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Professor
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney is a William F. Vilas Research
Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
An expert in the social, cultural, and symbolic anthropology
of Japan, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of 12 books in
English and Japanese, including “Illness and Culture
in Contemporary Japan: An Anthropological View”
(1984), “The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations
in Japanese History and Ritual” (1987), “Rice
as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time” (1993),
and “Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms:
the Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History”
(2002). Professor Ohnuki-Tierney has been awarded the
Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Humanities, and
Japan Foundation fellowships, and is a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1.
Background
2.
Significance of Rice and other Foods in Japan
3.
Concept of Nature and what is Natural in Japanese Foods
4.
Food Safety in Japan
5.
McDonald’s and Changing Table Manners in Japan
6. Globalism and
the Japan/United States Food Market
7. Concluding
Thoughts
McDonald’s
and Changing Table Manners in Japan
L: You mentioned Mc Donald’s—how is McDonald’s
seen by the Japanese? Is it seen as a part of Americana?
Is there a generational difference in the perception
of McDonald’s?
OT: I think initially Den Fujita [founder of
McDonald’s in Japan] tried to link McDonald’s
with Americana. McDonald’s introduced the idea
that you can eat standing up—that was from the
perspective of Japanese table manners revolutionary.
He tried to promote in McDonald’s magazine, using
blonde Americans and stars [stars and stripes] as part
of the McDonald’s image. But then as McDonald’s
became more domesticated, to the extent that little
children from Japan were quoted here in the U.S. saying,
“I’m glad they have McDonald’s here
in the United States.” [They thought] McDonald’s
[hamburger] was a Japanese food!
L: What do the older generation in Japan think about
McDonald’s? I think in the United States, McDonald’s
seem to appeal to the senior citizens and is a gathering
place for them as well as for younger people. Do you
think it’s the same in Japan?
OT: I don’t think that much. There are
older people eating at McDonald’s but it’s
still considered a snack food rather than restaurant
food--as after school food, before going to juku [private
cram school]—now it’s very much an in thing
to do with friends after school or sometimes young mothers
with children. And just like here, McDonald’s
has introduced things like birthday parties. But as
the Japanese people get older they go back to [traditional]
Japanese food.
L: Do you eat at McDonald’s here in the United
States or in Japan?
OT: Not really.
L: You mentioned how McDonald’s changed table
manners in Japan—your discussion of the hand—as
a kind of liminal part of the body?
OT: It’s the part of the body that touches
outside so to speak—handles money, the railing
of stairways, public places—so it’s the
dirty part of the body. If you observe people eating
at McDonald’s, you’ll find people holding
on to the wrapping when they eat the food. When ice
cream was introduced, they came up with a cup holder
so you didn’t have to touch the cone.
L: Also, you mentioned about sipping a beverage with
a straw as revolutionary too.
Next: Globalism
and the Japan/United States Food Market
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