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You Are Not What You Eat: Marginalized Identities in "Shin'ya Shokudo"

Mon, June 22, 11:00am to 1:00pm, South Building, Floor: 5th Floor, S519

Abstract

Works in food studies have complicated the relationship between cuisine and national identity, revealing racial and class dynamics within the construction of “national” dishes. While such works range in discipline from history and film to ethnic studies and anthropology, few examine how representations of links between food and nation shift across different cultural forms. This paper addresses how a manga-to-television adaptation maintains that food can be shared among individuals from different communities, while excluding those individuals from the nation-state beyond the space of eating. Specifically, it examines the Japanese TV show Shin’ya shokudō (Late-night Diner), based on the manga by Abe Yarō first published in 2004. While previous scholarship has explored how the show showcases the Japanese nation-state through its cuisine, this paper explores the show’s representation of characters from marginalized communities and the space in which they connect with others through food. I argue that, while the manga (which is also published in Chinese translation) depicts characters establishing relationships across lines of class and sexuality through sharing everyday, “Japanese” foods, the TV show admits the characters (from the underside of Tokyo’s Shinjuku area—yakuza, sex worker, gay bar proprietor, etc.) into the national community only within the space of the diner, and not beyond. By analyzing the adaptation, this paper reveals how cultural texts that feature national cuisine permit or deny inclusion of marginalized communities into the nation depending on their target market (mainstream, overseas, etc.), thus controlling the display of who has claim to a Japanese identity.

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