Number

No.2026-1

Month of Issue

January 2026

Title

Food Citizenship: Between Silence and Rupture in Japan

Author(s)

Tamami Matsuoka
Shuji Hisano

Affiliation(s)

Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University
Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Keywords

food citizens, food democracy, food systems, alternative food networks, acts of citizenship

Abstract

Food citizenship has been considered an essential concept for initiating food systems transformations through food democracy and reconfiguring food governance. This paper examines how participants in alternative agri-food initiatives (AAFIs) in Japan demonstrate food citizenship, aiming to add a new perspective and context to discussions on food citizenship that have thus far been inherently Western-centric. Synthetic analyses of surveys identified unique characteristics of the Japanese case which include low levels of connection to the community and civic/political engagement and dissatisfaction with the government and market regarding economic sustainability. The politically quiet situation of AAFI participants in the global contexts, while more active than the general population of the case, invites us to expand the idea of food citizenship and investigate into the silent/quiet side to understand the political agency of ‘food citizens’ as a whole and seek acts of food citizenship that rupture and transform dominant food systems.