Indian curry restaurants
Plump naan, rich butter chicken curry, and fragrant tandoori chicken. Indian curry restaurants are well-known for their menus, but did you know that many of them are run by people from India’s neighboring country, Nepal? “Indian curry restaurants run by Nepalese” have rapidly proliferated across the country.
It is said that the “flexibility” of Nepalese people is behind the fact that it has grown to become a part of the dining out culture in Japan. What does it mean?
Is it like a chain store? “Indian curry restaurants”
”When I returned from Thailand in 2014, where I had lived for about 10 years, I had the impression that the number of Indian curry restaurants had increased considerably. Even in rural areas, I started seeing signs for Indian curry restaurants everywhere I went.”
So says Hirokazu Murohashi, a journalist who has written many books about travel and Asia. “When you walk into the restaurant, you’ll see the Nepalese flag and pictures of the Himalayas on display. It was also strange to see that the menus at all the restaurants were similar, as if they were chain restaurants.”
Speaking of “Indian curry”, naan is essential. However, in actual India, thin breads called chapattis and roti are more common. Furthermore, in Nepal, dal, a stew of beans, and rice are a staple. So, how did the familiar “Indian curry” come about? And why is it being made by Nepalis who have a different food culture? His new book, “The Mystery of the Curry Immigration” (Shueisha Shinsho), explores the reason for this.
“Haute cuisine” becomes a standard menu
When middle-aged and older people hear the term “Indian food,” they may imagine slightly more expensive foreign cuisine. “The interior is palace-style, and the servers are served by chiselled old men wearing bow ties.In the past, people had that image,” says Murohashi.
Indian cuisine really began to spread in Japan after the war. Indian owners are opening restaurants in places like Ginza, Tokyo. Trained chefs became independent, and new restaurants gradually increased. At that time, dishes such as naan, tandoori chicken, and butter chicken curry, which were considered high-class dishes in Japan, became standard menu items.
Nepalese people worked in these stores. Nepal, which has no major industry other than agriculture and tourism, is a “migrant country” with many people moving abroad to work. Many of them originally worked in the restaurant industry in neighboring India. These people started working at Indian restaurants in Japan, and eventually opened their own restaurants. In this way, the presence of Nepali-managed stores increased.
Indian curry supported by migrant workers
The number exploded in the 2000s.
The reason behind this is that the number of Nepalese living in Japan is rapidly increasing. According to the Immigration Services Agency, there are approximately 156,000 Nepalese living in Japan as of the end of June 2023. The number has increased more than 30 times in 20 years from about 5,000 people at the end of 2003. On the other hand, the number of Indians living in Japan was approximately 46,000 as of the end of June 2023, more than three times the number 20 years ago. There used to be more people than Nepalese, but that reversed in the 2010s.