Korean Perceptions of Japanese Foods: A Neuroscience Perspective

Abstract

This study examined Koreans’ risk perceptions and purchase intentions regarding food from Japan that might be contaminated by radia-tion after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. More than eight years have passed, and it is important to understand the extent to which public concerns have persisted. Therefore, Koreans’ current attitudes toward Japanese food products were investigated in that there was a sample of 210 Koreans in the Seoul area who completed an online questionnaire. Using the structural equation model, it was found that the country of origin highly influenced perceptions of food risk and purchase intentions. Next, a neuroimaging study was conducted to supplement the survey findings. The analysis of neural activations using functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that food preference increased with an increase in distance from the origin which is the Fukushima area, and the left inferior frontal gyrus and right hippocampus, which are related to semantic memory retrieval and spatial information processing, were activated during the evaluation of food preference and the distance from Fukushima . In terms of food culture development, safety of the current Japanese food should be secured.