The Changing Consciousness of Japanese Small Retail Examined through an Anthropological Analysis of Konbini Franchise Closings

2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21820039
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology/Folklore
• Research Institution: International Christian University
• Principal Investigator: WHITELAW Gavin International Christian University, 教養学部, 准教授 (50527140)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2010
• Keywords: コンビニエンスストア / 小売 / 文化人類学

Research Abstract

Convenience stores have become a critical form of social infrastructure and a "lifeline" during times of disaster and crisis. Yet unlike other forms of social infrastructure konbini are private enterprises and their day-to-day operations rests largely on the shoulders of an owner family and their staff. The societal expectations of these stores, the harsh competition between chains and the rigid profit expectations combine to place increasing pressure on the "franchisee family."In focusing mainly on A-type owners (former independent merchant families), my research revealed that many of the reasons that attracted small shop owners into the franchise business are now the very reasons that these owners are choosing to leave the industry and, in some cases, return to a former retail business or family-related occupation. Interview data suggests that the time spent as konbini owners was not negatively viewed. Despite its challenges, the konbini experience fortified owners'personal conceptualization of "family" and family's importance for the functioning of the franchise industry.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Lights in the Fields : Convenience Stores and Metropolitan Japan (2011)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Journal Title: The Frontier (ICU Japan Studies Program) Vol.4 Pages: 57-69
• [Presentation] Texas Tutoring Tokyo : What Light Might America's Retail Experience Shed on Convenience Culture in Japan (2011)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: 同志社大学アメリカ研究所 部門研究研究会
  • Place of Presentation: Doshisha University, Kyoto.
  • Year and Date: 2011-02-24
• [Presentation] At Your Konbini : An Anthropological Exploration of Japan's Premier Counter Culture (2011)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Kyoto Center for Japan Studies (KSCJ) Special Lecture
  • Place of Presentation: Doshisha University, Kyoto
  • Year and Date: 2011-02-23
• [Presentation] My Konbini : At Crossroads of Science, Technology and Culture in Today's Japan (2011)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: AY2010 MEXT Grant-supported Super Science High School Guest Lecture
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology, Tokyo
  • Year and Date: 2011-02-17
• [Presentation] Konbinity? Convenience Stores and the Question of Livelihood in Contemporary Japan (2011)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Waseda University Graduate School of Asian and Pacific Studies
  • Place of Presentation: Waseda University, Tokyo
  • Year and Date: 2011-01-19
• [Presentation] Really? Convenience Stores Scholarship : Understanding Japan' s Convenience Culture through the (Originally) American Convenience Store(えっ?コンビニが学問:コンビニ発祥の地アメリカから見た日本の便利文化) (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Tama Area University Academic Consortium (TAC) Annual Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: International Christian University, Tokyo
  • Year and Date: 2010-11-30
• [Presentation] Lights in the Fields : Convenience Stores and Metropolitan Japan (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: William Kelly's Contributions to the Spread of Japan Anthropology, American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting(Fanning the flames)
  • Place of Presentation: New Orleans, LA, USA
  • Year and Date: 2010-11-21
• [Presentation] Maintaining Convenience : Franchising the Family in Japan Today (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Transformations and Continuities in Contemporary Society, British Association of Japan Studies(Families and Work)
  • Place of Presentation: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
  • Year and Date: 2010-09-10
• [Presentation] Travails of Trash : Convenience Stores and the Poetics of Paracapitalism in Contemporary Japan (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Transnational Organizing Panel, European Association of Social Anthropology Annual Meeting(Markets, Moneys, and Mobilities)
  • Place of Presentation: University of Ireland, Maynooth
  • Year and Date: 2010-08-25
• [Presentation] Fieldwork Among Franchises (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS) 2010 Panel : Trajectories and Cohorts in Japan Anthropology
  • Place of Presentation: University of Texas, Austin
  • Year and Date: 2010-03-15
• [Presentation] Shoptalk : Lives and Livelihood from the Epicenter of Convenience Culture (2010)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Organizer: 東京大学社会科学研究所 現代日本研究会
  • Year and Date: 2010-01-28
• [Presentation] Konbini Culture : Observant Participation and the Localization of American Commerce in Contemporary Japan (2009)
  • Author(s): Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Place of Presentation: Doshisha University, Kyoto
  • Year and Date: 2009-10-20
• [Presentation]
  • Author(s): University of Tokyo
• [Book] Berg Press (2011)
  • Author(s): Christina Garsten, (ed.), Gavin H. Whitelaw
  • Publisher: Counter Intelligence : The Contingencies of Clerkship at the Epicenter of Convenience Culture(刊行決定)
• [Book] Routledge Press (2011)
  • Author(s): Carolyn Stevens (ed.) Gavin H. Whitelaw,
  • Publisher: To Touch or Not to Touch : Feeling One's Way through the Social Poetics of Convenience Store Work(刊行決定)