Hungry in Japan

Food Insecurity and Ethical Citizenship

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3664092
AutoresAya H Kimura (0000-0002-2685-1984, autor correspondente)
Ano2018
Volume77
Fascículo2
Páginas475-493
Data de publicação2018-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-9118 • E-ISSN: 1752-0401
EditoraDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0021911818000037
OpenAlexW2793337778
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas33

In addition to other forms of precarity, food insecurity-citizens not having access to nutritious food-is an issue of growing concern in contemporary Japan. This article explores societal responses and documents a strong growth of volunteerism in the form of food banks andkodomo shokudō(children's cafeterias) that offer cheap or free meals to children in need. Both types of programs have become more common since the mid-2000s and are filling a void left by the government. This article explores the tensions in these private programs by drawing on the concept of ethical citizenship, which suggests that volunteerism is entrenched in neoliberalization. The programs are constructed in terms of moral matters, such as creatingibasho(space) for citizens' mutual help and reducing food loss by "bringing backmottainai" (wasting nothing). This championing of community power risks masking the fact that food insecurity is in part a result of the failure of public safety nets

Citizenship · Economic growth · Economics · Food insecurity · Food security · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Nothing · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Wasting · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Law