Documenting Migrant Foodways in the Kanto Region

Hiro Kay

June 24, 2024 ,18:00-19:30

Room 301, 3F, building 10, Sophia University

In person only

No registration required

NHK Director and food media producer Hiro Kay will describe his decades-long relationship with immigrant foodways, focusing on the production of food media that introduce audiences to the positive contributions immigrants make to local societies, including Japan. His recent fieldwork and media production has fostered ties with immigrants from a wide range of countries, especially in the northern Kanto region. He will show photos and videos produced for his YouTube channel and his blog “Note,” highlighting the relationship be-tween food and religion visible in restaurants run by these new immigrants. In particular, he will introduce the findings presented in his new publication “10 Dishes for Knowing This Wide World [Western Africa edition]” published in May 2024.

Born Tokyo, Japan, Hiro Kay graduated from New York University in 1996 with a de-gree in TV/film. While working in video production in New York for seven years, he ate food from more than 120 countries and regions in New York City. He returned to Tokyo in 2003 and in 2017, he launched “Ethnic Neighborhoods,” a YouTube channel that introduces the positive impact of immigrants on local societies, seen through foodways. He currently produces two programs for NHK WORLD, one called “Where We Call Home” about immigrants in Japan and another called “Dive in Tokyo” exploring Tokyo neighborhood history and culture.

This talk is organized by the ICC Collaborative Research Unit “Sophia Food Studies” led by James Farrer (Professor of Sociology, Sophia University)