The World Discovered Washoku

Last time, we watched the Japanese table acquire abundance and variety amid rapid economic growth. Instant ramen lined the kitchen, refrigerators preserved ingredients, and family restaurants supported families dining out. The Japanese kept layering their own cuisine with flavors from around the world.

Yet here the story turns in an unexpected direction. Japanese food, which had until now been the side that absorbed the world’s flavors, was about to go out into the world itself. The practice of slicing raw fish and placing it on rice, unfamiliar to many across the seas, would eventually spread to cities around the globe. In this chapter, we follow how washoku crossed borders and became a global word, within the range of what has been reported.

Sushi Crosses the Sea

The protagonist in the story of washoku going out into the world was sushi. In regions without a habit of eating raw fish, the culture was at first received as something strange, it is said. Yet, with several factors overlapping, sushi came to be accepted little by little.

One was a flexibility that changed its form to suit local circumstances. For people uneasy about raw fish, it is said that so-called inside-out rolls (a way of rolling in which the rice is wrapped around the outside rather than kept inside) were devised, using cooked ingredients or avocado. The California roll, said to have spread in North America, is often cited as the representative example. That washoku, having crossed the sea, changed its form to suit local palates, just as Japan had once remade curry and tonkatsu, was a scene the history of food repeats.

Another tailwind was the rising interest in health. Lean fish and vegetables, fermented foods, cooking that does not rely heavily on oil. As a nutritionally well-balanced way of eating, washoku is said to have drawn the attention of people mindful of their health. In an age of overabundance where prosperity had gone too far, washoku came to be spoken of as a kind of ideal.

A Milestone: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Amid this global spread, one symbolic event occurred. In December 2013, washoku was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Officially, it was registered under the name ‘Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese.’

What matters here is that what was inscribed was not a particular dish but the very culture surrounding food. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, its characteristics rest on four pillars: a respect for diverse, fresh ingredients and their inherent flavors; a healthy diet with excellent nutritional balance; the expression of natural beauty and the changing of the seasons; and a close connection with annual events such as the New Year. It was not individual dishes like sushi or tempura but a way of living — revering nature, savoring the seasons, and gathering people around food — that was recognized.

The inscription became a strong tailwind that made washoku known to the world. Overseas media took it up, and tourists came in search of Japanese food. Washoku came to be positioned anew as a cultural resource symbolizing the country of Japan.

Japanese Restaurants Spreading Across the World

The way washoku took root across the world appears in the numbers too. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has surveyed the number of Japanese restaurants overseas on a continuing basis. By its estimates, the number of establishments has been reported to rise consistently.

The number of Japanese restaurants overseas, put at about 24,000 in 2006, is said to have grown to about 55,000 in 2013 and about 89,000 in 2015. Further, the 2023 survey announced that it had reached about 187,000. In the span of just over a decade, the number of Japanese restaurants spreading across the world increased several times over. By region, Asia is reported to be the most numerous, followed by North America, Europe, and Latin America.

Yet a shadow worth noting accompanied this spread. As the number of establishments surged, those running them were not necessarily all Japanese, and it was pointed out that there were no few shops bearing the name of washoku while their cooking methods and flavors were far removed from the original. In response to such circumstances, efforts to evaluate and maintain the quality of Japanese food abroad were also advanced, yet when a culture spreads across borders, the question of how to protect its authenticity was not one that yields easy answers.

Washoku Became a Global Word

That the word umami has now become a term understood among chefs around the world symbolizes washoku’s globalization. The culture of umami at the base of Japanese food — the kombu and bonito dashi we traced in the first chapter — crossed the sea and was added to the vocabulary of chefs.

Words like sushi, ramen, tempura, and bento melted into the languages of each country without being translated. That means washoku settled in not as merely a foreign cuisine but as one of the world’s culinary choices. The Japanese table, which had once greedily absorbed the world’s flavors, thus turned this time into the side sending flavors out into the world.

The story of Japanese food, which began with rice and dashi, thus connected to the world. Yet the very Japanese table that gave birth to a washoku the world blesses now stands quietly before a question unlike any before. Having gained abundance and variety, what will the table lose beyond this point, and what will it choose? The table that grew abundant now faces a new question. In the next and final chapter, looking upon the challenges the modern table holds and the road ahead, we will quietly bring this long story to a close.