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the sales of ready-to-drink chilled coffee in two flavours, Starbucks
Discoveries Milano (espresso) and Starbucks Discoveries Seattle (latte).
They are produced by Suntory Ltd, a market leader on the Japanese beverage
market, and sold at the ubiquitous ‘convenience stores’ (konbini) that
are open 24-hours a day. Immediately after their launch, the drinks were so
popular that sales far exceeded initial projections. A decision was made to
focus on the production of the Starbucks Discoveries Seattle and temporarily
discontinue the other flavour. Starbucks and Suntory have doubled the
production capacity for the coffee drinks and in April 2006 reintroduced
Starbucks Discoveries Milano in convenience stores in and around Tokyo. 34
Organic Farming and Nostalgia for Local Produce
Affluence is clearly a defining feature of the culinary scene in contemporary
Japan. A wide range of fresh and processed provisions, snack foods
and ready-to-eat meals are available at supermarkets, convenience stores
and through home-delivery services. Dining establishments serve a wide
variety of native and foreign dishes and omnipresent vending machines
dispense not only soft drinks, beer, sweets and ice cream, but also steaming
noodles and grilled rice balls. Food is big business and every opportunity
to sell more of it is exploited. Long-distance train travellers can dine in
buffet cars or purchase food from catering carts to eat in their seats.
Catering carts and rail station kiosks also stock a large variety of food
souvenirs, usually specialities of the region, such as locally grown fruit
and vegetables, pickles and confections. They are distributed among colleagues,
friends and family to mark the end of a journey and offer a
vicarious sharing of the experience. Food has for centuries been a typical
and welcome gift in Japan; it is relatively inexpensive, easy to choose,
can be shared and is easily disposed of. 35 However, the recent celebration
of local produce in Japan has acquired connotations that go beyond the
simple notion of a souvenir (omiyage).
Economic affluence and a growing familiarity with foreign culinary
trends since the 1970s have occasioned an emerging pride in domestic
produce and local specialities. Imported foods, which had long been
regarded somehow superior, have lost their attractive appeal. Instead,
domestically harvested or produced foods have generally become equated
with high quality, safety and perfection of form. 36 Along with urbanization
and the rapidly changing lifestyles of an ever growing part of the Japanese
population, the nostalgia for the vanishing, allegedly more ‘authentic’
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