Can you name Japan’s 47 prefectures?
Moreover, have you eaten food from each one of them? As you know, each prefecture in Japan is famous for a “well-known” food that tourists seek (or rather, queue up for hours to try!) – think Hokkaido’s sea urchin, Miyagi’s roasted cow tongue, Osaka’s takoyaki, Tokyo’s monjayaki, or Kagawa’s udon. Yet, this time, we’re not talking about the cuisine of each prefecture, but the supermarket items found in each… Bear with us.
Yuka Morii is a collector who has travelled across the grocery stores of the world and gathered items from each. Luckily, she’s an artist and has also collected items from supermarkets across the entire country of Japan, and it is these she will now display as part of an exhibition in Tokyo. Staples such as milk, noodles, sweets, wine and tea will represent each prefecture. But, exactly how much do products differ in one single country?
Quite a bit, apparently. Packagings vary from one region to another, and it may cause a wave of nostalgia for out-of-towners (to be fair, the majority of Tokyoites), which is one of the aims of the exhibition. If you haven’t lived in different prefectures, it may be a chance to satisfy your curiosity and notice regional differences.
The artist is not only a collector, but is also famous for her works in stereolithography, a 3D printing technology.
Everybody’s Supermarket (Japanese website)
When: March 7- April 21
Where: d47 museum, Shibuya Hikarie 8F
How much: ¥500
