Japanese taste culture Essays

Japanese taste culture Essays Japanese taste culture Essay Japanese taste culture Essay It is well known that sushi is very popular Japanese food in the world. In the past, sushi is an exotic and expensive food served at luxurious hotels and high class restaurants in Hong Kong. It seems a kind of class reflection. However, sushi starts to localize the taste to fit local customers. It becomes more popular than the past. Many sushi bars and restaurants offer affordable prices as localization nowadays. So, it is interesting to take a deep look into the taste and localization aspects towards Japanese taste culture. This paper examines the growth of a sushi culture in Hong Kong from historical aspect. It discusses the history of sushi and the reasons for its popularity in Hong Kong. Also, it examines the making of the sushi culture and industry and looks into different aspects of taste and localization. By identifying the characteristics of the sushi culture in Hong Kong and locating sushi in the context of globalization of Japanese popular culture. It aims to deepen our understanding of the mechanism of taste and Japanese popular culture. In Hong Kong, many people start to run sushi restaurants with inexpensive price. They also localized the taste and prices. Hong Kong is advanced in terms of localization of Japanese sushi such as the kaiten sushi (revolving sushi on a conveyor belt) restaurants and take-away sushi outlets. Hong Kong is leading this sushi boom and sushi is making its way in peoples daily diet. It is a kind of Japanese popular culture and consumer culture. LITERATURE REVIEW METHODOLOGY HISTORY OF SUSHI source Sushi is a typical Japanese food with over a thousand years of history and tradition. It has become the most visible example of Japanese cuisine in other countries. Sushi is the combination of raw fish and seasoned rice. It seems so exotic to foreigners, is a supremely logical food in Japan. Sushi is the combination of raw fish and seasoned rice that seems so exotic to foreigners. It is a supremely logical food in Japan. Sushi began one century ago in Japan as a method of preserving source fish. It is told that the origins of sushi came form countries of Southeastern Asia. Cleaned, raw fish were pressed between layers of salt and weighted with a stone. After a few weeks, the stone was removed and replaced with a light cover, and a few months after that, the fermented fish and rice were considered ready to eat. Some restaurants in Tokyo still serve this original style of sushi, called narezushi made with freshwater carp. Its flavor is so strong that it obscures the fishs identity altogether, and narezushi is something of an acquired taste. Sushi is perhaps Japans best-known contribution to world cuisine. Although sushi seems like a simple food, sushi preparation is actually a highly developed discipline. The choicest, tender morsels of fresh raw fish are artfully arranged on individual fingers of vinegary rice by a skilled chef, and then placed on a gleaming cypress counter in front of the eagerly waiting customer a few seconds later. Absolute freshness of the fish is the all-important factor for good sushi. How about the original prestige of sushi in Japan? Nowadays, the number of Japanese restaurants grew dramatically. The number of Japanese restaurants is more than a hundred source in Hong Kong. Most of them are located in business and shopping districts such as Mongkok, TsimShaShui. Sushi seems a must in the menu of all Japanese restaurants. Hong Kong people become the main consumers of sushi. The sushi business is booming and has continued to expand in the market. The expansion of the Japanese community and the impressive economic growth in Hong Kong has helped increase the popularity of Japanese cuisine. Also, many Japanese expatriates are culturally exclusive and want to maintain the Japanese way of life in Hong Kong. So, Japanese cultural such as restaurants, supermarkets and shops have increased. transition Hong Kong is one of the fastest growing and most vibrant economies in Asia. People have more money to spend on good foods and dining out has become very common. It also calls food paradise where residents and tourists can taste different types of foreign foods. Hong Kong is a multi- racial place so that we can enjoy various cuisines such as Malay, Indian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian and Peranakan. As a result, Hong Kong becomes an attractive place for investment in the food business for the above reasons. Hence, Hong Kong people have interested in running Japanese restaurants. Nowadays, sushi has become quite popular among young people who have strong consuming power and high adaptability. WHY SUSHI IS SO POPULAR IN HONG KONG? Localization is an important reason in the sushi culture. Sushi has been transformed from an exclusive and exotic Japanese food into an affordable and localized Japanese food. In addition, the flavor and content of sushi have been altered to accommodate the local taste in Hong Kong. Exotic appeal is another factor of success. Sushi has been localized enough to suit the local taste, but not too much to undermine its exotic appeal. But sushi is still Japanese. Young people think it is fashionable to eat sushi. Eating sushi seems more fashionable and not traditional for them. Sushi is more than a food or a commercial product, it also has cultural and national meanings. Eating sushi itself can be a cultural encounter. People are impressed by many things they experience in a sushi restaurant, including the display of plastic sushi in the window, the use of beautiful Japanese utensils, the Japanese greetings and hospitality, the conveyer belt and the colors and the taste of sushi. As a result, eating sushi is not only can make Hong Kong people feel Japanese, but also international. The status of Hong Kong is an international city with a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. Sushi can be seen as a form of Japanese popular culture. The boom of Japanese popular culture in Hong Kong boosted the consumption of sushi. Nowadays, sushi is a must in high tea, buffet and reception parties in hotels and luxurious restaurants. Sushi is not only a food and a business, but also a tradition. Some people see globalization as generating increasing homogeneity, while others see it producing diversity and heterogeneity through increased hybridization. Globalization and define its causes and effects especially in relation to environmental and cultural development. Globalization as a highly complex, contradictory, and thus ambiguous set of institutions and social relations, as well as involving flows of goods, services, ideas, technologies, cultural forms, and people (Appadurai 1996). Globalization means different things to different people. Some say it is the movement of people, language, ideas, and products around the world. Others see it as the dominance of multinational corporations and the destruction of cultural identities.