「Food and Drink at a Japanese Standing Bar: An Appetizing Production」@ ICAS 12 - August 28, 2021 (and video on-demand)

I will be presenting at the 12th International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS), held August 24-28, 2021. The host is Kyoto Seika University but it will be a virtual event. The presentations have two parts. The first part is a pre-recorded 15-minute lecture available on-demand at the ICAS website (you must be registered for the conference to view the lectures). The second part is a live discussion session. While my paper has changed a bit since I submitted my proposal, here is the original abstract:

In Japan, food is prominent in documentaries, cooking shows, travel shows, variety shows, dramas, manga, anime, books, magazines, blogs, Facebook and Instagram. This food, not eaten but consumed, provides gratification and knowledge. Many of these media descriptions are set in izakaya (Japanese-style pub) and tachinomiya (Japanese standing bar) that serve B-kyu gurume (B-rank food)—comfort food and/or local food. These are fascinating shops and sites to explore the production (cooking) and consumption (eating) of food.

This presentation is a multimodal visual ethnography of a 40-year-old tachinomiya in Osaka called Tenbun. Tenbun features many kinds of food and drink, a lively and relaxed atmosphere and plenty of colorful characters including the owner, employees and regular customers. Based upon long-term patronage, focused participant-observation and photography, a photo exhibition and other post-fieldwork encounters, my analysis positions the research within the intersection of food anthropology and the popular Japanese “foodie” media. Matthew Longcore discusses how Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsey and other Western food experts feature “ethnographic culinary adventures [that] bring food and film together for the enjoyment, entertainment, and enlightenment of foodies and anthropologists alike” (2019). Current popular TV series about food and drink including Yoshida Rui’s Sakaba hōrō-ki (“Bar Hopping Report,” BS-TBS) and Kodoku no Gurume (“The Solitary Gourmet,” TV Tokyo), and others, will be described and analyzed to show that media portrayals are another form of production, that of information and recreation, that is “good to think” (Levi-Strauss 1962), “communicated” (Barthes 1966; Dusselier 2009) and “shared among people” (Cheung 2002).

My video: available on demand before, during and after the conference until October 15.

My discussion session: Food, Taste and Memory
Saturday, August 28, 2021, 17:15-18:15 (Japan time).

Chair: Floper Gershwin Manuel, Assistant Professor, Central Luzon State University, Philippines

Food and Drink at a Japanese Standing Bar: An Appetizing Production
Presenter: Steven C. Fedorowicz – Kansai Gaidai University

White Rice vs. Dark Bread: Inheriting and Crafting Rural Identity, Local Heritage and Sustainable Future in China and Estonia
Presenter: Siyun Wu – Leiden University - Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Farming Conditions of Draught Cattle in Western Japan During 19th Century
Presenter: Akiyo HERLEDANT-KUBO – INALCO

Conference information and a complete program schedule can be found at the ICAS website.

url: https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/ICAS12/

For more information about the Tenbun/tachinomiya project:

url: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2016/01/photo-exhibition-and-visual-ethnography.html

Even more on the project: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/12/behind-scenestenbun-closingpresentation.html