Research project „Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes“ in 2021: now in English

The sixth season of the participatory research project/method course „Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes” is on and taught in English for the first time. In summer 2021, 10 students from FUB’s Japanese Studies MA program will conduct new and exciting projects on Japanese food in Berlin to get some experience with qualitative research methods. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there will be methodological challenges to face, but just like last year, we will be flexible and find alternative ways to make our data.

In order to get interview praxis, we collaborate with Yoko Kawamura and her students from Seikei University in Tokyo. FUB’s students will interview Seikei students online about their lives, experiences and food consumption during the pandemic and ask them about the situation of restaurants in Tokyo. After this first Japanese language interview experience, we will prepare for interviews with Japanese food entrepreneurs and food workers in Berlin.

During the Covid pandemic, many Japanese restaurants in Berlin offer delivery and take-out services. It is a nice change to the monotonous every-day life to unwrap a furoshiki and find …

Students have already formed small research teams and decided on topics to study. One project will inquire food labeling of imported Japanese food in Asian supermarkets in Berlin. Another project analyzes how Japanese restaurant owners think about Covid-19 regulations in Berlin. The third project will compare concepts of authenticity in Japanese restaurants run by food entrepreneurs with different nationalities and/or ethnic backgrounds. We are looking forward to interesting insights into Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes, exciting interviews and hopefully joint visits to restaurants once they reopen. Meanwhile we order Japanese food via delivery or make use of take-out services many Japanese restaurants in Berlin offer in order to remember the taste of Japanese food.