Academic literature on the topic 'Vegetarianism – Japan'

Vegetarianism continues to gain popularity in Japan and the Westernized world, in part from decades of science supporting the health advantages of properly planned vegetarian-based diets. Although there are Asian nutritional tools, one specific to a Japanese vegetarian diet is lacking. Thus, the Japanese vegetarian food guide (JVFG) was developed and based in part on the American Dietetic Association position paper for vegetarian diets and the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. The JVFG was developed by collecting dietary information from 3 different institutes in Japan that specialize in regularly offering vegetarian meals. The JVFG was divided into 6 groups with respective recommended servings: vegetables (7.5), grains (4.5), protein foods (4), milk (3), fruits (2), and fats, sugar, and seasonings (<3). The JVFG was developed so that it would adequately provide for all nutrients and be structured for practical use by the general public as well as health professionals.

In contemporary Japan, a Buddhist discourse has emerged that links life and food and centers on gratitude. While the connection between animals and gratitude has a long history in Buddhism, here the meaning of repaying a debt of gratitude has shifted from an emphasis on liberating animals to consuming them with gratitude, thereby replacing anti-meat-eating arguments with a sacrificial rationale. This rationale is also apparent in Partaking of Life, a children’s book written by a Jōdo Shin Buddhist adherent, which has found a receptive audience in Jōdo Shin circles, including the voice-acting troupe Team Ichibanboshi. This article provides a close reading of Partaking of Life: The Day That Little Mii Becomes Meat, followed by historical contexts for Buddhist vegetarianism and discrimination against professions that rely on killing animals, particularly as these themes pertain to Jōdo Shin Buddhism. The essay ends on an analysis of Team Ichibanboshi’s sermon on Partaking of Life.

Markets for Australian beef throughout the 20th century have been moulded by world wars, economic depressions, droughts, transport technology, cattle breeding, trade barriers, global competition, livestock disease eradication, human health risks, food safety, Australian Government policy, consumerism and beef quality. Major ‘shocks’ to beef marketing include the development of successful shipments of chilled carcases to Britain in the 1930s, the widespread trade disruption caused by World War II, expansion (early 1950s) and then a reduction in beef exports to Britain (1956), the introduction and then proliferation of Bos indicus derived cattle in northern Australia (1960s), licensing and upgrading of Australian abattoirs to export to USA and the consequential brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign leading to record export tonnages of Australian processing beef to USA (1960–70). In 1980, increased beef trade to Japan began, leading in the late 1980s to expansion of high-quality grain finished products into that market. By 1993, beef exports to Japan (280.5 kt) exceeded those to USA (274.4 kt), signalling the significant shift in beef exports to Asia. Commencing in about 1986, the USA recognised the value of beef exports to Asian markets pioneered by Australia. Australia’s share of the Japanese and South Korean markets has been under intense competition since that time. Another major influence on Australia’s beef market in the early 1990s was growth in live cattle exports to Asian markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Live exports accounted for 152000 heads in 1992 and 858000 heads in 1996. Improved management systems (e.g. fences) and consequent regulation of cattle supply even in the wet season, a by-product of the brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign, were indirect drivers of the growth in live exports. Throughout the period 1940–2000, domestic consumption of beef and veal declined from 68 to 33.3 kg/head.year, reflecting competition from other foods, perceptions of health risks, price of beef, periodic food safety scares, vegetarianism, changes in lifestyle and eating habits and lack of consistency of eating quality of beef. Despite this decline, the domestic Australian beef market still consumes a significant component (37%) of total Australian beef production. In 1984–85, the reform of the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation set in train a major directional change (‘New Direction’) of the beef sector in response to beef market trends. Under Dick Austen’s leadership, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation changed the industry’s culture from being ‘production-driven’ to being ‘consumer-driven’. Market research began in Australia, Japan and Korea to establish consumer preferences and attitudes to price, beef appearance and eating quality. Definite consumer requirements were identified under headings of consistency and reliability. The AusMeat carcass descriptors were introduced and a decade later traits like tenderness, meat colour, fat colour, meat texture, taste, smell, and muscle size were addressed. These historical ‘shocks’ that shaped the Australian beef markets have all been accompanied by modification to production systems, breeding programs, herd structure, processing procedures, advertising and promotion, meat retailing and end-use. The increasing importance of the food service sector and the ‘Asian merge’ influence on beef cuts usage in restaurant meals and take-away products are the most recognisable changes in the Australian food landscape. The Cooperative Research Centre¿s research portfolio was built around the changing forces influencing beef markets in the early 1990s. Australia needed to better understand the genetic and non-genetic factors affecting beef quality. One example was the poor success rate of cattle being grain-fed for the Japanese premium markets. Another was the relative contribution of pre- and post-slaughter factors to ultimate eating quality of beef. The Meat Standards Australia scheme was launched in 1997 to address this problem in more detail. The Cooperative Research Centre contributed significantly to this initiative. In the year 2001, Australia, with only 2.5% of world cattle numbers retains the position of world number one beef trader. We trade to 110 countries worldwide. The Australian beef sector is worth A$6 billion annually. The diversity of Australian environments, cattle genotypes and production systems provides us with the ability to meet diverse specifications for beef products. A new set of market forces is now emerging. Strict accreditation rules apply to Australian producers seeking access to the lucrative European Union market. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies like bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie are a continuing food safety concern in Europe. This and the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Britain early in 2001 have potentially significant indirect effects on markets for Australian beef. And the sleeping giant, foot and mouth disease-free status of Latin American countries Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina continues to emerge as a major threat to Australian beef markets in Canada and Taiwan. As in the past, science and technology will play a significant role in Australia¿s response to these market forces.

Markets for Australian beef throughout the 20th century have been moulded by world wars, economic depressions, droughts, transport technology, cattle breeding, trade barriers, global competition, livestock disease eradication, human health risks, food safety, Australian Government policy, consumerism and beef quality. Major ‘shocks’ to beef marketing include the development of successful shipments of chilled carcases to Britain in the 1930s, the widespread trade disruption caused by World War II, expansion (early 1950s) and then a reduction in beef exports to Britain (1956), the introduction and then proliferation of Bos indicus derived cattle in northern Australia (1960s), licensing and upgrading of Australian abattoirs to export to USA and the consequential brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign leading to record export tonnages of Australian processing beef to USA (1960–70). In 1980, increased beef trade to Japan began, leading in the late 1980s to expansion of high-quality grain finished products into that market. By 1993, beef exports to Japan (280.5 kt) exceeded those to USA (274.4 kt), signalling the significant shift in beef exports to Asia. Commencing in about 1986, the USA recognised the value of beef exports to Asian markets pioneered by Australia. Australia’s share of the Japanese and South Korean markets has been under intense competition since that time. Another major influence on Australia’s beef market in the early 1990s was growth in live cattle exports to Asian markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Live exports accounted for 152000 heads in 1992 and 858000 heads in 1996. Improved management systems (e.g. fences) and consequent regulation of cattle supply even in the wet season, a by-product of the brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign, were indirect drivers of the growth in live exports. Throughout the period 1940–2000, domestic consumption of beef and veal declined from 68 to 33.3 kg/head.year, reflecting competition from other foods, perceptions of health risks, price of beef, periodic food safety scares, vegetarianism, changes in lifestyle and eating habits and lack of consistency of eating quality of beef. Despite this decline, the domestic Australian beef market still consumes a significant component (37%) of total Australian beef production. In 1984–85, the reform of the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation set in train a major directional change (‘New Direction’) of the beef sector in response to beef market trends. Under Dick Austen’s leadership, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation changed the industry’s culture from being ‘production-driven’ to being ‘consumer-driven’. Market research began in Australia, Japan and Korea to establish consumer preferences and attitudes to price, beef appearance and eating quality. Definite consumer requirements were identified under headings of consistency and reliability. The AusMeat carcass descriptors were introduced and a decade later traits like tenderness, meat colour, fat colour, meat texture, taste, smell, and muscle size were addressed. These historical ‘shocks’ that shaped the Australian beef markets have all been accompanied by modification to production systems, breeding programs, herd structure, processing procedures, advertising and promotion, meat retailing and end-use. The increasing importance of the food service sector and the ‘Asian merge’ influence on beef cuts usage in restaurant meals and take-away products are the most recognisable changes in the Australian food landscape. The Cooperative Research Centre¿s research portfolio was built around the changing forces influencing beef markets in the early 1990s. Australia needed to better understand the genetic and non-genetic factors affecting beef quality. One example was the poor success rate of cattle being grain-fed for the Japanese premium markets. Another was the relative contribution of pre- and post-slaughter factors to ultimate eating quality of beef. The Meat Standards Australia scheme was launched in 1997 to address this problem in more detail. The Cooperative Research Centre contributed significantly to this initiative. In the year 2001, Australia, with only 2.5% of world cattle numbers retains the position of world number one beef trader. We trade to 110 countries worldwide. The Australian beef sector is worth A$6 billion annually. The diversity of Australian environments, cattle genotypes and production systems provides us with the ability to meet diverse specifications for beef products. A new set of market forces is now emerging. Strict accreditation rules apply to Australian producers seeking access to the lucrative European Union market. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies like bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie are a continuing food safety concern in Europe. This and the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Britain early in 2001 have potentially significant indirect effects on markets for Australian beef. And the sleeping giant, foot and mouth disease-free status of Latin American countries Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina continues to emerge as a major threat to Australian beef markets in Canada and Taiwan. As in the past, science and technology will play a significant role in Australia¿s response to these market forces.

Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major cause of CHD and the leading cause of stroke. Although BP rises with age in most populations, there are remote populations around the world where BP does not rise with age and where the high prevalence of high BP and frank hypertension seen in the UK and other Western countries in the older age-groups is not found. However, when such populations migrate to urban settings, their BPs rise, indicating that the population-wide BP problem is largely environmental in origin. Thus, a substantial body of evidence has accumulated on the importance of dietary factors in BP (Na and alcohol intakes (direct relationship) and K intake (inverse relationship)) as well as body weight (direct relationship). More recently, attention has shifted to other dietary factors that might affect BP. Data from studies of vegetarians (who tend to have lower BP than meat-eating populations) as well as clinical data on the adverse effects of protein intake in patients with renal insufficiency led to the view in Western countries that dietary (animal or total) protein had an adverse effect on BP. By contrast, studies in Japan and China suggested that dietary protein might be protective of high BP and stroke. Recent epidemiological studies have found inverse associations between dietary protein intake and BP, consistent with this view, and supported by some evidence from animal studies. Recent controlled clinical trials of soyabean supplementation have also suggested a BP-lowering effect of protein intake. Results of further large-scale epidemiological studies of protein and BP are awaited.

Studies of the development of vegetarianism in the United States between the Civil War and World War I emphasize the distinctly American character the movement assumed during this period. They take a top-down prescriptive perspective that emphasizes celebrated advocates of a meatless diet such as William Metcalfe, Sylvester Graham, Bronson Alcott, and J. H. Kellogg, ignoring the often humdrum reality of this food choice. This article instead examines what it meant to live a vegetarian life from the bottom up, during an era when American foodways were being transformed by growing global interconnectedness resulting from advances in technology, science, transportation, and communications, bound up with American imperialism. It takes as its starting point the voluminous correspondence and other archival material associated with Benjamin Smith Lyman (1835–1920), a lifelong vegetarian and the author of Vegetarian Diet and Dishes (1917), and an eloquent, idiosyncratic, yet overlooked spokesperson for this practice. Lyman was an eminent, widely traveled mining geologist who over the course of a fifty-year career carried out surveys in the United States, Canada, India, the Philippines, and Japan, where he remained from 1873 to 1881. His activities and writings draw attention to the cosmopolitan dimensions of the cultivation, procurement, preparation, and consumption of foodstuffs suitable to a vegetarian diet, many introduced from Asia to the United States through the efforts of governmental agencies and immigrants.

碩士
國立高雄第一科技大學
應用日語系碩士班
106
本研究は台湾在住のベジタリアンの訪日旅行意識を明らかにし、台湾からの訪日旅行の促進を目的としている。研究の結果、日本におけるベジタリアン対応の食材や飲食店に関する情報が少ないこと、ベジタリアンに対する食事を提供する飲食施設などの整備により訪日意識向上や該当施設の利用を志向することが確認できた。本研究では、主に台湾ベジタリアンを対象としたが、ベジタリアンは世界中に多くいるため、ベジタリアンに対応できるような食環境が整えられることにより、日本国内と世界のベジタリアンの訪日潜在観光客の飲食年間市場はさらに大きなものになると考えられる。

This chapter examines the tension between nature-loving and nature-exploiting to help shape multiple Japanese attitudes toward the issue of Buddhist vegetarianism. It explains the narrative of Conquering Yamato, who was known for disrespecting a mountain deity. Within personhood relationships, nature mysticism with mountain persons significantly influenced Japanese culture and history. The chapter explores Kūkai's contribution to the discussion of Shingon Buddhism and plant sentience alongside Dōgen's contribution to the concept of ecocentrism. It also expounds on the complexity of vegetarian attitudes in Japan and the subsequent personhood respect manifesting in varying inanimate realms such as the moon, sun, Venus, plants, or even waterfalls.

Liu Renhang (1885–1938) was known as a Shanghai publicist and propagandist of Buddhism, vegetarianism and non-violence. Having been educated in Japan, he could not establish relations with Zhang Xun and Yan Xishan. He made a long journey to India and Indochina, talked with Rabindranath Tagore. In the 1920s and 1930s, Liu Renhang published over 30 books, mostly translated from Japanese and English. He published translations of L. N. Tolstoy’s short stories, books on hydrotherapy and yoga, and founded the Institute for the Cultivation of Joy in Shanghai (乐天 修养 馆). The main work of his life was Dongfang Datong Xuean in 6 juan, the creation of which was carried out in 1918–1924. The treatise was fully published in Shanghai in 1926, and was reprinted in 1991 and 2014. Its main content was to consider the classical ideals of Xiaokang and Datong, and the possibility of combining ideals with the realities of the modern world. Liu Renhang believed that the ideal of Datong Confucius and Kang Yuwei is fully compatible with Buddhist teachings. During the fifth session of the Central Election Commission of the Kuomintang of the fourth convocation (1934), he tried to announce at the meeting a petition on the introduction of the principle of Great Unity in international relations. In 1938, he created the utopian commune Datong in his native village, and tried to interest Zhou Enlai and Dong Biu with his theories. In the Dongfang Datong Xuean treatise, Liu Renhang introduced the “history of the future”, which was influenced by H. G. Wells’ globalist and Fabian ideas. Liu Renhang directly referred to his novel The War in the Air in conclusion to his own treatise. Like Wells, Liu looked with pessimism on the prospects of modern mankind, and called for the emergence of a “modern Genghis Khan”, who would ruin the world, on the ashes of which the sprout of a new Great Unity would rise.