Transcultural Business Practices of Korean Diaspora and Identity Politics: Korean Sushi Business and the Emergence of “Asian Identity” [한인디아스포라의 초민족문화적 비지니스와 정체성의 정치학: 한인이민들의 스시 비지니스와 "아시아인" 정체성]

Abstract

Japanese restaurants and sushi bars are easily found in North America, Western Europe and Oceania. Interestingly, the majority are run by Korean migrants. There are socio-demographic (an increase in the number of Korean immigrants but a decrease in that of Japanese immigrants), commercial (greater popularity and demand in Japanese food), cultural and historical (colonial history that amalgamated the culinary traditions of Korea and Japan) reasons for this global phenomenon. As a matter of fact, it is the Korean, but not the Japanese, migrants who globalised Japanese sushi. Wearing traditional Japanese costumes, decorating their restaurants like those of Japanese, and making and serving Japanese food, these Koreans do not simply “perform” but they “represent” Japanese culture to the world. This paper explores how the Korean migrants who run Japanese restaurants perceive themselves and their businesses in terms of their ethnic identity(ies). Based on interviews and participant observations, this paper suggests that some of these Koreans tend to perceive themselves as “Asians” rather than “Koreans”. In so doing, they liberate themselves from the narrow ethnic and cultural boundary of “Korean” identity and embrace a broader “Asian” identity. Here, we see a case of an emergent “Asian” identity in Korean diaspora.