Japan’s most famous foodstuff—and a global commodity—sushi is simultaneously “Japanese” and international. This course uses sushi and other familiar Japanese dishes as a starting point to investigate how food takes on, maintains, or sheds national characteristics in an age of globalization and fusion cuisine. The historical development of sushi offers a perspective on how ideas about Japan and Japaneseness have evolved and about how Japan has interacted with global currents in food and culture.