Tag: J-pop

Forty years of Shonen Knife—it’s an astonishing testament to the band, their music, and their fans. Other bands they’ve been connected with or compared to including the Beatles (ten years), Ramones (twenty-two years), and Nirvana (seven years) don’t even come close to Shonen Knife’s staying power in terms of touring and making music. I

There is no question that the members of Shonen Knife love food; this is obvious from their banter at live shows about food, their book Shonen Knife Land. I explored the band’s relationship with food in Shonen Knife’s Happy Hour: Food, Gender, Rock and Roll. For that book, I had a chance to interview Naoko about the 1998 album, its creation, and her insights about music. I feel honored to communicate with her again via email for part of this blog series. This time, the conversation focused on food. I’ve provided Naoko’s responses in English translation (any mistakes are shortcomings on my part). Many thanks to Naoko and Manager Shibata Atsushi for their help and kindness. 

In my previous post I outlined some of the ways food permeates Japanese food and popular culture. In this one, I dig a little deeper into the connections between food and the Japanese language itself. As I mention in my book Shonen Knife’s Happy Hour: Food, Gender, Rock and Roll, rice has historically been considered central to the Japanese diet and as a food it is loaded with cultural meaning. Indeed, the word for cooked rice, gohan (ご飯), is synonymous with meal.