So yes, how indeed did my kindred and I end up in the
Land of the Rising Sun, 日本, Nippon, aka Japan?
Apparently, we were introduced to the Japanese by Portuguese missionaries some time in the 17th century, more or less 400 years ago. Naturally the Japanese fell in love with our satisfying crunch and subtle oiliness, and thus lovingly adopted us into their menus, though not without some 'Japanization'.
And yet the journey of my kindred did not end there. Instead, my people were further exported to far off lands in recent years as an influx of Japanese culture flooded the globe. Now, you can see some of my distant relatives in relatively near proximity to kangaroos, terracotta warriors, cowboys, merlions etcetera.
Fig 1c. Now we tempuras are found all over the world, fulfilling our dreams!
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Commentary:
Globalization is not a recent event at all. Just as the history of tempuras has exhibited, globalization was well underway 400 years ago, and indeed has been ever since trade was established. We are, in fact, living in the 21th century and are consequentially well-steeped in the progress of globalization: We are thus incapable of truly knowing life without the effects of globalization. Yet we do occasionally marvel at the amazing diversity of our green-blue globe, and generally fail to understand that this diversity is in part a direct ramification of globalization.
There is a certain beauty in the way individual cultures have brushed against each other, in the process each leaving a part of itself with the other, but yet ultimately remaining incongruous and distinct from each other. The history of the tempura is but one example well illustrating this phenomena - the reason why cultures ultimately remain unique is due to the fact that they are fond of altering, or bastardizing, in a sense, imported elements to suit their own likes and dislikes. The tempura was modified by the Japanese to suit their Oriental tastebuds after they took it from the Portuguese, and everyone else who took it from the Japanese more or less bastardized the tempura. The tempura's ubiquity, and the existence of the various forms in the world is a testament to how globalization breeds heterogeneity in our culture.
By Ee Lyn
Culture Expert
