Department of Taiwan and Regional Studies

" Bubble tea " is a popular drink in Taiwan, and the representative drink of teashops there. Taiwanese government official statistics list 18,363 drinking shops were registered in 2015, including shops from more than 100 branded chains. As mobility of out-migrants and overseas students increases, " bubble tea " is becoming a symbol of nostalgia, and can easily be found outside Taiwan. This study views " bubble tea " as both a cultural material and a consumption phenomenon, and considers how the drinking culture of bubble tea has been embedded in specific countries in a transnational level, and in spaces that provide or make bubble tea in the UK. These commercial spaces are seen as transnational spaces with various relations and representations. This work studies the introduction and " relocalisation " of " bubble tea " into some UK cities with different characteristics, namely London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Brighton and Exeter, and focuses on the spatiality of the transnational space. We identify three types of consumption space of bubble tea in the UK, based on the location and the characteristics of merchants. Interestingly, shops

" Bubble tea " is a popular drink in Taiwan, and the representative drink of teashops there. Taiwanese government official statistics list 18,363 drinking shops were registered in 2015, including shops from more than 100 branded chains. As mobility of out-migrants and overseas students increases, " bubble tea " is becoming a symbol of nostalgia, and can easily be found outside Taiwan. This study views " bubble tea " as both a cultural material and a consumption phenomenon, and considers how the drinking culture of bubble tea has been embedded in specific countries in a transnational level, and in spaces that provide or make bubble tea in the UK. These commercial spaces are seen as transnational spaces with various relations and representations. This work studies the introduction and " relocalisation " of " bubble tea " into some UK cities with different characteristics, namely London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Brighton and Exeter, and focuses on the spatiality of the transnational space. We identify three types of consumption space of bubble tea in the UK, based on the location and the characteristics of merchants. Interestingly, shops

" Bubble tea " is a popular drink in Taiwan, and the representative drink of teashops there. Taiwanese government official statistics list 18,363 drinking shops were registered in 2015, including shops from more than 100 branded chains. As mobility of out-migrants and overseas students increases, " bubble tea " is becoming a symbol of nostalgia, and can easily be found outside Taiwan. This study views " bubble tea " as both a cultural material and a consumption phenomenon, and considers how the drinking culture of bubble tea has been embedded in specific countries in a transnational level, and in spaces that provide or make bubble tea in the UK. These commercial spaces are seen as transnational spaces with various relations and representations. This work studies the introduction and " relocalisation " of " bubble tea " into some UK cities with different characteristics, namely London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Brighton and Exeter, and focuses on the spatiality of the transnational space. We identify three types of consumption space of bubble tea in the UK, based on the location and the characteristics of merchants. Interestingly, shops

The popularity of 'cat cafés' in recent years is part of the global phenomena of 'cat economics'. Various types of 'cat café' exist; this study focuses on 'themed restaurants' in which the main service is not only food but also 'interactions between human and cats'. This work argues that a 'cat café' is a new type of themed space, and attempts to examine the spatial production of 'cat café', as well as the ways that cats are represented and gazed in this consumption space. This investigation adopts participant observation and in-depth interviews, and draws three main conclusions from observation results. First, the decorations in many cat cafés strongly present the 'theme', that is 'cat', but spatial design is decisive for defining 'how cats are displayed' and 'how customers can interact with cats in each café'. Second, relationships between cats and customers are strongly associated with 'site terms and conditions'. We argue that these terms form the mechanism to keep the 'controllability' of themed space and consumption experiences; they decide who will be included or excluded in each shop and how customers approach cats. Third, many cat cafés in Taiwan are not only consumption spaces, but also sites for animal welfare education. The final argument illustrates the context of cat cafés in Taiwan, and the contrast with cat cafés in other countries, such as Japan.