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The Kyoto Brand: Protecting Agricultural and Culinary Heritage

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The Kyoto Brand: Protecting Agricultural and Culinary Heritage THE KYOTO BRAND: PROTECTING AGRICULTURAL AND CULINARY HERITAGE by Greg de St. Maurice B.A., Colby College, 2000 M.A., American University, 2008 M.A., Ritsumeikan University, 2008 M.Sc., University of Oxford, 2009 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2015 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Greg de St. Maurice It was defended on May 26, 2015 and approved by Dr. Joseph Alter, Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Keith Brown, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology Dr. Akiko Hashimoto, Professor, Department of Sociology Dr. Alice Julier, Associate Professor, Food Studies Program, Chatham University Dr. Gabriella Lucaks, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Richard Scaglion, Professor, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Greg de St. Maurice 2015 iii THE KYOTO BRAND: PROTECTING AGRICULTURAL AND CULINARY HERITAGE Greg de St. Maurice, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2015 Farmers, chefs, government officials, and consumers in Kyoto, Japan have worked to protect their gastronomic heritage and promote the local food industry using place brands that allow them to engage with outside actors and resources, resulting in a comparatively open and inclusive localism. Stakeholders in Kyoto’s agricultural and food sector have sought to minimize the negative impacts of globalization not by trying to close their borders or enact rules that strictly define and demarcate Kyoto’s food culture as separate, pure, and resistant to change but rather by allowing for the development of multiple place brands that can help better position Kyoto’s agriculture and food industry on the global stage. Kyoto’s place brands tend toward inclusiveness and fluidity, enabling overlapping and nested place brands to co-exist and supporting the incorporation of objects, ideas, and people from outside of Kyoto. At scales that vary from neighborhoods to the entire prefecture, these brands draw on Kyoto’s appeal as Japan’s “ancient imperial capital,” a trope that has helped make Kyoto one of Japan’s most powerful place brands according to recent consumer surveys. This research pays particular attention to place brands for three different products: heirloom vegetables, green tea, and local cuisine. In this dissertation, I analyze data obtained from fieldwork conducted in Kyoto in 2012-3, including semi-structured and informal interviews and participant observation at events centered on Kyoto’s food culture, from farmers’ markets and culinary research meetings to annual events like the prefectural and national agricultural iv fairs for tea. I also utilize discourse analysis of government documents, marketing materials, and various media. By demonstrating how people treat place as a brand and analyzing the repercussions this has, this research adds a new dimension to the theoretical literature on place. It also provides an ethnographic case study about boundary maintenance to the literature on branding and place brands. Kyoto’s example also holds lessons for local economies seeking to strategically position themselves in the face of new challenges, demonstrating the power of place brands as well as the insight that openness and flexibility can serve to protect and revivify local industry and tradition. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.......................................................................................................................... XIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... XIV 1.0 INTRODUCTION: KYOTO’S FLEXIBLE PLACE BRANDS AND LOCAL GASTRONOMIC HERITAGE ................................................................................................... 1 2.0 CONTEXT: PLACES, BRANDS, AND KYOTO ..................................................... 9 2.1 ANTHROPOLOGY’S COMPLICATED PLACES ....................................... 10 2.1.1 Grappling with “Place” and its Borders ................................................... 10 2.1.2 Globalization and “the local” ..................................................................... 15 2.2 BRANDS AND PLACE BRANDS ................................................................... 22 2.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF SENSORY PERCEPTIONS IN RESEARCH ON BOTH FOOD AND PLACE .............................................................................................. 26 2.4 PLACE AND BRANDS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN: CONTEXT ....... 28 2.4.1.1 Place ...................................................................................................... 28 2.4.1.2 Brands .................................................................................................. 30 2.4.1.3 Place brands ......................................................................................... 34 2.5 KYOTO AS FIELDSITE .................................................................................. 35 2.6 KYOTO THE BRAND AND KYOTO’S VARIOUS BRANDS .................... 45 2.6.1 Kyoto as a Brand ......................................................................................... 45 vi 2.6.2 Kyoto’s Place Brands .................................................................................. 55 2.6.3 Methods for investigating Kyoto’s brand and its borders ...................... 59 2.6.3.1 Interviews ............................................................................................. 63 2.6.3.2 Participant Observation ..................................................................... 66 2.6.3.3 Discourse Analysis ............................................................................... 69 3.0 KYOTO VEGETABLES: RAW AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS ...................... 71 3.1 KYOTO’S VEGETABLE BRANDS ................................................................ 80 3.2 KYOTO’S BAMBOO SHOOTS AND NEIGHBORHOOD BRANDS ........ 89 3.3 THE SHISHIGATANI SQUASH: A LESS DELICIOUS BUT VALORIZED VARIETY ............................................................................................................................ 96 3.4 KYOTO VEGETABLES’ BORDERS: STRATEGICALLY SHIFTING . 102 4.0 KYOTO TEA, UJI TEA: NON-PERISHABLE PROCESSED AGRICULTURAL GOODS.................................................................................................................................... 112 4.1 A HISTORY OF JAPANESE GREEN TEA ................................................ 114 4.2 TASTING UJI AND TASTING PLACE ....................................................... 121 4.3 KYOTO’S UJI TEA AND ITS BOUNDARIES ........................................... 136 4.3.1 Marketing using the Kyoto brand ........................................................... 136 4.3.2 Kyoto tea and Uji tea: Fragmented and overlapping ............................ 138 4.3.3 The Town of Wazuka’s Brand: Emerging from Uji’s shadow ............. 148 4.4 CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE UJI BRAND ....................... 154 4.5 KYOTO TEA AT A CROSSROADS ............................................................ 161 5.0 KYOTO’S LOCAL CUISINES: PREPARED FOODS AND GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCES ........................................................................................................................ 169 vii 5.1 KYOTO’S BIG 3 CUISINES: SHŌJIN, OBANZAI, AND KAISEKI ......... 173 5.1.1 SHŌJIN: VEGETARIAN TEMPLE CUISINE ..................................... 175 5.1.2 OBANZAI: KYOTO’S HOME-COOKING ........................................... 178 5.1.3 KAISEKI: KYOTO’S “HAUTE” CUISINE ........................................... 184 5.2 UNDERSTANDING KYOTO CUISINE ...................................................... 186 5.2.1 The restrictions and resources of the ancient imperial capital ............. 189 5.2.2 Aesthetics and Attitudes ........................................................................... 191 5.2.3 Deaimono: Ingredients that meet in Kyoto and are transformed ........ 197 5.2.4 Water: Kyoto cuisine’s most essential ingredient? ................................ 201 5.3 PROMOTING THE PLACE BRAND ........................................................... 204 5.3.1.1 Local actions: Directed educational efforts .................................... 206 5.3.1.2 National actions: Media outreach and professional collaboration 207 5.3.1.3 International efforts: Cross-cultural educational efforts, international institutions ................................................................................. 208 5.4 BORDERS, SCALE, AND KYOTO CUISINE ............................................ 211 6.0 THE TASTE OF KYOTO AND ITS CONTRADICTIONS: TASTE OF PLACE MEETS PLACE AS BRAND ................................................................................................... 214 6.1 THE TASTE OF KYOTO .............................................................................. 216 6.2 THE KYOTO BRAND MEETS THE TASTE OF KYOTO ....................... 218 6.3 ARBITRATING AUTHENTICITY VIA ENLIGHTENED PALATES .... 226 7.0 KYOTO’S FLEXIBLE PLACE BRANDS FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS: CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 234 7.1 PLACE AS BRAND: THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS ......................... 235 viii 7.2 ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTIONS: MULTISENSORY ACCOUNTS OF FLEXIBLE PLACE BRANDS ................................................................................
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