Food Access, Dietary Well-being, and Inequalities in Urban Japan

Abstract

This presentation examines access to food access in urban areas of Japan. First, drawing on the capability approach, it clarifies the conceptual similarities and differences between food security, food capability, and food access, and argues that the prevailing understandings of food access risk are underestimating multiple inequalities in everyday dietary practices, including economic, social and gender disparities. It then focuses on urban single mothers, who are often described as almost the half population living in relative poverty, and offers a detailed analysis of their actual dietary practices and constraints. On this basis, the presentation discusses what forms of food policy are required to enhance food capabilities and to address the structural disadvantages embedded in current urban food environments.