Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Liberal Arts
Job title
Professor
Degree
Ph.D.(University of Chicago), M.A.(University of Chicago), B.A.(University of North Carolina)
Research funding number
40317508
ORCID ID
0000-0002-9847-0347
J-Global ID
200901080858913669
Profile
I am an urban sociologist whose ethnographic studies have centered on the social and cultural contact zones of Asian global cities, investigating their complex flows of peoples, influences, and resources. My major research projects have covered: (1) sexuality in urban China and Japan, including youth sexuality and courtship, extramarital sexuality, and interethnic dating; (2) the lives of Western and Japanese expatriates living in Shanghai; (3) contemporary and historic nightlife scenes in Shanghai and Tokyo; (4) foodways in urban China and Japan; (5) the globalization of Japanese restaurant cuisine on six continents.
Research Interests
Sociology
,Urban Sociology
,Food Studies
,Migration
,Globalization
,Sexuality
,Chinese Society
,Japanese Society
The concept of social sustainability presents many questions for food studies, both about how communities sustain foodways, and how foodways sustain communities. Based on an ethnographic study of restaurants in a single Tokyo neighborhood, this re...
Sexualities 26(4) 486-501 May 2023 [Refereed][Invited]
The most significant and lasting contributions of Ken Plummer to the sociology of sexuality have been his work on sexual storytelling. Best represented in Plummer’s 1995 book Telling Sexual Stories: Power, Change and Social Worlds, this approach t...
Asia Pacific Viewpoint 63(3) 396-410 Mar 2022 [Refereed][Invited]
Neighbourhood gastronomy, the agglomeration of restaurants and smaller eateries in residential urban areas, contributes to the lives of residents and visitors economically, culturally, and socially. Since winter 2020, neighbourhood gastronomy in A...
Comparative Migration Studies 9(28) 1-17 Dec 2021 [Refereed][Invited]
In global cities such as London and Tokyo, there are neighbourhoods where ethnic, religious, cultural and other forms of diversity associated with migration are commonplace and others where migrants are regarded as unusual or even out-of-place. In...
Asian Anthropology 20(1) 12-29 Jan 2021 [Refereed]
Culinary borrowings are so common as to seem trivial, and yet they are consequential for many of the actors concerned. People’s livelihoods, professional status, and social identity may be tied to their stake in the defining boundaries of culinary...
James Farrer, David Wank(Part:Joint author, 1-390)
University of Hawai'i Press 31 May 2023 (ISBN:082489426X) [Refereed]
With more than 150,000 Japanese restaurants around the world, Japanese cuisine has become truly global. Through the transnational culinary mobilities of migrant entrepreneurs, workers, ideas and capital, Japanese cuisine spread and adapted to inte...
Palgrave Macmillan 16 Aug 2015 (ISBN:1137522283) [Refereed]
This book provides a framework for understanding the global flows of cuisine both into and out of Asia and describes the development of transnational culinary fields connecting Asia to the broader world. Individual chapters provide historical and ...
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Dec 2010 [Refereed]
The papers in this online collection are the outcome of the symposium on "Globalization, food and social identities in the Pacific region" held at Sophia University on Feb. 21-22, 2009. Although the globalization of food production and consumption...
Culinary soft power can be defined as the acknowledged attractiveness and popular appeal of food culture that adheres to a nation, region or locality. Culinary soft power has two basic dimensions. One is the status of a cuisine. The other is the p...
Japanese Cultural Center of the Palacky University, public lecture 13 Sep 2023 Palacky University (Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci) [Invited]
Japonská kuchyně se stala opravdu světovou - podává se ve více než 150 000 restauracích mimo Japonsko - od jednoduchých jídelen až po chrámy “fine dining”. Největší rozmach zaznamenala v posledních čtyřiceti letech, ale kořeny konzumace japonských...
Conference on Food and Sustainability: Local food system, food policy and global engagement, 12 Aug 2022 Sustainable Ecological Ethical Development Foundation (SEED) and Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong [Invited]
[Others] Nishiogiology is an ethnographic research project centered in the Tokyo neighborhood of Nishiogikubo (Nishiogi) and focusing on urban foodways, the meanings of culinary work, and changing forms of community participation. It is led by James Farrer, a sociologist based at Sophia University in Tokyo. (www.nishiogiology.org) 2015
NHK World Dive in Tokyo Tokyo Feb 2024 [TV or radio program]
Yotsuya is a central neighborhood that sits between the Imperial Palace and Shinjuku. Join us as we venture down side streets and encounter pockets of Edo—the former name of Tokyo.
Sophia University Tokyo Dec 2023 [Promotional material]
A study of a single Tokyo neighborhood reveals how local eateries serve important economic, social, and political roles in fostering social sustainability.
NHK World Dive in Tokyo Tokyo Aug 2023 [TV or radio program]
Since opening in 2012, Tokyo Skytree has become one of the city's most popular tourist spots. But what's less known is that the area was also a leisure destination centuries ago in the Edo period, thanks to its many temples and shrines. Then, as J...
NHK World Dive in Tokyo Tokyo Apr 2023 [TV or radio program]
This time we visit Oji in the north of Tokyo to take in the cherry blossoms at Asukayama Park, a famous flower-viewing spot. We learn how the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune had over 1,200 cherry trees planted there to create a place of leisure for the ...
Extensively employ the moodle online teaching system to develop courses online, allowing for improvement of access of students to resources and flexible offline communication with students.
I have been teaching students to do qualitative fieldwork since 1998, and developing new methods for organizing qualitative interviewing for undergraduates.
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