Joy of Life Changes Society

FURIHATA, Hiroaki, "Joy of Life Changes Society: “Slow Life” As Cultural Social Movement"

1. Introduction
Social movements are seemed treated as if heroic and romantic actions of oppressed people to breakdown vicious oppressors. But maybe, this is an image. There is another kind of social movements that constituted in terms of joy of each participant.
Is there any this kind of social movement in current Japanese society? “Slow Life” might be a movement to change society in terms of joy. It constructs new culture, which leads to social change.

2. Definitions
Slow Life: Activities of people to seek for alternative life in terms of “slow”. “Slow life” is gaining popularity since the late 1990s in Japanese society
Culture: A system of symbols and meanings that give profound influence on human behavior (Sewell 1999, p.43)
Social Movement: Collective activities of people with certain continuity for change of society.

3. Approaches to Cultural Social Movement
Three Approaches
a. Weberian Approach
Social movement is driven by culture. Culture influences the features of movement, its participants, purpose, strategy and tactics. (see Einowhner and et al. 2000, pp.682-686).
i.e. Women’s movement is composed by women.
b. Marxist Approach
Social movement organizations contest to take over cultural hegemony of society. (see Laclau and Mouffe 2001, pp.160-164)
i.e. Identity politics to challenge culture of dominant groups
c. Critical Approach
Social movement continuously constructs culture in the process of interactions of participants. People join the movement in the light of their interests rather than enforcement. (see Melucci 1989, pp.25-26)
Limit of Weberian and Marxist approaches
Essentialization of culture
Exclusion of cultural difference
Possibility of Critical approach
Culture has dynamics.
Construction of culture is open process – cultural social movement can be inclusive to difference.

4. Analytical Framework upon Cultural Social Movement

Weberian Marxist Critical
Purpose of Movement Influenced by culture Legitimacy of cultural group Pursue of interests of each participant
Openness Closed Closed Open
Outcome Culturally influenced society Hegemony New Culture

Criteria of Cultural Social Movement in Critical Approach
- Joy for participation (pursue of interests)
- Openness of movement
- Construction of new culture through movement

5. Slow Life
Joy
Participants have joy by practicing slow life.
A woman who lives in 190 year old house in Tokyo
“Maintenance of old house needs amount of time and effort. But, because of this, it is joyous. I would like to use this old and comfortable house for a long time rather than build new one.”

Participants have joy by participating into events concerning to slow life.

Openness
Cross-gender, age, occupational, class, ethnic participation into “slow life”

Construction of new culture
Life style contains “slowness”
i.e.
- Eco-conscious life
- Starting life with agriculture
- Seek for peace as considering war as fast and destructive
- Consciousness to health and food

6. Conclusion: Cultural Change and Social Change
“Slow Life” constructs new culture in terms of joy.
- “Structuration theory”: Change of behavior changes social (political and economic) structures. (Giddens 1986)
Cultural change as construction of new culture through “slow life”  change of behavior of people  social change
- “Field theory”: Society is composed by configuration of various (cultural, political, economic, etc.) fields. Cultural field has relative autonomy to other (including political and economic) fields in society. Hence, change of cultural field influences other fields in society. (Bourdieu 1984)
Change of cultural field through construction of new culture through “slow life”  Influence to other fields in society  social change with change of configuration of these fields.

Bibliography:

ヴェーバー、マックス『プロテスタンティズムの倫理と資本主義の精神』岩波書店, 1989.
(Weber, Max, Die protestantische Ethik und der )Geist《 des Kapitalismus, 1920.》
辻信一『スロー・イズ・ビューティフル――遅さとしての文化』平凡社, 2004.

Pierre, Bourdieu. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Einwohner, Rachel L., Jocelyn A. Hollander, and Toska Olson. “Engendering Social Movements: Cultural Images and Movement Dynamics.” Gender & Society. Vol. 14, No. 5 (October, 2000): 679-699.
Giddens, Anthony. The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press, 1986
Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. Second ed.. London: Verso, 2001.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The German Ideology. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1970.
Melucci, Alberto. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society. London: Hutchison Radius, 1989.
Sewell, Jr., William. “The Concept(s) of Culture.” In Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Direction in the Study and Culture. Bonnell, Victoria E., and Lynn Hunt eds.. 35-61. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

YI, Soo Kyung, Thinking about the Iraq War and Then

Chinese Cuisine and Japanese Culture

ZHAO, Zan. “Chinese Cuisine.”

Topic：　Introduction of Regional Cuisine in China
Key words: Manchu-Han Complete Banquet, Policy of Ethnic Collaboration　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
The vastness of China's geography and culture echoes through the variety of Chinese Cuisine. It is well-known to divide Chinese Cuisine into four kind of regional Cuisine, with the special feature of each.

I> First Part:
Four major regional cuisines in china:
1, Szechuan Cuisine
Typical Dishes:
Ma-po Dou-fu, Tea Smoked Duck, Sichuan Hotpot, Twice Cooked Pork, Chill Carp.
Feature of the Szechuan Cuisine:
The preference to the sharp taste is relates to a peculiar climate of Sichuan. because Sichuan is a basin, moist climate region where the day of clear weather is a little. Therefore, a lot of spices( hot pepper, zanthoxyli fructus, garlics) with the perspiration action are taken into the recipe for health keeping.

2, Shaihai Cuisine
Typical Dishes:
Steamed Fish with Green Tea. Chicken and Soft-shell Turtle Stew. Fish Terrine.
Crab Dumpling. Meat Dumpling
Feature of the Shaihai Cuisine:
As be located on a central region in the Chinese coast, the material from various places flows because it provides with a traffic condition, so the exchange of the material and peoples contributed to the development of the cuisine culture in Shanghai. The cooking materials as sea food, water fish and fresh vegetables are in plenty. Therefore, the dish of this region chiefly uses a fresh material. Seasoning is also extremely thin, and the taste of the ingredient is made the best use of as it is.

3, Canton Cuisine
Typical Dishes:
BBQ Sucking Pig. Won Ton Soup. BBQ Sausages, Palm Civet Stew. Sea Food Soup,
Snake Terrine. Swallow’s Nest Soup. Shark Fin Soup.
Feature of the Canton Cuisine:
By the advancement of Europe and the existence of Hong Kong and Macau, The techniques of Canton Cuisine such as the Western food, the Indian cuisine, and Malaysian cooking were brought in. It is a recipe that always changes regardless of one taste because it absorbed various recipes.

4, Peking Cuisine
Typical Dishes:
Roast Peking Duck, Poached Mutton Hot-Pot, Grilled Lamb. Boiled Gyoza etc.
Feature of the Peking Cuisine:
Compare with the south china where rice can be produced easy, in the north china , where rice cannot be produced twice a year, flour is chiefly assumed to be staple food. There are a lot of use of the potherb such bean, garlic, leek , and oil ,fat, meat that warm the body in north region that is cold and dry in winter. Since the material of the dish is easy to obtain from market and not cost a lot, the dish is cheap and for the general public.

Ⅱ>Second Part:
The Manchu-Han Complete Banquet (MHCB)
With each dynasty new recipes were created until the art of food preparation reach its peak during the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). The dinner called Manchu-Han Complete Banquet (Man Han Quan Xi) that incorporates all the very best of Man ,Han and regional Cuisine .It composed by 6 kinds of banquets that consist of 108 kinds of dishes.
The participants including Man, Han and others ethnic high-ranking officials spend three days to completely eat all of food. Empire of Qing dynasty called MHCB as a top level cuisine of Chinese cooking.

Main Point of Presentation
Point1:
The MHCB only be hold at high-society or families of Empire because of it’s high cost and extravagance. But at the same time, the officials of different region and nation have the chance to sit together for communication. This banquet can be considered as an area of ethnic communication at high-level.
Point2:
As the Process of cooking MHCB is defined as a matchless cuisine by Empire, the cook who masters the cuisine of MHCB considered as a top position in cuisine flied. When the cooks gave their effects to the flied, In a sense, the cuisine will be inherited and some parts of the cuisine will be brought to public- level. It made public chances to meet different taste and contacts

Conclusion:
The relations between the Policy of Ethnic Collaboration and Chinese Cuisine is clear.
Empire & Cooks used MHCB to solidify their efforts (power), and MHCB is getting reproduction at the same times.

Since for making duck skin into crisp, the fat is indispensable. For fattening duck into standard level, the breeding member stuffs up each duck food in decided amount. It is needless to say that it is a compulsory breeding way, The members of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals criticize the way of breeding duck in Peking.
In addition, the name of this breeding way called Tian Ya,(鴨を詰める), and it is became one word to describe the education method today .


FURUKAWA, Etsuji. "Japanese Culture in the World."

1,Introduction
I read an interest book about Japanese culture in the other day. Though it felt like some radical content, it also included valuable message about Japan onward. I will appreciate that we can think about Japanese culture in international society with introducing that book.

2,the Present Condition of the World

the Initiative by European Culture

the Role of Japanese Culture

3,Eurasian Continent’s Culture and Japanese Culture

[the Complex of Livestock and Grain] and [the Complex of Fish and Cereal]

the Condition of the Nature, Religion

4, Beautifization and Idealization of Foreign Country

5, Japan in the Twenty First Century

Japanese Culture as Universal Principle – Coexistence

6, Remark
I, even Japanese, feel that this story is too much affirmative about Japanese culture by dividing the world into simple dichotomy. But, in the present world, does the message that we should review our culture and send it to the world deserve our attention?

Reference
Suzuki Takao “Nihon-jin wa naze Nihon-jin o ai senai noka” Shincho-Sensho, 2006