Bathing in Japan: Applying a practice theory vocabulary to energy use through ethnography

Abstract

The theoretical frameworks describing the dynamics of energy demand influence the ways in which policymakers conceive of energy use and consider feasible interventions. Practice theory approaches are widely applied to energy demand studies as an alternative to individual behavior-based ones that tend to aggrandize the explanatory dominance of human agency or structure. However, applications of practice theory that respond to these economic or behavior-based descriptions of energy use are overwhelmingly placed in Western settings. This fieldwork-based ethnographic investigation applies a practice theory approach to a description of common bathing practices in a non-Western context: Japan. This case situates and extends practice theory applications, emphasizing the need to understand the embeddedness of culture in energy use. The findings suggest that (1) breaking down a bathing practice into its elements, (2) exposing its interdependencies with other practices, and (3) examining the ways it reproduces itself and other practices offers a realistic and insightful approach for conceptualizing energy intensive practices. Bathing in Japan is intertwined in many other aspects of life in Japan that must first be taken into account before developing feasible policy on sustainability. This study concludes by highlighting ways in which practice theory informs political interventions on energy use.