Food Education and Rural Resilience in Japan: Nourishing National Identity (1) (Consumption and Sustainability in Asia)

By:

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis
Food education initiatives exist worldwide, but Japan remains unique with its food education law known as shokuiku. The country’s impressive health metrics — high life expectancies, low obesity, and affordable health care — often lead observers to praise this approach. This book presents a more nuanced analysis. First, it challenges the assumption that food education is wholly a “good thing” by exposing underlying power mechanisms. Through food diagrams, food fairs, and school lunch programs, government ministries promote both nationalism and traditional gender roles. Second, it explores how food education operates in Japan’s rural regions, where educators champion resilience and food self-sufficiency to alleviate depopulation and economic decline. This emphasis on local food persisted even in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Using Foucault’s concept of governmentality, historical contextualization, and extensive fieldwork in rural Japan, this study reveals the complex political agenda driving food education in a non-Western society.
Copyright:
2025

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
202 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781040786567
Related ISBNs:
9781040780541, 9789462985247, 9781003695813
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
S. Assmann / Taylor & Francis Group
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Wine, Education, Social Studies, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

No Rating Yet