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Precis: " There's something fishy about that sushi: how Japan interprets the global sushi boom" (2011) by Rumi Sakamoto and Matthew Allen

Rumi Sakamoto and Matthew Allen, in their paper “There’s something fishy about that sushi: how Japan interprets the global sushi boom” (2011), examines the attempts to re-nationalise global sushi, state-wise in Japan and through the media as a strategic move to enhance the cultural pride and use for soft power and cultural diplomacy as a means to construct and reconstruct Japanese identity and promotion of national interest within the context of globalization. They analyse Japanese responses to “foreigners consuming sushi” in order to provide insights into the relationship between food, national culture, authentic and globalisation. In doing so, they also highlight the societal environment that shaped the movement for a “healthy diet” that pushed sushi as a leading alternative food in the West, as well as how the composition of the food has adapted and changed per location. They also provide legal state actions and laws enacted to preserve the “pure Japanese” image of the food which can be constituted as a form of culinary nationalism. This is seen through the Japanese gaze over the overseas “sushi boom” that wishes to incorporate ownership of culture, not just on its authentic form, but also in its multiple, adapted, creative, hybrid and fusion forms. This paper was presented in Japan Forum 2011 and is intended for those in the international relations field, however, it is written clearly, concisely and intriguingly that anyone may be able to understand, be amused and learn from it.

(November 29, 2016)

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