Recently, the Japanese cuisine has gained new popularity in German cities. After the sushi boom of the early 2000s, new culinary trends from Japan such as noodle soups, green-tea variations, sweets and pastries are attracting urban consumers. Especially in Berlin, young (Japanese) women interpret Japanese food in new ways as entrepreneurs or employees in the food businesses. The majority of consumers of these new food trends is also female. However, scholarship on culinary globalization, does not often consider women in their role as innovative actors who set new food trends, but rather as family members who assist in the family food business. To fill this gap, this workshop focuses on the interrelation of gender, migration and Japanese food and compares two German cities, both with a rather large Japanese community: Berlin and Düsseldorf. The central question of this workshop deals with the role of gender and gender relations in Berlin’s and Düsseldorf’s Japanese foodscapes.

The workshop is based on two projects on Japanese foodscapes in Berlin and Düsseldorf at FU Berlin and HHU Düsseldorf. In both projects, students carried out their own research projects and presented their results in short films. These films will be screened and discussed during the workshop and will be contextualized by presentations on culinary globalization and discussions on method teaching in Japanese Studies.

Please register until June 9 with Cornelia Reiher: cornelia.reiher@fu-berlin.de

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Programme

9:30       Welcome and Introduction - Cornelia Reiher, FU Berlin

 

9:45       Keynotes

Eating differently – The History of ‘Ethnic’ Restaurants in (West) Germany - Maren Möhring, Universität Leipzig

Consuming and Performing Japaneseness in China: The Gendered Urban Imaginary in Shanghai’s Japanese Restaurant Scene - James Farrer, Sophia University Tokyo

 

11:00    Coffee break

 

11:30    Panel: Japanese Cuisine and Diaspora in Germany

 

Japanese Diaspora in Germany - History and Theory - Christian Tagsold, HHU Düsseldorf

Dreaming to be a chef? - Young women in the Japanese Gastronomy in Düsseldorf - Nora Kottmann, HHU Düsseldorf

(Japanese) Women in Berlin’s (Japanese) Foodscape - Cornelia Reiher, FU Berlin

 

13:00     Lunch break

14:00    Film Screening and Discussion:Students‘ video projects on Japanese foodscapes in Berlin and Düsseldorf (in German)

Frauen in der japanischen Küche in Düsseldorf - Zwei Fallbeispiele (Rebecca Glasmacher, Pia Nagata, Miyuki Schäfer, HHU Düsseldorf)

Das Bistro Kombu - Ein ‚Japanese-Style-Imbiss‘ (Nico Schmid, Sidoni von Plötz, HHU Düsseldorf)

Matcha Latte in Berlin (Michelle Liebheit, Valeriia Do, Annemarie Günzel und Nina Larsen, FU Berlin)

Die japanische Bäckerei Kame und ihre Kunden (Henrike Kupsch, Anastasia Kulikova, Sarah Kratzmann, FU Berlin)

Nippons Nudelnetzwerke in Berlin (Patrick Schneider und Dario Streich, FU Berlin)

 

16:00    Coffee break

16:30    Roundtable: Teaching methods in Japanese Studies (in German)

Nora Kottmann, Christian Tagsold, HHU Düsseldorf

Cosima Wagner, Matthias Zachmann und Verena Blechinger-Talcott, FU Berlin

Moderation: Cornelia Reiher, FU Berlin

17:30    Wrap Up

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Organisation: Cornelia Reiher (FU Berlin) In cooperation with: Nora Kottmann und Christian Tagsold (HHU Düsseldorf) With support of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies, FU Berlin’s Department of History and Cultural Studies‘ Fund for the Promotion of Women and HHU Düsseldorf