Introduction
Globalization has allowed us to enjoy various dishes worldwide in our daily meals. Japanese traditional cuisine, known as Washoku, has gathered global attention, earning a place on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013 [1]. The traditional dietary culture of the Japanese was considered to have the following features [2], [3]:
- Diversity and freshness of ingredients and respect for their inherent flavors;
- An exceptionally balanced and healthy diet;
- An expression of natural beauty and the changing seasons;
- Close links with annual events.
This unique characteristic has prompted interest from all around the world. In particular, sushi is one of the most recognized forms of Washoku worldwide.
Origin of Sushi
Sushi originated in Southeast Asia as a fish processing method and was said to have been introduced to Japan from China along with rice cultivation [4]. This original form of sushi is called “Narezushi,” which was a method to preserve fish by lactic acid fermentation. “Funazushi,” still made in the coastal areas of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, is considered a good example of this original Narezushi. In this form, rice works as a picking bed and is not intended to be consumed. In the Muromachi period (1336-1573), Narezushi underwent a major change into “Nama-Narezushi,” a type of sushi that was marinated for a relatively short period of a few days and eaten before the rice developed a slightly sour taste. The salty and sour taste of the rice was enjoyed along with the raw fish. As time passed, especially in the Edo period (1603-1867), people desired to eat delicious food as quickly as possible. Rice vinegar became widely available at this time, allowing it to quickly create a sour taste by sprinkling the vinegar on the rice. This is the invention of the prototype of the modern sushi we have in Japan now, where the sushi is served right after the sushi chef combines the rice with fish [4], [5].
Typical Sushi in Japan
Although there are different forms of sushi existing in regions across Japan, three types of sushi are considered the most typical ones: “Nigiri-zushi,” “Gunkan,” and “Maki-zushi.” (Figure 1) Nigiri-Zushi is sushi with a slice of raw fish on vinegred rice with wasabi in between [6]. Gunkan means war-boat and is a ship-shaped sushi roll wrapped in nori, allowing space in the top of the rice to put ingredients that don’t stick to the rice on their own, such as ikura (salmon roe) or sea urchin [7]. Maki-zushi is rolls made with vinegared rice and an ingredient, typically Thunnus, cucumber, dried gourd, or natto (fermented soybeans), rolled within sheets of nori (seaweed) [8]. Nigiri-zushi and Maki-zushi emerged in the Edo period. They spread across the country with the scattering of sushi chefs in Edo (now around Tokyo) due to the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 [9]. Gunkan was invented in 1941 in a sushi restaurant called Kyubey in Ginza, Tokyo.
However, its preparation and presentation vary across cultures and regions from its original style. In this project, we will explore the factors contributing to the global popularity of national foods and examine the differences and adaptations to such a specific dish in the globalized world. Our case study will focus on Japanese sushi.
Methodology
This report employs a comparative approach, integrating data analysis, authors’ insights derived from personal experiences, and a comprehensive literature review to examine the globalization of sushi across diverse regions worldwide.
In this study, two data sets are selected and used. Sushi interest data is sourced from Google Trends search scores, normalized on a scale ranging from 0 to 100 for both time and region [11], serving as a proxy for measuring sushi’s popularity — a metric otherwise challenging to ascertain directly. Another data set — the distribution of the number of Japanese restaurants in the United States is derived from [12]. Both sets of data are processed and visualized using python and geopandas.
Furthermore, this study delves into the origin and evolutionary trajectory of Japanese sushi through the lens of local perspectives, supplemented by photos to show typical sushi in Japan. For the comparative analysis, three distinct case studies — Taiwan, the United States, and emerging regions such as Brazil and Germany — are meticulously selected. The sushi cultures in the three places are very prosperous while being located at different distances from Japan nowadays. Therefore, they are selected as case studies to demonstrate the roles of colonization, localization and immigration in the spread of sushi respectively. Utilizing an extensive literature review approach, a diverse array of sources such as newspapers, blogs, books, dissertations, and research papers specific to each region are included by using online databases such as Google Scholar.
Sushi Interest
Google Trends is a tool that provides insights into the popularity of search terms on Google, which offers real-time data covering the last seven days and non-realtime data dating back to 2004. The data is anonymized, categorized, and aggregated to display global or city-level interest in topics, and it is normalized by dividing each data point by the total searches in the corresponding geography and time range, then scaling it on a range of 0 to 100 [11]. Utilizing Google Trends interest scores for the keyword “sushi” offers a practical and effective approach to examining sushi’s popularity across diverse regions, circumventing challenges associated with obtaining data on the number of sushi restaurants over various time frames [13].
Figure 2 illustrates the evolving interest in ‘sushi’ across Japan, the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, and Germany since the availability of Google Trends data. Notably, interest in sushi has seen a significant upsurge across regions compared to approximately two decades ago. While the United States, Brazil, and Germany have exhibited a consistent upward trend in interest over the past two decades, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea experienced a substantial decline between 2020 and 2022, followed by a subsequent return to previous levels. This fluctuation may be attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
In recent decades, sushi’s influence has spread throughout the world. Figure 3 shows the average interest in the word “sushi” in different regions in the world in the two periods of 2004 to 2014 (the second to last decade) and 2014 to 2024 (the past decade) on a world map. The red and blue areas indicate high and low interest respectively, while white indicates missing data. It can be seen from this figure that there has been change in the local popularity of sushi as a foreign food (people search for the term “sushi” out of interest), between 2004 and 2014. Places with high interest include Canada, the United States, Chile and Northern Europe; then over the past decade, interest has spread around the world: interest in North and South America has remained high, interest in Europe has also begun to rise, and has spread to emerging regions: Southeast Asia and Australia.
Based on the preceding analysis, the global impact of sushi has witnessed a notable uptrend over the past two decades. What factors, then, spurred its export from Japan to dining tables worldwide? Remarkably, sushi’s globalization commenced even before the advent of the international internet in the previous century. Subsequently, these factors are explored through three detailed case studies.
Development of Sushi in Taiwan
The first case of the report will discuss the historical journey and evolution of sushi in Taiwan, tracing its roots back to colonization and exploring how Japanese culinary traditions became integrated into Taiwanese food culture. Furthermore, the discussion will extend beyond the colonial era to examine the revival of sushi’s popularity in contemporary times, exploring the factors contributing to the widespread desire for “authentic” sushi experiences.
Sushi’s Spread by Colonization
After the conclusion of the first Sino-Japanese War, the Qing dynasty of China lost to Japan and ceded sovereignty over Taiwan in 1895. From 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. Based on the change of the policy for governing Taiwan, it can be split to three periods. Initially, the Japanese decided to govern Taiwan differently from Japan itself, recognizing its unique circumstances. However, by 1918, the global spread of the idea of self-determination from Woodrow Wilson led some Taiwanese to recognize their distinct identity and initiate political movements to assert their rights. In response to this issue, the Japanese government adopted an appeasement policy, aiming at treating the Taiwanese as Japanese and slowly Japanizing the Taiwanese. By 1936, with the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia, the government initiated a compulsory “Japanization”, aiming to increase the support for the war from Taiwan [14].
The development and spread of sushi in Taiwan have a huge relationship with different policies implemented by the Japanese government. In the first twenty years with the policy of respecting the specialty of Taiwanese, the introduction of sushi to Taiwan by the Japanese did not lead to its widespread adoption among Taiwanese, resulting from the language and lifestyle barrier between Taiwanese and Japanese. Sushi in Taiwan initially catered primarily to the Japanese population residing there, and it was observed that only Taiwanese of higher social standing had more interaction with Japanese and experienced sushi [15] Especially according to newspaper reports from this time, it can be noticed that sushi was served during ceremonies and banquets [16], [17].
With the development of railways and urbanization, lots of Japanese started to migrate to Taiwan, thereby introducing the practice of takeaway culture to the island [15] Since 1921, numerous reports about the advertisement of sushi stores were published in newspapers, indicating that sushi had become a commonplace part of everyday life for many in urban cites [18] At the same time, with the shift of the policy, the government tried to spread Japanese culture through the newspaper. In terms of Japanese food culture, sushi is very iconic and relatively easy to approach. Therefore, numerous articles for teaching people how to make sushi were published in the newspapers. Generally, those articles provided tips for preparing ingredients for sushi and various sushi recipes with different seasons, aiming at promoting sushi and appealing to people to try to make. Also, to enhance acceptance among individuals who were disinclined towards cold and raw food, “steamed sushi” had been introduced to cater to Taiwanese’s taste. Based on the article describing a bustling scene, even at night, the sushi stores were full of people. This trend reflects a gradual acceptance of sushi among Taiwanese consumers [15].
With the outbreak of the second World War and the corresponding modification of policy, the government decided to forcibly assimilate the Taiwanese. Hence, for food, they set up several lessons and speeches to coerce people into adopting authentic sushi [19]. Additionally, they published many articles specifically designed to teach the cultural significance behind sushi. Sushi became a tool utilized by the government for this purpose. However, observations revealed that Taiwanese did not adhere exactly to the Japanese way of consuming sushi. Instead, there were indications that Taiwanese began to enjoy sushi in their own unique manner, incorporating elements of Taiwanese culture into the dining experience. For example, Taiwanese would often dip sushi into soy sauce again, even if it had already been seasoned, to enhance its flavor and make it more palatable according to Taiwanese tastes [15]
In general, during colonization, Japanese food culture was digested, absorbed, and thus internalized into Taiwanese food culture. This trend can be observed in the recipes published after colonization. Many Japanese cooking techniques and seasoning methods were incorporated into the preparation of Taiwanese dishes, leading to the emergence of hybridized sushi after colonization [20], [21] .
After Colonization
After World War II concluded in 1945 and Japan surrendered, Taiwan was returned to the government of the Republic of China. The new administration sought to reduce Japanese influence and foster assimilation among Taiwanese. Consequently, they introduced “Military Village Cuisine,” a fusion of Chinese culinary traditions and Taiwanese food culture. While some Japanese restaurants continued to operate, authentic Japanese cuisine lost popularity. Instead, Taiwanese adaptations of Japanese dishes, such as Taiwanese sushi, remained favored among the populace [21]
Taiwanese Sushi
Taiwanese sushi, shown in the Figure 4, is mostly offered in the traditional market or made as a common family meal. It originated from Maki-zushi and was adapted to suit Taiwanese tastes. Visually, it closely resembles traditional sushi, with nori wrapping around the rice. The main difference is that it contains more ingredients, such as cucumber, pork floss, ham, and egg, reflecting the Taiwanese emphasis on satiety as a priority [22] Besides, Taiwanese prefer the plain and sweet flavor. Hence, people usually skip the step of mixing vinegar with rice [23]
Japanophilia
Until the mid-1980s, a significant number of young people and teenagers in Taiwan were fascinated by Japanese culture, drawn to its manga, anime, video games, fashion, and music. It was a result of the cultural proximity and shared cultural identity between Japan and Taiwan. Thus, this fascination generates Taiwanese’s reliability and cultural admiration toward Japanese culture, as well as sushi. “Authentic” sushi became popular among people thereafter [21].
In response to the growing desire for authentic sushi among Taiwanese diners, many have gone to Japan to learn the traditional art of sushi-making or have hired Japanese chefs to bring genuine techniques to Taiwan. However, Taiwanese tastes and culinary preferences differ. Taiwanese prioritize flavor, satiety, and cooked dishes over other aspects. To accommodate for this divergence, stores mostly respect Japanese culture while adapting their offerings. They may subtly adjust seasoning or introduce more torched sushi options to appeal to customers. Besides, the stores are designed to own the atmosphere of Japanese restaurant, aiming at providing the authentic experience [22].
Further Spread of Sushi
In addition, by 1996, the emergence of conveyor belt sushi popularizes sushi. In conveyor belt sushi stores, sushi became more accessible to people due to its lower prices, making it affordable for everyone. Additionally, a variety of pre-packaged sushi options are also supplied like fast food in stores, catering to individuals seeking convenient and time-efficient meal solutions. Furthermore, with the investment and commercialization of Japanese sushi companies in Taiwan, sushi is increasingly becoming a common dish in the lives of Taiwanese people [25].
Sushi’s Integration into the United States
The second case of the report shall discuss how sushi made its way into the United States, how it increased in popularity among Americans, different variations of sushi created in the US, and the global role that Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market plays.
It goes without saying that sushi has made its way to being a popular food in the United States: Zagat Survey’s restaurant guide in 2006 claimed that in the “Top Food” and/or “Most Popular lists”, sushi restaurants came on top in almost every city in the country [26].
The Origins and Spread of Sushi in the United States
The journey of Sushi into the United begins in the West Coast, being the closer part of the US to Japan. More specifically, it starts in a district in downtown Los Angeles called Little Tokyo, founded by Shigeta Hamasuke who also launched the district’s first Japanese restaurant. Later, with more immigrants coming to the US, “the Rafu Shokuhin Kumiai or the Food Assoc. of Los Angeles” was established in 1914 by a number of restaurant owners [26]. As depicted in the Figure 5, these regions continue to serve as focal points for the distribution of Japanese restaurants in the United States, showing a trend of increasing dominance over time. From that, we can establish that Japanese immigration had an essential role to play in bringing Sushi to the United States.
The second World War had a major adverse effect on such restaurants, but restaurants managed to recover afterwards. While the introduction of Japanese cuisine did start in the United States, it took time for “real” sushi to gain popularity. Moreover, in the 1960s, magazines included recipes for a modified version of sushi which was “cooked shrimpon rye bread”. However, sushi regained its fame in the 1970s, with “a grandiose opening of a sushi bar in the elite Harvard Club of New York City” and Japan’s growing economic role [26]. There may have been different factors as to why it took a long period of time for “real” sushi to truly gain its momentum in the US such as the timing as well as the means of publicizing at the time.
Sushi’s spread in the US can be split into three phases: From 1949, sushi was offered in Japanese restaurants to customers with origins from Japan. Afterwards, Japanese restaurants began expanding their target customers for sushi around 1959 to include people from American society. The third phase marks the debut of sushi bars and started around 1963. It was a phase that heavily influenced sushi’s rise in popularity in the US and represented it as a high-end food. However, at the time, sushi was generally not the most popular choice at Japanese restaurants among non-Japanese customers, showing that it took even more time for Americans to favor sushi as much as they do in present times [27]. This may suggest that fully internalizing a food from another culture may take a considerable amount of time to be accomplished.
By the 1990s, with a growing population and the increasing acceptance of sushi in the US, packaged sushi began to emerge. Sushi gradually gained visibility among the general populace, whether through its introduction in Walmart in 2007 or its availability in 7-Elevens starting in 2004. Technological advancements in sushi production further propelled its accessibility, making it a convenient dining option for consumers by 2005 [28].
Additionally, the spread of Japanese culture and manga, the soft power of Japan, contributed to the promotion of sushi, broadening the American taste and acceptance [29].
American Variants of Sushi
Hsin-I Feng (2011) suggests that the significant growth of sushi’s popularity “in the major metropolitan cities in the United States” can be attributed to the new ideas for sushi rolls attracting Americans in Japanese restaurants and to the “ambience” at these restaurants that merges East and West. Specifically, sushi varieties that were created have led to greater acceptance by Americans. For instance, having the black seaweed on the outer part of the sushi roll was not generally preferred, so “uramaki”, which involves rolling the sushi backwards, was created (an example can be seen in Figure 6 (c)). As a matter of fact, the California Roll (Figure 6 (a)) is the primary style of “uramaki” that rose in popularity; its creation is attributed to Ichiro Manashita, who was a chef in Los Angeles around 50 years ago. In addition to that, the spicy tuna roll was also a major sushi roll variant that catered to the American preference for spicy food. Furthermore, several local sushi variants were created, including the New York roll (Figure 6 (b)), the Philadelphia roll, the Boston roll, and the Texas roll [26]. These examples outline the “hybridization of sushi” mentioned in our research question, showing how different sushi variants were created to cater for local tastes.
Tsukiji’s Role in the US Market
The rise of sushi’s popularity implies a demand for the fish needed to make the rolls in the first place. That is where Tokyo’s Tsukiji, “the largest seafood market in the world”, comes into play. Fish from different parts of the world are sent after inspection to Tsukiji to then be resold to other places in the world, including major US cities. Interestingly, Hsin-I Feng (2011) mentions that tuna from New England passes through Tsukiji before making its way to other cities in the United States [26]. This highlights the important role that Japan still plays with regards to the food that its people spread to the rest of the world.
Backward Effect
Finally, Hsin-I Feng (2011) states that some of the American variants of sushi are making their way to Japan, implying a bidirectional “globalizing” flow from West-to-East after going from East-to-West [26].
Hybridization by Emigration
In the third case of this report, the impact of emigration on the spread of sushi will be discussed, with a special focus on Brazil. Influenced by health trends and Japan’s global prestige, sushi gradually became popular in some areas with high concentration of Japanese immigrants like São Paulo, where it used to be reserved to homesick Japanese immigrants.
Japanese Emigration
In 1877, the Seinan Civil War between the new Japanese government and remnants of former samurai resulted in a banking boom and rampant inflation. Japan’s modernization, during the same period, also contributed to an unprecedented demographic growth of the country. As a response, the State adopted an emigrant policy to encourage the population to accumulate wealth in foreign lands, as a way of containing the economic and population crises that were arising. [33], [34]
Until the mid-1970s, millions of Japanese people emigrated to the Americas. However, the anti-Japanese movement was gaining momentum in North America, as soon as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, part of a greater movement that deemed Chinese people unworthy of being allowed in the United States. This contributed to a paranoid vision of Asian people coming to the US en masse to invade the country, also known as the “Yellow peril”, and Japanese immigrants arriving at the end of nineteenth century soon realised they were unwelcome. Many of them thus favored South American countries as their destination. Among these countries, the main receiving center was Brazil, which, since the abolition of slavery in 1888, had been fighting against a shortage of labor in agriculture. It is estimated that, between 1908 and 1941, around 188 thousand Japanese immigrated to Brazil. [34], [35]
As the Japanese disapora began to grow, small, family-owned restaurants started to open, serving traditional Japanese dishes to homesick families. Japanese food used to be seen as exotic and raw fish wasn’t well-perceived in Brazil, and the first restaurants of this generation were initially frequented exclusively by Japanese, or at best by non-Japanese connoisseurs. However this began to change in the late 80s, largely due to the success Japanese food started to have in the United States. [36]
Today, sushi has evolved from an exclusive Japanese delicacy to a widespread, hybridized food in Brazil and worldwide.
Adaptation to Local Culture
Upon emigrating to a new country, the hybridization of Japanese cuisine was primarily expressed by replacing original Japanese ingredients with local ones. Some examples are pickled hibiscus petals called hanaume – “flower plum” – by the Japanese-Brazilian community, as a replacement for umeboshi. Another is mapará, an Amazonian fish prepared with the same technique used for eel in traditional Japanese cuisine, adapting the fact that “Japan has fish that Brazil doesn’t have and can’t import because of government restrictions”, as explained by a sushi chef. [36], [37]
For example, the restaurant Djapa in São Paolo serves temaki – literally “handrolled” – a type of conical sushi filled with rice and other typical ingredients, sometimes known as the fast food version of sushi, since it is generally eaten with hands, and not chopsticks. At the Brazilian restaurant, the fillings range from raw fish and sea food, to less traditional ingredients such as cream cheese or mango.
The restaurant Djapa was originally created without any intention of creating “fusion” cuisine but rather familiarizing the Brazilian public to Japanese food, and especially raw food. Certain changes to Japanese dishes were thus made to suit the local consumers’ tastes, such as hot rolls: sushi, breaded and fried. [39] The dish particularly caters to a Brazilian audience that might be more reticent to eat raw fish, and is familiar with fried food, a common cooking method in Brazil.
The Adaptation of Tradition
The question of whether this hybrid sushi can still be considered as such remains. To quote an answer by the Brazilian-Japanese chef Telma Shiraishi: “It wouldn’t make sense for me to make something 100-percent traditional, considering I live on the other side of the world, which has a different climate, different culture, and different history.” According to her, making traditional sushi doesn’t simply mean faithfully reproducing recipes with the original ingredients, but rather cooking with “a deep understanding of the worldview of the Japanese people, both culturally, historically, religiously and even spiritually”. [36]
The worldview in question focuses on seasonality and quality of ingredients, in addition to being concerned with the purity and harmony of flavors. Indeed, in Japan, even typical recipes do not have uniformity, but vary according to the region, with local ingredients. [40]
In conclusion, although the debate over what constitutes “authentic” sushi still exists, sushi has transcended its traditional framework and been reinterpreted by Japanese people around the world. Brazil is a good example on how to best cope with globalization, by enriching one traditional dish to a different culture and climate, and adapting to them for a greater richness.
Conclusion
Our report examined how sushi expanded its popularity worldwide and hybridized with local cultures. We looked into three culturally and historically different cases: Taiwan, the U.S., and Brazil. The case studies revealed that accepting an alien food from another culture is one of the biggest challenges in internalization, regardless of historical, cultural, or graphical differences. Eating raw fish is a unique diet Japanese sushi has compared to other cultures worldwide. Still, the biggest reason behind sushi’s success as a “pop star” is that it adopted the local preference and accommodated various changes in the forms or ingredients. Another reason for the popularity of sushi is that it is easy to make and potentially a fast food. Similar to how sushi became popular in Japan, the casualness of sushi opened the hearts of locals worldwide to accept it.
This research can be applied to other specific national foods that have gained or attempted to gain global popularity. The introduction of national food may have started with immigrants to parts of the world. So as not to be just a craze, it is important to understand that accepting a foreign diet would take significant time, and acceptance by the locals is vital. Understanding the local preference for taste or diet and integrating them into the food is essential to foster acceptance.
In this report, we focused on introducing and merging sushi from Japan to other regions of the world. From a future perspective, it would be interesting to look into the bidirectional globalization of a national culture. As mentioned in the U.S. case, some American sushi variants are coming to Japan. Examining the re-importation of second-generation cultures would be a guideline for the future of the national culture.
References
Citation
@online{pelayo2024,
author = {Pelayo, Agathe and Majzoub, Omar and Liu, Wenyu and Wang,
Yung-Hsien and Luo, Zheyao},
title = {Sushi: {City} {Girl} {Becomes} a {Global} {Pop} {Star}},
date = {2024-05-15},
url = {https://wenyuliu.ch/blog/2024/05/Sushi-City-Girl-Becomes-a-Global-Pop-Star/},
langid = {en}
}