http://www.shifteast.com/new-kyushu-shinkansen-targets-rural-nostalgia/
New Shinkansen Targets Rural Nostalgia
“JR is here helping to create buzz about the new railway service by building up a digital community. Interestingly, by getting people from the different regions to upload pictures it connects remote groups together in much the same way as the actual train will do.”
“The appeal for the locals is evident enough: being able to see snapshots of their homes celebrated and shared. But Tokyo users are of course also free to upload pictures they took when visiting the area and no doubt these campaigns stimulate a kind of sentimental pique, even if the practical benefits of the new line are not primarily affecting them. Nostalgia is a powerful market force!”
My thoughts:
Since I’m just collecting little blips to support my overall idea, I was relatively pleased to stumble across this one. Not only does it bring up contrast between Tokyo and Kyushu again, but it brings up NOSTALGIA which is another point I think could be very powerful. The idea of old Japan that I’ve mentioned before is linked with this nostalgia for rural Japan. It is fairly recent that people have run away into the cities and are able to live this double life by occasionally paying visits to family in the countryside (perhaps collecting hand made treats, home grown vegetables etc..., just enough to keep them linked to their childhood or parents’ lives).
The first quote also I feel supports the idea of the imagined community. This kind of came up in the ramen article we read. The “Gendered Space in Virtual Consumption” section supports this idea of communities. I feel that there is a difference between virtual and imagined, however, the internet acts as a place for this imagined community to be defined and created, virtually.
http://books.google.com/books?id=iz06xSmiDqMC&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=Kyushu+and+Tokyo+regional+differences&source=bl&ots=7Zz_rsmNMk&sig=WcYusIg_4VotIUdGV7TCsZfzqpw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3-6JUMytGon10gHQm4GgCg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Kyushu%20and%20Tokyo%20regional%20differences&f=false
Key Geography New Places (Geography textbook Key Stage 3 (11-14 yr olds))
In a cartoon of a section called “Recent Changes in Kyushu” (where the reasons of late industrial boom of Kyushu during the 1980s are explained etc...) there are tourists from Tokyo sayings things about their experience in Kyushu:
“The air is cleaner and the sky is clearer then in Tokyo.”
“I want to the see the active volcanoes in the National Parks.”
“I want to see the cherry blossom in early Spring and the changing leaves in Autumn.”
“The climate is warmer in winter and more healthy all year than in Tokyo.”
“I want to visit the health spas and bathe in the hot sands.”
Two Regions Compared:
In this section there are comparisons such as the difference in “Childhood Years” (Tokyo, parents don’t come home until late, they don’t spend much time outdoors and resort to games/tv while in Kyushu, most people are farmers and children are therefore raised by grandparents and spend a lot of time with bugs and what not) there is also a chart for “Marriage” (in Tokyo it is expensive to get on your feet so usually people marry later while in the country young women go away to the cities for work so there is a shortage).
My Thoughts:
I think first of all, the fact that we are comparing Kyushu and Tokyo is interesting because Kyushu is an entire island with 7 prefectures while Tokyo a single prefecture (though a major one). For the purpose of making a clear cut distinction of the difference between rural and urban Japan, I suppose it makes sense (especially since this is a textbook for middle school children). This does support where this imagined Kyushu might originate. I believe this is a European textbook, but it doesn’t really matter - what does matter is the Kyushu is already being cast as a generally agricultural area, preserved ideas due to the Japan’s historical spiritual connection to nature. Though this has little to do with food by words alone, we can assume that the children raised by their grandparents in the countryside as they spend time outdoors will be the ones to eat more basic, earthy meals made with produce from their home or nearby versus a Tokyo child who has little access to much other than the endless supply of restaurants at their fingertips - immediately changing the way in which a child will view foodways in their lives. Perhaps as a Kyushu child will grow up with treats of regional ikinaridango, hakata ramen, karashi lenkon, Kagoshima’s pork and more - that are specific to that area for the most part - while a child from Tokyo will know of general food items like okonokiyaki, tonkotsu ramen (hakata), sukiyaki, ramen etc...without any pride/definition to where it belongs in the foodways. Rather, Tokyo is the hub for generalizations in food - with little access to the smaller delights from other regions (making food tourism very appealing OR unappealing).
http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/japan.htm
The Cambridge World History of Food
Japan: Rice and Staple Food
“Peasants living in mountain areas with low rice productivity, along with poor people in general, formerly mixed millet with rice. The sweet potato, introduced in the eighteenth century, also became popular as a staple in the south of Japan, where it supplemented a low yield of rice. However, even the poor cooked pure boiled rice and pounded rice cake from pure glutinous rice for important meals.”
“Noodles made from flour as a light lunch or snack became popular during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and consumption increased considerably after the seventeenth century, when a processing technique for buckwheat noodles (soba) was developed in Edo, now Tokyo. Since then, soba has become popular mainly in eastern Japan, where Tokyo is located, whereas udon noodles (made from flour) have always been popular in western Japan (Ishige 1991a).”
‘Paddy-field rice cultivation was then under way except in the northern Ainu-dominated region of Hokkaido and in the southern Okinawa islands, an island chain between Kyu¯mshu¯ (the southernmost main island of Japan) and Taiwan.”
My Thoughts:
I’m thinking that for picking specific foodways for each area, this might help a little. I feel that the sweet potato is very linked to Southern Japan, so I will try and make that my Kyushu food to hone in on. Possibly soba for Tokyo? In some ways, though, I'd like to make a point that the Kanto region is more of a mix.
http://blog.alientimes.org/2012/02/yaki-imo-roasted-sweet-potatoes-provide-iconic-tastes-textures-colors-and-sounds-of-japanese-autumn-and-winter/
Yaki Imo Provide Iconic tastes, textures, colors, and SOUNDS of Japanese autumn and winter
“Here in Japan, sweet potatoes ( SATSUMA IMO) are a major part of the food culture, and culture in general- especially important in autumn and winter.”
“Harvested in late October and through November, it is common for the Japanese to hold sweet potato roasting events- using the fallen leaves as fuel! Wrapping the freshly harvested spuds in aluminun foil, and gazing into the fire amid the swirling smoke is one the classic ways of celebrating autumn.”
“The name SATSUMA IMO (薩摩芋) directly translated means the SATSUMA DOMAIN`S POTATO, and this sheds some light on the story of how this food came into Japan. The Satsuma Domain ( what is now Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu) once controlled the Ryukyu Islands ( Okinawa), to which the sweet potato had arrived, after having been first cultivated in the foothills of the Andes Mountains ( or perhaps somewhere in Mexico) thousands of years ago....It was the Satsuma Clan which soon after, introduced it to the rest of Japan in the late 16th or early 17th century.”
“After the Meiji Restoation of 1968, there was a huge YAKI IMO boom, which seems to have lasted up to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. In 1905, there were 900 establishments in the capital specializing in them.”
“After reconstruction, a craze for everything modern and especially foreign set in, and for a long while roasted sweet potatoes were considered too rustic, and old fashioned- in other words CORNY.”
“As I have mentioned above, with the hardships of the war, the SATSUMA IMO came back again to regain its former prominence.”
“And of course. there are many other ways that the sweet potato is prepared in Japanese cuisine besides roasting. One of my favorites is called DAIGAKU IMO- with large french- fry shaped slices or chunks, coated with a sugary glaze and a dash of sesame seeds.”
“In Tsukuba, we are lucky to have an abundance of high grade locally grown sweet potatoes. Not only can you get them from the traditional trucks, but there are some specialty shops – extremely atmospheric, which sell ONLY sweet potatoes!”
My Thoughts
I feel that despite the fact that this is a blog with some misspellings and what not, it provides some pretty good information. First of all, this blog is about “Culture, Food, Health, History, Life in Tsukuba” (which is a city in the Kanto Region) and therefore makes the foodway relationship of Kyushu/Kanto more interesting. Especially when as in the last quote, it has in fact become a local specialty in Tsubaka. Though this food was brought through southern Japan, it is now a delicacy throughout Japan. I also think that the “come back” that satsumaimo made could be connected to the feeling that Japan was growing apart from its “traditional” rituals (like shokuiku). Also, I have to say I love daigaku-imo, and the only context I really saw it in was at Kaitenzushi. Therefore, sweet potatoes have changed their fast food ways similarly to sushi!
I still need a lot more info on Hokkaido and to develop more on the Kanto region. As general form of the paper and the three areas I'm thinking that I will point out geography, bring up a certain food, explain the foodways there then discuss how these foodways are supported/created by the imagined community of the area. Hopefully it works out...
New Shinkansen Targets Rural Nostalgia
“JR is here helping to create buzz about the new railway service by building up a digital community. Interestingly, by getting people from the different regions to upload pictures it connects remote groups together in much the same way as the actual train will do.”
“The appeal for the locals is evident enough: being able to see snapshots of their homes celebrated and shared. But Tokyo users are of course also free to upload pictures they took when visiting the area and no doubt these campaigns stimulate a kind of sentimental pique, even if the practical benefits of the new line are not primarily affecting them. Nostalgia is a powerful market force!”
My thoughts:
Since I’m just collecting little blips to support my overall idea, I was relatively pleased to stumble across this one. Not only does it bring up contrast between Tokyo and Kyushu again, but it brings up NOSTALGIA which is another point I think could be very powerful. The idea of old Japan that I’ve mentioned before is linked with this nostalgia for rural Japan. It is fairly recent that people have run away into the cities and are able to live this double life by occasionally paying visits to family in the countryside (perhaps collecting hand made treats, home grown vegetables etc..., just enough to keep them linked to their childhood or parents’ lives).
The first quote also I feel supports the idea of the imagined community. This kind of came up in the ramen article we read. The “Gendered Space in Virtual Consumption” section supports this idea of communities. I feel that there is a difference between virtual and imagined, however, the internet acts as a place for this imagined community to be defined and created, virtually.
http://books.google.com/books?id=iz06xSmiDqMC&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=Kyushu+and+Tokyo+regional+differences&source=bl&ots=7Zz_rsmNMk&sig=WcYusIg_4VotIUdGV7TCsZfzqpw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3-6JUMytGon10gHQm4GgCg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Kyushu%20and%20Tokyo%20regional%20differences&f=false
Key Geography New Places (Geography textbook Key Stage 3 (11-14 yr olds))
In a cartoon of a section called “Recent Changes in Kyushu” (where the reasons of late industrial boom of Kyushu during the 1980s are explained etc...) there are tourists from Tokyo sayings things about their experience in Kyushu:
“The air is cleaner and the sky is clearer then in Tokyo.”
“I want to the see the active volcanoes in the National Parks.”
“I want to see the cherry blossom in early Spring and the changing leaves in Autumn.”
“The climate is warmer in winter and more healthy all year than in Tokyo.”
“I want to visit the health spas and bathe in the hot sands.”
Two Regions Compared:
In this section there are comparisons such as the difference in “Childhood Years” (Tokyo, parents don’t come home until late, they don’t spend much time outdoors and resort to games/tv while in Kyushu, most people are farmers and children are therefore raised by grandparents and spend a lot of time with bugs and what not) there is also a chart for “Marriage” (in Tokyo it is expensive to get on your feet so usually people marry later while in the country young women go away to the cities for work so there is a shortage).
My Thoughts:
I think first of all, the fact that we are comparing Kyushu and Tokyo is interesting because Kyushu is an entire island with 7 prefectures while Tokyo a single prefecture (though a major one). For the purpose of making a clear cut distinction of the difference between rural and urban Japan, I suppose it makes sense (especially since this is a textbook for middle school children). This does support where this imagined Kyushu might originate. I believe this is a European textbook, but it doesn’t really matter - what does matter is the Kyushu is already being cast as a generally agricultural area, preserved ideas due to the Japan’s historical spiritual connection to nature. Though this has little to do with food by words alone, we can assume that the children raised by their grandparents in the countryside as they spend time outdoors will be the ones to eat more basic, earthy meals made with produce from their home or nearby versus a Tokyo child who has little access to much other than the endless supply of restaurants at their fingertips - immediately changing the way in which a child will view foodways in their lives. Perhaps as a Kyushu child will grow up with treats of regional ikinaridango, hakata ramen, karashi lenkon, Kagoshima’s pork and more - that are specific to that area for the most part - while a child from Tokyo will know of general food items like okonokiyaki, tonkotsu ramen (hakata), sukiyaki, ramen etc...without any pride/definition to where it belongs in the foodways. Rather, Tokyo is the hub for generalizations in food - with little access to the smaller delights from other regions (making food tourism very appealing OR unappealing).
http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/japan.htm
The Cambridge World History of Food
Japan: Rice and Staple Food
“Peasants living in mountain areas with low rice productivity, along with poor people in general, formerly mixed millet with rice. The sweet potato, introduced in the eighteenth century, also became popular as a staple in the south of Japan, where it supplemented a low yield of rice. However, even the poor cooked pure boiled rice and pounded rice cake from pure glutinous rice for important meals.”
“Noodles made from flour as a light lunch or snack became popular during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and consumption increased considerably after the seventeenth century, when a processing technique for buckwheat noodles (soba) was developed in Edo, now Tokyo. Since then, soba has become popular mainly in eastern Japan, where Tokyo is located, whereas udon noodles (made from flour) have always been popular in western Japan (Ishige 1991a).”
‘Paddy-field rice cultivation was then under way except in the northern Ainu-dominated region of Hokkaido and in the southern Okinawa islands, an island chain between Kyu¯mshu¯ (the southernmost main island of Japan) and Taiwan.”
My Thoughts:
I’m thinking that for picking specific foodways for each area, this might help a little. I feel that the sweet potato is very linked to Southern Japan, so I will try and make that my Kyushu food to hone in on. Possibly soba for Tokyo? In some ways, though, I'd like to make a point that the Kanto region is more of a mix.
http://blog.alientimes.org/2012/02/yaki-imo-roasted-sweet-potatoes-provide-iconic-tastes-textures-colors-and-sounds-of-japanese-autumn-and-winter/
Yaki Imo Provide Iconic tastes, textures, colors, and SOUNDS of Japanese autumn and winter
“Here in Japan, sweet potatoes ( SATSUMA IMO) are a major part of the food culture, and culture in general- especially important in autumn and winter.”
“Harvested in late October and through November, it is common for the Japanese to hold sweet potato roasting events- using the fallen leaves as fuel! Wrapping the freshly harvested spuds in aluminun foil, and gazing into the fire amid the swirling smoke is one the classic ways of celebrating autumn.”
“The name SATSUMA IMO (薩摩芋) directly translated means the SATSUMA DOMAIN`S POTATO, and this sheds some light on the story of how this food came into Japan. The Satsuma Domain ( what is now Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu) once controlled the Ryukyu Islands ( Okinawa), to which the sweet potato had arrived, after having been first cultivated in the foothills of the Andes Mountains ( or perhaps somewhere in Mexico) thousands of years ago....It was the Satsuma Clan which soon after, introduced it to the rest of Japan in the late 16th or early 17th century.”
“After the Meiji Restoation of 1968, there was a huge YAKI IMO boom, which seems to have lasted up to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. In 1905, there were 900 establishments in the capital specializing in them.”
“After reconstruction, a craze for everything modern and especially foreign set in, and for a long while roasted sweet potatoes were considered too rustic, and old fashioned- in other words CORNY.”
“As I have mentioned above, with the hardships of the war, the SATSUMA IMO came back again to regain its former prominence.”
“And of course. there are many other ways that the sweet potato is prepared in Japanese cuisine besides roasting. One of my favorites is called DAIGAKU IMO- with large french- fry shaped slices or chunks, coated with a sugary glaze and a dash of sesame seeds.”
“In Tsukuba, we are lucky to have an abundance of high grade locally grown sweet potatoes. Not only can you get them from the traditional trucks, but there are some specialty shops – extremely atmospheric, which sell ONLY sweet potatoes!”
My Thoughts
I feel that despite the fact that this is a blog with some misspellings and what not, it provides some pretty good information. First of all, this blog is about “Culture, Food, Health, History, Life in Tsukuba” (which is a city in the Kanto Region) and therefore makes the foodway relationship of Kyushu/Kanto more interesting. Especially when as in the last quote, it has in fact become a local specialty in Tsubaka. Though this food was brought through southern Japan, it is now a delicacy throughout Japan. I also think that the “come back” that satsumaimo made could be connected to the feeling that Japan was growing apart from its “traditional” rituals (like shokuiku). Also, I have to say I love daigaku-imo, and the only context I really saw it in was at Kaitenzushi. Therefore, sweet potatoes have changed their fast food ways similarly to sushi!
I still need a lot more info on Hokkaido and to develop more on the Kanto region. As general form of the paper and the three areas I'm thinking that I will point out geography, bring up a certain food, explain the foodways there then discuss how these foodways are supported/created by the imagined community of the area. Hopefully it works out...
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