食と人の移動からみる食文化のトレンド ―日本「食」のグローバル化への取組みを中心に―

Abstract

What makes the local foods to be global foods? In this paper, we focus on the movement of "food" and "people." In particular, the paper clarified the process of globalization of Japan's "food" through the policy efforts of the Japanese government. Japan saw the crisis that the "food" market would shrink as the population declined due to the declining birthrate and aging population, as well as the sluggish growth rate of GDP. Moreover, the service industry, including the food service sector, is considered to be a domestic demand-type industry, accounting for only 70% of GDP. From this, it was judged that improving productivity in the food industry is an "urgent issue" and "entering overseas markets is indispensable." Around 2003, when "Japanese food: Japanese traditional food culture" was registered as an intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, Japanese government responded quickly to the globalization of food culture and food industry in Japan. It was probably that the government already had a sense of crisis about the "food" industry and was already preparing for it. The number of visitors to Japan in 2019 was 31,882,049, which is 1/4 of the total population of Japan, and 60% of the visitors to Japan are repeaters. By encouraging the movement of people and developing various inbound policies that combine "sightseeing" and "food," Japanese food has also established itself in the global market. It can be said that the measures taken as part of the export strategy in an all-Japan system in collaboration with related ministries and agencies have been successful.