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The Fukushima nuclear catastrophe of March 2011 created a boom in independent radioactivity monitoring among citizens in Japan. Drawing on three case studies of monitoring stations in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Fukushima, this paper analyzes citizens' practices of monitoring radioactively contaminated food from the perspective of citizen science (CS). It explores if and how the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe challenges lay-expert relations, and assumes that there is difference between expert and lay knowledge. It does so not because the terms "lay" and "expert" are static features of those individuals involved in science, but rather because of the different contexts in which knowledge production takes place. The paper argues that lay-expert relations in Japan have changed to certain degree since Fukushima, because independent monitoring was first initiated by lay people - thereby empowering nonprofessional scientists. At the same time, independent monitoring offers professional scientists new contexts for the production of "alternative knowledge". Although it is not included in the Japanese government's policymaking decisions, this alternative knowledge has a transformative potential because it is employed by civil society organizations and the antinuclear movement in Japan. Independent monitoring therefore has a (perhaps unintended) subversive character, and should be considered when evaluating the transformative potential of independent monitoring organizations and when talking about civil society and advocacy with regard to scientific issues., Asien, Nr. 140 (2016): ASIEN (Juli)

Nahrungsmittel und Ernährung sind eng verwoben mit Lebensstilen, kulturellen Praktiken, Konsumgewohnheiten sowie mit Vorstellungen von gesundem und ungesundem Leben. Gleichzeitig bergen der Umgang mit Nahrungsmitteln, ihre Produktion, Verarbeitung, Vermarktung, aber auch ihr Konsum in einer globalisierten Welt politisches Konfliktpotenzial. Die hier präsentierte sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit Nahrungsmitteln sowie Ernährung und Essen basiert auf einem transdisziplinären Zugang und richtet den Blick auf Food-Politiken und -Praktiken. Das Feld der Food-Politiken nimmt Bezug auf die (lokalen) Antworten auf die skizzierten globalen agrar- und finanzwirtschaftlichen Problematiken in Verbindung mit Ernährungsweisen und Essen sowie Nahrungsmittelproduktion und -handel. Der Themenblock Food-Praktiken analysiert und diskutiert lokale Ernährungs- und Nahrungsmittelpraktiken, in denen sich globale Praktiken, Politiken und Herausforderungen, ausgelöst nicht zuletzt durch die Covid-19 Pandemie, abbilden. Insgesamt zeigen die Beiträge die Bandbreite des Themas Food und die Produktivität einer transdisziplinären Forschung, durch die Spannungsverhältnisse von In-Wert-Setzung von Nahrungsmitteln und Ernährung im Geflecht globaler und lokaler Praktiken und Politiken sichtbar gemacht und bearbeitet werden können.

The spring 2020 restaurant shutdown after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Berlin hit Japanese restaurateurs at the height of the popularity of Japanese cuisine in Germany. This paper explores how Japanese restaurateurs in Berlin experienced this shutdown from March to May 2020. Based on fieldwork in Berlin, it asks whether and how they continued selling food during the shutdown, compares their experiences and points out similarities and differences that are based on the type of eateries, the restaurateurs’ personal migration histories and the degree of their local embeddedness in Berlin. I pay particular attention to strategies of selling and marketing food during the restaurant shutdown via takeout and delivery services and discuss the material culture of protecting customers and staff from COVID-19 during and after the lockdown against the backdrop of Japanese restaurateurs’ perceptions of health risks. The paper focusses on ethnic Japanese restaurateurs because most of their restaurants are small, independent establishments, and the majority was closed during the shutdown. Although all research participants belong to the same ethnic community, their experiences during and after the shutdown were quite diverse. I argue that their experiences and strategies were influenced by economic factors related to the type of restaurant they run rather than by their ethnicity.

Asien, Nr. 148 (2018): ASIEN (Juli)

This special issue presents six papers based on these presentations, and includes also an additional one on ethnography in Japan that was not part of the original conference. The authors address how fieldwork has changed and how they respond to challenges when accessing the field, specifically in their reciprocal relations with informants, when choosing the best means of presenting results and teaching research methods to students. I argue that a discussion about ethics, transparency, and teaching research methods in Japanese Studies and in Area Studies in general is necessary in order to produce reliable, comparable, and comprehensive results that scholars from Area Studies and from the social science disciplines alike can relate to. Thus, beyond summarizing the outcomes of the discussion in the anthropology section of the aforementioned conference, this special issue hopes to inspire further conversations within and beyond Japanese Studies communities both in and outside of Germany., Asien, Nr. 149 (2018): ASIEN (Oktober)

This paper introduces research and fieldwork methods education for Japanese Studies students at Freie Universität Berlin. It aims to support training in research design, research methods and fieldwork in and beyond Japan in order to respond to the increasing demand for systematic and transparent research practices in Japanese Studies and Area Studies communities. Drawing on Berlin’s vibrant Japanese foodscape this course provides students with opportunities to plan and conduct research projects on various aspects of Japanese food. Students present their research results and reflections on methods and fieldwork in video tutorials online through the course blog. Based on my experiences with teaching this course for four years, I suggest that in order to teach a successful method course in Japanese studies programs, it is important to 1) inspire students to conduct their own fieldwork, 2) provide opportunities for students to actively participate in the course and decision-making processes with regard to the syllabus and 3) make students’ results visible in order to build a body of knowledge other students can draw on. In doing so, the course contributes to a more systematic method training in Japanese Studies through continuity., Asien, Nr. 149 (2018): ASIEN (Oktober)

Am Beispiel der No! GMO-Kampagne und der Stop TPP!-Kampagne in Japan zeigt dieser Aufsatz, dass transnationale Vernetzung, Mobilisierung und Themensetzung dazu beitragen, der Knappheit politischer und finanzieller Ressourcen zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen zu begegnen, Druck auf die japanische Regierung aufzubauen und Argumente und Mobilisierung zu stärken. Der Erfolg japanischer Verbraucherschützer hängt aber maßgeblich von political opportunity structures ab. Während zu Beginn der 2000er Jahre auf Druck der No! GMO-Kampagne Grenzwerte für GVO eingeführt wurden, weil in dieser Zeit auch ein neues Regulierungssystem für Lebensmittelsicherheit entstand, war die Stop TPP!-Kampagne nicht erfolgreich, weil die TPP für die japanische Regierung sowohl ökonomisch als auch sicherheitspolitisch wichtig und Verbraucherinteressen nachrangig waren., Beiträge zur Verbraucherforschung