Japanese vs. American Food Culture

The following is an analysis I wrote for an intercultural communication class that I took at Utah State University during the autumn of 2010.  It's not my most polished work, but it gives a decent comparison.

What Food Says About the Cultures of America and Japan 

Introduction

Food is important.  It is necessary for survival of any living creature.  For a plant, it could be a combination of sunlight and nutrients pulled from the soil.  For an animal, it is either from a plant, or another animal.  Different species might eat drastically different things.  Likewise, what humans eat can vary greatly in different cultures and in diverse parts of the world.  But more than the what, the how also differs greatly.  Eating customs and manners can be completely different in two countries, even if the principles stay the same.

            There are two countries that have long been the great economic powers of the world. The United States of America and the State of Japan share some things in common, but in others, they are very different.  America is the top economic power.  Japan is now the third largest, having just been surpassed by China (Hamlin & Yanping, 2010).  In earlier days, the two countries were rivals who became bitter enemies with the Second World War.  After Japan lost, and after the United States withdrew their occupation, the two countries developed a relationship of cooperation and interdependency.  The relationship has not always been perfect within the last sixty years, but overall it has been amiable (Dolan & Worden, n.d.). These countries share much, but also diverge in a myriad of ways.  Food is one thing that is vastly different within the two empires.

Culture is Historically Shared

These two great powers come from vastly different backgrounds, which shows in their food culture. The United States of America is a western society, born of the British and of Western Europe.  Japan, while being one of the most Westernized Asian countries, is nevertheless an Asian country at its core as well as a daughter of China.  The diet, and the manners are similar to their forbears.  Americans generally eat a lot a beef and potatoes, like the British. They eat lots of bread, and drink milk.  They use forks and knives.  They have similar manners.  The Japanese use chopsticks and eat loads of rice, just like the Chinese.  Bread and milk are a fairly recent development in Japan.  These new traditions were possibly brought over by the original Portuguese, but only really gained hold after the post World War Two American occupation.

Mastery vs. Adaptive

            When it comes to food, the United States tends to exert a Mastery view over food while Japan tends to be much more Adaptive.  In the book, “Among Cultures (2005),” Bradford Hall states that:

The mastery view of nature refers to the idea that we can and sensibly should control the world around us, or in other words, conquer the wilderness. … Another way the mastery view is demonstrated is by human efforts in actively trying to change the environment.  Some cultures take an adaptive or harmonious attitude toward the world around them. … that refers to a type of balance in life that encourages an adaptive worldview (42-43).

America is the descendent of colonizers, and they use the traditions brought over by their ancestors.  They raise animals and plant crops that are not native to the land.  They also experiment more in the production of their food.  American food now has a lot of chemicals and preservatives.  Some candy or juice has nothing natural in it at all.  On the other hand, Japanese food tends to be much more natural.

Japan was never a colony in the way that the United States was one.  Most of the food was developed in a much more organic way.  Rice was introduced by the Chinese a couple of millennia or more ago, and is a main staple (Japanese Food Culture, 2009, p. 1).  The sea surrounds Japan, and the people use a lot of what is found there.  Seaweed is used in many dishes, and there is rarely a meal without any seafood.  Food is also very seasonal.  The people tend to eat things only when it is in season (History of Japanese Cuisine, 2000).

Individualistic vs. Collectivist

            Both places have school lunches, but they differ greatly in some aspects.  School lunch is very revealing how America is a place of individuals, while Japan is a collectivist society.  In America, classes tend to go in the lunchroom as a group, but the group fractures as soon as it passes through the doors. People go and sit with their friends, or find a corner away from others who make them unwelcome.  In Japan, there is assigned seating.  Girls and boys will sit without the self-imposed gender segregation you might find in American schools.

In America, there might be a few choices to choose from, and if a child does not like a particular thing, he will not eat it, and it will end up going to the refuse.  In Japan, all children will receive the same thing, and there is no garbage for leftover food.  The children will eat everything that is given to them.  It is expected, and it happens.  Americans seem to assert their individuality by picking and choosing, and even refusing when it doesn’t meet their tastes.  The Japanese act together, and no one puts their dislikes above the whole.

Monochronic and Polychronic

            In America, the school lunch starts with a bell releasing the students from class.  When it is over, another bell rings signaling that students need to go back to class.  Then yet another bell rings signaling that class is starting.  The clock is the master in America.  If one needs to eat but also needs to be somewhere, it is perfectly acceptable to eat on the run.  In America, you will see people eating in their car, as they’re walking, or in other circumstances.  Due to this enslavement to time, America is basically the Mecca of Fast Food restaurants.

            While an American is perfectly at home eating wherever they can, the Japanese are not.  It is extremely rude to eat or even drink while walking.  Part of this comes from a polychronic inheritance, while part of it comes from the collectivist side of things.  A Japanese person once explained to me that eating while walking makes a mess of the community.

            The Japanese are very punctual and they seem very monochronic.  This comes from the belief that it is rude to misuse other’s time.  However, while they appear it, they are not completely or even truly monochronic.  Historically they are polychronic.  And although they do have a respect for time, things take as much time as is required (Monochronic or Polychronic).

Values and Norms

            The Americans and the Japanese share many of the same values although they are expressed in drastically different ways.  One example of this is their manners.  Manners are valued in both cultures, even though it seems less and less in American culture.

            In America it is considered polite to be quiet when eating food.  One shouldn’t slurp, burp, chew loudly, or make lots of noise.  It is bad manners to talk while food is within the mouth.  It is bad manners to chew with an open mouth.  It is basically bad manners to do anything that would lessen someone else’s enjoyment.  It is impolite to reach across someone to grab something.  America is almost collectivist when it comes to eating manners.

            In Japan, manners seem almost individualistic in some ways.  It shows that the food is enjoyable if one slurps, chews loudly, etc.  It is still bad manners to burp. It is not impolite to talk with food inside one’s mouth; it is not impolite to eat with one’s mouth open.  A Japanese person once told me that it is more polite to just reach across the table for something you need instead of disrupting someone else to have them get it for you.

            The value is good manners, but the norm is to do it in almost an opposing way to the other country.

Conclusion

            The food in America has a lot of beef, a lot of wheat, and a lot of sugar.  Food is stabbed with a fork, cut with a knife, and then lifted to a mouth from a large plate that rests squarely on a table.  In Japan, bits of fish, noodles, or rice are pinched by a pair of chopsticks, and then taken out of a bowl or dish that has been lifted halfway to the person’s mouth.  In America, people are often large, with broad features and fair hair.  They sit on tall chairs around high tables.  In Japan, the people are small and dark with enchanting eyes.  They might sit at a tall table, or they might sit cross-legged on the floor by a low table (Japanese Table Manners, 2008).  These two nations generally look worlds apart in appearance, and in what and how they eat.

            These nations seem vastly dissimilar, and these differences in just their food cultures gives light to how their entire cultures operate.  What they eat, and how they eat it show that America is a mastery, individualistic, and monochronic culture.  On the flip side, Japan’s food and mannerisms show that it is an adaptive, collectivist culture with a polychronic outlook that is almost monochronic.  Even with the differences, they still have some things in common, including values.

References

Dolan, R. E., & Worden, R. L. (Eds.). (n.d.). Japan - Relations with the United States. Country Studies. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://countrystudies.us/japan/132.htm

Hall, B. J. (2005). Among Cultures: the Challenge of Communication (Second ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Hamlin, K., & Yanping, L. (2010, August 16). China Overtakes Japan as World's Second-Biggest Economy - Bloomberg. Bloomberg - Business & Financial News, Breaking News Headlines. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-16/china-economy-passes-japan-s-in-second-quarter-capping-three-decade-rise.html

History of Japanese Cuisine. (2000). AsiaRecipe.com. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://asiarecipe.com/japeathistory.html

Japanese Food Culture. (2009). Web Japan. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://web-japan.org/factsheet/en/pdf/36JapFoodCulture.pdf

Japanese Table Manners. (2008, May 6). Japan-guide.com - Japan Travel and Living Guide. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2005.html

Monochronic or Polychronic – The AM Way Wiki. (n.d.). The AM Way Wiki. Retrieved November, 2010, from http://www.theamway.com/wikis/amway/index.php?title=Monochronic_or_Polychronic#Japan