BOOK REVIEWNature, Culture, and Food in Monsoon Asia
Ed. by Satoshi YOKOYAMA, Jun MATSUMOTO, and Hitoshi ARAKI,
Singapore: Springer, 2020
Benjamin SCHRAGER*
Asia used to be commonly referred to as “the East” and in more recent scholarship, Asia isoften described through compass point names like “East Asia” or “Southeast Asia.” A new book,Nature, Culture, and Food in Monsoon Asia edited by Satoshi Yokoyama, Jun Matsumoto, andHitoshi Araki trains our attention on agri-food systems in “Monsoon Asia.” They broadly define
Monsoon Asia as being the regions affected by the atmospheric conditions of the Asia monsoon,a definition that encompasses vast swaths of territory across South, Southeast, and East Asia. Thisis a unique book that not only challenges conventional approaches to Asia, but also provides animportant English-language window into Japanese scholarship and debates. The book consists oftwelve empirical chapters by Japanese authors spanning human and physical geography who
present a rich array of case studies across Monsoon Asia. Brief sections written by the editors helpto contextualize these chapters within the edited book project. This book makes valuable
theoretical, empirical, and translation contributions. I encourage libraries with an emphasis on
agrarian issues in Japan and Southeast Asia to acquire a copy.
In this book review, I explore the following three aspects of the book: First, potential
theoretical contributions around the ideas of Monsoon Asia and fūdo; second, empiricalcontributions from the case studies; and third, translational contributions through which Japanesescholarship and debates are made accessible to English audiences. In conclusion, I briefly reflect
on how scholars might build on the contributions of this book in the future.

___________________________* Assistant Professor, School of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University
E-mail: benjamin@cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp
Published online: November 12, 2021.
©Asia-Japan Research Institute of Ritsumeikan University:
Asia-Japan Research Academic Bulletin, 2021.
ONLINE ISSN 2435-306X, Vol.2, 74.

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1. Potential Theoretical Contribution
The book presents to English language audiences potential avenues for further developing
the concepts of “Monsoon Asia” and “fūdo.” These concepts are emphasized at the beginning andend of the book by the editors and appear in varying degrees in the contributors’ chapters. Theauthors - although from a diverse range of institutions - are most closely aligned with the field ofgeography, and the idea of Monsoon Asia has the potential for enabling us to see new relationships
between society and the environment. By introducing and exploring this idea of Monsoon Asia,
the book presents an opportunity for other scholars to engage with this fluid regional conception.
A recent special issue in GeoHumanities titled “Monsoon Assemblages Forum” highlights thegrowing transdisciplinary engagement with monsoons in English-language scholarship (Bremmer2021).
This book, published in 2020, is an updated English translation of a 2012-edited book thatwas originally published in Japanese under the title Food and Fūdo in Monsoon Asia (MonsūnAjia no Fūdo to Fūdo). The original Japanese version explored Monsoon Asia through ideas of“food” and “fūdo,” two words that are homonyms in Japanese. The English word “food”(pronounced fūdo) is used in the theoretical framing to indicate a more expansive notion of foods
as being embedded within food systems. The Japanese concept of fūdo is even more important tothe conceptual framing of the book. Fūdo is a Japanese word often translated into English as“climate” that in this book resonates with concepts like landscape, geography, place, and region.
In the Epilogue, Hitoshi Araki explains that their use of fūdo draws from Tetsuro Watsuji (1935[1961]). The discussion of fūdo is short, but similar to Monsoon Asia, the book introduces therichness of this idea to English audiences.

2. Empirical Contribution
The twelve chapters by different Japanese authors provide a wealth of empirical data of
which I can only scratch the surface in this book review. In looking at the map of the case studies
covered in the book (p. xvii), the majority of non-Japanese case studies occur along a corridor
starting at the northwest in Nepal and running southeast to the southern tip of Vietnam. The
chapters are grouped into three different sections that focus on “Nature and Agriculture,” “Foodand Regionality,” and “Society and Culture.”
The chapters from the book provide rich empirical information on topics and regions
unavailable in English language literature. For example, Satoshi Yokoyama’s chapter “Natto inMainland Southeast Asia” provides unique insights into the distribution of “non-salted fermentedsoy foods” (nattō). The chapter introduces a Japanese debate on the origins of non-salted fermented
soybeans in which scholars argued that it emerged and spread through “lucidophyllous” foreststhat stretch from Nepal to Japan. Demonstrating deep knowledge of bacterial cultures, soybean
varieties, and culinary practices, Yokoyama proceeds to analyze the different practices for nonsalted fermented soybeans in Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar with comparison to common practices
in Japan. My former host researcher Shusaku Nakamura has a chapter on traditional seafood dishes
from Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. He delves into the diversity and distribution of these traditionaland regional practices. Geographical scholarship in Japan tends to emphasize empirical findings,
and each of these chapters presents rich and exciting findings to English readers.
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3. Translational Contribution
Another contribution of this book is that it makes Japanese geographical scholarship anddebates accessible to English language speakers. As an updated translation, this book maintains
the flow of ideas from the original Japanese edited book, and in so doing, it provides one of themost accurate English language translations of Japanese geographical scholarship that I have seen.
Given that it takes many years of studying Japanese language before one can read a Japanese
academic book, Nature, Culture, and Food in Monsoon Asia provides a rare window into Japanesegeography for English speakers. This means that the book is especially helpful as an example ofrigorous Japanese scholarship for those in geography or related fields.
With regards to the translation itself, I must commend the editors, authors, and translatorson their considerable effort in creating a translated book that reads so smoothly. In terms oftranslation style, the book leans towards direct translation. Rather than revising to make thelanguage sound more natural in English, the original Japanese meaning is preserved. The tendency
towards direct translation will benefit those who seek through this book to better understandscholarly debates in Japan.
Most of the references cited in this book are Japanese sources, and so English readers willfind themselves bereft of their familiar canon. I find this to be a positive, because it pushes thereader to see new connections and consider different approaches.

4. Concluding Thoughts
The book draws attention to Monsoon Asia, and so I want to identify two aspects of Monsoon
Asia that might be addressed in future works. First, future research might explore how the term“Monsoon Asia” has developed over time. The term “Monsoon Asia” has a lengthy if marginalrole in English language literature (Wickizier and Bennett 1941). However, monsoons arereceiving renewed interest from contemporary anglophone scholars (Bremner 2021). Sincemonsoons appear to be coming back into fashion for geographers, a close analysis of thedevelopment of the term “Monsoon Asia” - if this has not already been done - would help toprovide a stronger foundation for the use of Monsoon Asia going forward.
Second, the majority of non-Japanese case studies from this book are located between Nepaland Vietnam. I think that in Japanese, Monsoon Asia might be used to indicate comparisonsbetween Japan and Southeast Asia. When I read this book in English through my US-raised eyes,
I noticed the omission of East Asian case studies other than Japan (here, I am not counting thecases from southwest China as part of East Asia.). The idea of Monsoon Asia can help todestabilize rigid regional understandings, but Monsoon Asia loses its dynamism if the main
objective of Monsoon Asia is to enable comparisons between Japan and Southeast Asia. I hopethat future research on Monsoon Asia by Japanese scholars will address this point more directly.
Also, I anticipate that including research from countries like South Korea could help to add furtherdepth to our understanding of how environments and food systems vary across this importantregion.
I raise these two aspects of Monsoon Asia, because the underlying idea shows significant
potential to be further developed in future works. I think that many readers will find that they arepulled in and eager to better understand the English and Japanese genealogies of Monsoon Asiaand fūdo. This book provides us with an excellent opportunity for continuing to develop our3

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understanding of these concepts and regions.

References:
Bremner, L. 2021. “Introduction: Thinking with the Monsoon.” GeoHumanities 7 (1): 1–5.
Watsuji, T. 1935 (1961). Translated by G. Bownas. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Wickizer, V. D. and M. K. Bennett. 1941. Rice Economy of Monsoon Asia. Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
Yokoyama, S., H. Araki, and J. Matsumoto. 2012. Monsoon Asia no Food to Fudo. Tokyo:
Akashi Shoten.

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