Lives and Livelihood from the Epicenter of Convenience Culture

January 28, 2010 6:00 PM (finished)


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Gavin H. Whitelaw, Ph.D.

(Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology, International Christian University)

Date/Time January 28, 2010 6:00 PM
Location Room 549 5th floor, Akamon Sogo Kenkyuto Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo  [map]
Abstract Small shops and family enterprises are a source of ongoing interest in studies of Japan. Over the last several decades, however, the profile of such businesses has changed significantly, particularly within the retail sector where convenience store franchises, or konbini, now dominate. In certain respects, konbini have re-invented the neighborhood corner shop, turning it into a competitive commercial force with global ties and mass appeal. Indeed in 2008, konbini sales in Japan topped 7.8 trillion yen, surpassing those of the department store for the first time in history. Yet the story behind such numbers is more complex. Statistics alone fail to address how changing practices and notions of store ownership may be contributing to the expansion of this industrial sector. In the following presentation I draw on recent ethnographic research to examine the meanings of konbini ownership in contemporary society. While earlier studies of small shop culture emphasize the ways that merchants actively craft themselves and create traditionalism in urban neighborhood contexts (Kondo 1990, Bestor 1990), I discuss how konbini proprietors are forging a different kind of identity through their negotiations of the very consumption practices and standardization processes embodied by the convenience store model.
Bio Gavin H. Whitelaw earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University's Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 2007 to 2008. He joined faculty of ICU in September 2008 and currently teaches courses in Sociocultural Anthropology and Japan Studies.