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
Sexualities 136346072311713-136346072311713 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...
Food Culture & Society 24(1) 49-65 Jan 2021 [Refereed][Invited]
In postwar Japan vast black market districts surrounded urban commuter train stations with warrens of small-scale retail, food and alcohol vendors. Most were bulldozed during the period of high economic growth and replaced with modern shopping cen...
This chapter develops the concept of sexual mobility and shows its relevance for studies of migration. Many migrants experience what I call sexual mobility, or changes in their sexual status, sexual opportunities, and even sexual interests during ...
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]
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 27 Mar 2022
Japanese foodways have long been characterized by local diversity, unique products, relatively small-scale production, and attention to culinary artisanry, but all these features are endangered by multiple crises, with many exacerbated by the COVI...
[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 2023 [TV or radio program]
This time we explore the Omori area, located in the south of the city along Tokyo Bay. As a former aquaculture hub specializing in nori (edible seaweed), it retains a deep connection to the ocean. James Farrer (Professor, Sophia University) visits...
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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