Why Nepalese People Are Serving Indian Food: Expanding Curry Business & Night Schools

Night schools are schools where changes in social conditions are reflected in the student population. As the number of foreigners living in Japan increases, the number of foreign students enrolled is also increasing, and the school is becoming more multinational. The particularly noticeable increase is among young Nepalese, most of whom were brought to Japan by their parents who work in Indian curry restaurants and came on family stay status. At the training session, which was attended by around 90 teachers and staff from night schools in the Kinki region, journalist Hirokazu Murohashi and author of “The Mystery of Curry Immigrants: Nepalese Conquering Japan” (Shueisha Shinsho) gave a lecture in which he explained the background and challenges faced by Nepalese people living in Japan. An Indian curry restaurant that serves standard menu items such as curry, naan, and tandoori chicken at reasonable prices. Many of these stores are run by Nepalese people, and there are said to be 4,000 to 5,000 of these stores, known as “In-Nepa,” across Japan. As he is someone who is close to us, many people seem to be interested in him, and Murohashi’s book has been a hot topic since its publication this spring, and has been reprinted many times. The impetus for writing this book came when, while researching a night school in Tokyo, he met a Nepalese man in his mid-twenties who was a graduate of the school. Although he now speaks fluent Japanese, when he came to Japan at the age of 16 at the invitation of his father, who runs a curry restaurant, he didn’t understand a word of Japanese and had given up on life. He enrolled in a night school where he learned not only the Japanese language but also Japanese rules and culture, and acquired the skills to survive in this country. He said, “I was saved by night school.” The man also said, “Children who work at curry restaurants all have their own problems.” Parents are so busy with work that they don’t care about their children’s education. Living each day without hope. “I felt sad when I heard the words ‘curry restaurant owner’s child’ and it has always bothered me,” says Murohashi. In addition, I wanted to explore the mysteries surrounding curry, such as “Why do Nepalese people serve Indian food?”, “How did it spread?”, and “Why do all the dishes look so similar?”, so I began my research from two angles. Nepal, a mountainous country home to the high peaks of the Himalayas, has no notable industries other than agriculture and tourism, and of its population of approximately 30 million, more than 2 million work overseas. The most common destination for migrant workers is India. In a country where a division of labor rooted in the caste system remains, Nepalese people who can do anything on their own are said to be highly valued in the food and beverage industry. The number of Indian restaurants in Japan increased during the period of rapid economic growth. Most of them were run by Indians, but many of them employed Nepalese cooks. When the chef went out on his own, he copied the menu of the restaurant where he had worked. The classic menu item is butter chicken curry, which is lightly seasoned and sweet to suit Japanese tastes, combined with huge, soft naan bread and tandoori chicken. Murohashi points out that the reason they do not care about Nepalese food culture is because they are “making a living as migrant workers” and “sending money to their families back home,” and that “the underlying reason is a sense of security that they will be more successful if they serve Indian food that Japanese people imagine, and a culture of copying and pasting as a safety measure.” Continue reading below
[Sankei Shimbun]
2024/12/10 07:00.

なぜネパール人がインド料理を出すのか　広がるカレービジネスと10倍に増えた夜間中学生

社会状況の変化が生徒層に反映される夜間中学。日本で暮らす外国人の増加に伴い、在籍する外国人生徒が増え、多国籍化が進む。とりわけ増加が目立つのは若年層のネパール…

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