Introduction to "Exploring Rice"

A grain of rice may be small in size, but these grains constitute the primary crop for over half of the world's population. Second only to corn and wheat in highest annual harvest yield (1). In east and southeast Asia, short-grained rice is the main grain harvest; in place such as Cambodia, where as much as 90% of the agriculture is dedicated entirely to rice production (2), rice is the primary harvest, period. In Japan, rice follows the pattern as both a staple and a main agricultural product. This follows a long-seated tradition. Rice has been consumed for over a thousand years in Japan, and over the centuries it has become intertwined to the culture and psyche of Japan itself (3).

My goal through this blog is to learn, and share my learning, about what rice signifies in contemporary Japan. Ultimately I will posit the questions: "Is rice linked to identity? If so, what happens to both rice and the Japanese identity when outside factors come into play? What does that look like historically and contemporaneously?" Rather than definitively answering these questions, I hope to cast light on ways that many answers might be approached.

To do this, I will visit several different restaurants in Tokyo, investigating unusual usage of rice as a mediator between domestic and foreign identities (some might say that this is a study of the concepts "uchi" and "soto" but I will leave that to him to determine). At each establishment, I will be considering the way rice is a signifier of 'Japanese-ness' even in the context of an otherwise foreign dish or foodstuff.

This is my project on the topics of "delicious" and "change" for Gavin Whitelaw's JSPS101 Introduction to Japan Studies course in Winter term of 2009/2010.

Please feel free to comment, question, or critique.

Thanks,

Casey Walker
International Christian University of Tokyo
c111752x


Source for Agricultural statistics:
(1) United States Department of Agriculture (http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rice/background.htm)
(2) International Rice Research Institute (http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/default.htm)

(3) Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. 1994. Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time. Princeton: Princeton University Press.