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Sushi is a widely consumed food in North America. Along with other ethnic cuisine and food items it is subject to fusion and localization. This thesis explores the transformation of sushi in Victoria, BC, on the basis of an extensive survey, participant observation, and interviews with producers and consumers. The physical and symbolic transformation of sushi is analyzed both from the vantage point of business and cultural trends. It is shown that sushi became a food item different to what is known as sushi in Japan. This makes Victoria as one of the North American markets which threatens the Japanese national identity. This study thus not only reveals the local process of transformation of sushi but also shows how a food item becomes a multi-vocal symbol. While consumed by North Americans as healthy and exotic in its transformed style, it becomes a politically significant concern of national identity in Japan.

Sushi is a widely consumed food in North America. Along with other ethnic cuisine and food items it is subject to fusion and localization. This thesis explores the transformation of sushi in Victoria, BC, on the basis of an extensive survey, participant observation, and interviews with producers and consumers. The physical and symbolic transformation of sushi is analyzed both from the vantage point of business and cultural trends. It is shown that sushi became a food item different to what is known as sushi in Japan. This makes Victoria as one of the North American markets which threatens the Japanese national identity. This study thus not only reveals the local process of transformation of sushi but also shows how a food item becomes a multi-vocal symbol. While consumed by North Americans as healthy and exotic in its transformed style, it becomes a politically significant concern of national identity in Japan.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:00:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2772.pdf: 12938732 bytes, checksum: 3ecd3cfd85466efccfc83dfa4d33ca6d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-07 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The focus of my recearch was the negotiation of 'identity' for Japanese, Japanese descendants, and people without Japanese ancestry living in Brazil with a vehicle a sport called Kendo [Japanese fencing]. In this martial practice noticed a disciplining of the body and attitudes that consciously and unconsciously defines negotiations of 'identity and difference' established social relationships activated by practitioners. The research problem was located as the negotiation process of 'Japanese identity' and its moral postulate in Brazil with regard to this martial practice. And as she and all ethical and moral training in due to contact with immigrant teachers provide support for such a Japanese ontology. The hypothesis that I favor is the hallmark of an unconscious system of value that allows the classification in terms of proximity and distance in relation to a particular notion of Japaneseness. In short, there are characters to biological properties which make the ratings, but the closer it is knowledge of the Japanese. Kendo, taken as an unit of analysis is a machine, a device of Japaneseness - that is, a mechanism for the production of 'Japanese' myth and rith speeches, re-designed and updated from an objective and subjective body-size. / O foco de minha pesquisa foi a negociação de 'identidades' para japoneses, descendentes de japoneses e pessoas sem ascendência nipônica residentes no Brasil tendo por veículo uma prática esportiva designada por Kendo [esgrima japonesa]. Nesta prática marcial observo uma disciplinarização do corpo e das atitudes que delimita consciente e inconscientemente uma negociação de 'identidade e diferença' demonstrada nas relações sociais ativadas pelos praticantes. O problema da pesquisa foi situar como se processa a negociação da 'identidade japonesa e seu postulado moral no Brasil no tocante a esta prática corporal-marcial. E como ela e o conjunto ético-moral decorrente do treinamento e do contato com professores imigrantes fornecem um suporte a essa ontologia nipônica. A hipótese que defendo é a indicação de um sistema inconsciente de valor que permite a classificação em termos de proximidade e distância em relação a uma dada atualização de japonesidade. Em suma, não são os caracteres biológico-fenotipicos que fazem as classificações, mas sim, quanto mais próximo se está dos conhecimentos sobre os japoneses. O Kendo, tomado como uma unidade de análise é uma máquina, um dispositivo de japonesidades ou seja, um mecanismo de produção de 'japoneses' e de discursos 'mito-ríticos', re-elaborados e atualizados a partir de uma dimensão corpórea objetiva e subjetiva.

Le 「ma」 est, depuis quelques décennies, un concept dont il est assez souvent question dans les textes portant sur le Japon. Tel le kanji qui le représente, soit un pictogramme qui montre le soleil qui perce entre les deux battants d’une porte, le 「ma」 exprime un entre-deux dynamique et porteur de sens. Après un premier chapitre qui explore les liens entre langue et culture au Japon, quatre chapitres sont consacrés au 「ma」, un premier qui présente un état des lieux, un second qui explore ses précurseurs ainsi que ses formes disciplinaires, sauf en musique et en architecture, traités au chapitre suivant, alors que le dernier chapitre tente de cerner et de définir le 「ma」, et qu’une annexe survole ce qu’il en est en Occident. Le sixième chapitre de la thèse présente la dichotomie 「内・外 uchi-soto」, marqueur premier de l’appartenance à tout groupe au Japon, incluant la nation. Suit un chapitre portant sur la frontière entre le uchi et le soto de la nation japonaise, puis un autre qui explore les formes que prend l’identité nationale japonaise. Le dernier chapitre offre une synthèse. Il en ressort que : - le 「ma」 est un concept associé à un terme importé au début de l’âge classique, mais ce n’est qu’à la transition entre le 戦国 sengoku (mi 15e à fin 16e) et l’ère 江戸時代 Edo (1600-1868) que les conditions seront réunies pour permettre la naissance du concept. Celui-ci restera toutefois presque purement disciplinaire jusqu’à 昭和 Shōwa (1926-1989), après quoi il prendra des formes qu’on peut qualifier d’identitaires, d’abord en opposition à l’Occident au début Shōwa, puis comme ambassadeur d’une identité japonaise consolidée à partir des années 1960. / The concept of 「ma」 has, for the last several decades, been mentioned quite often in texts on Japan. Like the kanji that represents it, a pictogram showing the sun piercing between the two leaves of a door, 「ma」 expresses a dynamic and meaningful in-between. After a first chapter exploring the links between language and culture in Japan, four chapters are devoted to 「ma 」, a first one which presents a portrait of 「ma 」, a second which explores its precursors as well as its disciplinary forms, except in music and in architecture, treated in the next chapter, while the last chapter attempts to identify and define 「ma」, and an appendix covers what has happened in the West. The sixth chapter of the thesis presents the 「内・外 uchi-soto」 dichotomy, the primary marker of belonging for any group in Japan, including the nation. Follows a chapter on the border between the uchi and the soto of the Japanese nation, then another one that explores the forms that Japanese national identity takes. The last chapter provides a synthesis. It is concluded that : - 「ma」 is a concept associated with a term imported at the beginning of the classical age, but it is only at the transition between the 戦国 sengoku (mid 15th to late 16th) and the 江戸時代 Edo era (1600-1868) that the conditions for the birth of the concept were met. However, it remained almost purely disciplinary until 昭和 Shōwa (1926-1989), after which it took forms that can be qualified as identity carriers, first in opposition to the West at the beginning of Shōwa, then as the ambassador of a consolidated Japanese identity from the 1960s. - 「ma 」 is now clearly linked to Japanese national identity, but it never became a star of national identity. It has certain qualities that would perhaps allow it to become one one day, including its links to several artistic disciplines, most of which, moreover, are traditional, but it also has characteristics that could be a problem, notably the difficulties in rationalizing it. - 「ma」 seems to have developed only in Japan, yet it represents a universal reality. The existence of the concept, however, has certainly helped to frame the apprehension of this reality better than without it, thus facilitating its reappropriation in a variety of artistic fields. - 「ma」 represents relatively well the buffer dynamics that one finds at the border between the uchi and the soto of the nation, but the reality is way more complex than what a model resulting from a simple concept would allow. - 「ma」 is not a fundamental and timeless element of Japanese nature, but clearly arose in a specific context, with favourable conditions which might just as well never have happened.