborhood
Tokyo_Miyamoto-cho
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