Between analogies and translations: semiotic processes of interculturality in a “Japanese bar” in Brazil

Abstract

Interculturality manifests itself in various ways. In this paper, we will observe how a type of commercial establishment of Japanese origin presents processes of adaptation, analogy, and maintenance of its original traits. These are the so-called izakayas, Japanese restaurants that emerged in the 2000s in the city of São Paulo and have, as one of their consequences, questioned some stereotypes linked to Japanese cuisine practiced and consumed in the capital of São Paulo. Thus, following some principles of discursive semiotics, this work will examine the effects of novelty that such an object produces in the receiving society, as well as the discursive strategies used to understand and convey information related to these new restaurants. As a corpus, texts from magazines and print media in their digital reproductions will be analyzed. The results of the analyses point to analogy, comparison, and adaptation as ways of making this new knowledge more easily understood, as well as to new paths of adaptation to what is considered original and traditional, in the transposition of Japanese culture to Brazilian culture.