Arnold, Bruce Makoto. “The Problem with Popularity: The Formation of Japanese Restaurants and the Dissolution of the Nikkei Community in Southern Arizona.“ Chop Suey and Sushi from Sea to Shining Sea: Asian Restaurants in the United States. Edited by Bruce Makoto Arnold, Tanfer Emin Tunc, and Raymond Douglas Chong. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2016.
Keywords: Foodways; Asian American History; Arizona History, Tucson, Arizona; Sierra Visa, Arizona; Japanese American History; Restaurant History; Asian Cuisine History
A historical look into the history of Japanese- and Nikkei-owned Japanese Restaurants in Tucson, Arizona from the first to the present. This study will also seek to understand how the popularization of Japanese cuisine had two unintended consequences. Firstly, the popularization of Japanese food eventually forced the Japanese Kitchen to close as new proprietors began to open Japanese restaurants of their own. The Japanese Kitchen was the only Japanese restaurant in Tucson and sponsored “Japanese Night” twice a month as well as annual Sakura Matsuri and Obon festivals. Its closing eliminated the only central congregating point to Japanese Americans in the city. However, the popularization of Japanese restaurants in Tucson allowed proprietors—most of whom were immigrants from Japan—to assert their individuality over the Japanese food they cooked.
Keywords: Foodways; Asian American History; Arizona History, Tucson, Arizona; Sierra Visa, Arizona; Japanese American History; Restaurant History; Asian Cuisine History
A historical look into the history of Japanese- and Nikkei-owned Japanese Restaurants in Tucson, Arizona from the first to the present. This study will also seek to understand how the popularization of Japanese cuisine had two unintended consequences. Firstly, the popularization of Japanese food eventually forced the Japanese Kitchen to close as new proprietors began to open Japanese restaurants of their own. The Japanese Kitchen was the only Japanese restaurant in Tucson and sponsored “Japanese Night” twice a month as well as annual Sakura Matsuri and Obon festivals. Its closing eliminated the only central congregating point to Japanese Americans in the city. However, the popularization of Japanese restaurants in Tucson allowed proprietors—most of whom were immigrants from Japan—to assert their individuality over the Japanese food they cooked.