Transitions in the Japanese family and the organization of home meals

Principal Investigator:

Hiroko Takeda (East Asian Studies)

Aims and objectives:

The Japanese family is in a period of transition, and this is reflected in the organization of meals at home. This project aims to elucidate the ongoing changes in Japanese families through tracing and analyzing how meals at home have been organized since 1945 in Japan. In particular, it sheds light on the commercialization of housework, or more specifically, the outsourcing of meal cooking, resulting from the recent transformation of the demographic and economic structure. Also, it will examine how the normative discourse of food consumption produced by educators, social critics and food experts is functioning in a society with families that are rapidly changing.

Research questions:

• In what way have the organization of family meals at home changed since 1945 in Japan?
• To what extent has the outsourcing of family meals permeated the everyday life of Japanese people? How has outsourcing changed the popular pattern of meal organization at home?
• How did the expansion of women’s participation in paid work impact this process?
• What kind of discourse has been produced by educators, social critics and food experts on the changes of the organization of family meals? How and in what ways do Japanese people perceive, interpret and react to such discourse? How is the normative discourse of food consumption functioning in a society with families that are rapidly changing?

Research design:

The project is divided into three stages:

• Preliminary research and planning for the first field trip. In the first stage, the focus is laid on the initial literature, document research and collection of statistical data in order to build a foundation of discursive samples. At the end of this stage, I will make a two/three-week research trip to Japan, and conduct field work to collect discursive samples. (January 2006-December 2006)
• Data Analysis and supplementary research in Japan. During this period, the collected data from the first field trip will be examined and organized for each journal article. In so doing, missing data will be identified, and the supplementary research trip at the end of this stage will be conducted to fill in gaps in the data. (January 2007-June 2007)
• Writing articles (July 2007 to June 2008)