Finding non-veg food the biggest challenge for Japanese living in Ahmedabad
Japanese women who are now returning with their families to Ahmedabad look up to Ari for guidance about the local culture and practices, said Motoyuki Sakiyama, chairman of Japanese Association in Gujarat.
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Japanese families attend the cultural evening at Ahmedabad Management Association campus on Thursday. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)For Ari Miyake, a housewife who immigrated from Japan with her husband and son four years ago, sparse availability of non-vegetarian food is the biggest challenge of residing in Ahmedabad, the city that she has made her second home.
Ari, who is part of the lone Japanese family who stayed back in Ahmedabad during the Covid-19 pandemic, was one of the eight Japanese families that attended a cultural evening at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) Thursday. Welcoming Indians with a “kem cho” (Gujarati for ‘how are you’), Ari—dressed in a kimono—said, “I came to Ahmedabad with my husband who worked with Suzuki Corporation. I have been living on Iskon-Ambli-Bopal road since 2018. I did not leave the city even during Covid (lockdown).”
“We are not vegetarians and so, it is difficult to get sea-food, chicken, squid, etc. Managing non-vegetarian food is the toughest,” said Ari, flanked by her 12-year-old son who studies at a local private school and her husband Kenzo Miyake, a senior advisor-HR and administration at Mandal-based TDS Lithium-Ion Battery Gujarat Pvt Ltd.
Japanese women who are now returning with their families to Ahmedabad look up to Ari for guidance about the local culture and practices, said Motoyuki Sakiyama, chairman of Japanese Association in Gujarat. “My family was here before Covid. They went back and did not return. During Covid, only one family stayed back and that was the Miyakes. Ari is a legend for us. Now, the mothers, who are returning one by one, seek help from Ari on how to manage life and other cultural issues,” said Sakiyama, the CEO of Sanand-based Otsuka Pharmaceuticals India Pvt Ltd.
“As an association, we had lots of activities. There were 236 Japanese living in Gujarat before Covid. But most of them returned to Japan during the pandemic. Today, eight families have come for the event and only two of them have children,” Sakiyama said, adding, the association was planning to update a website about Japanese living in Gujarat.
“Food” is a challenge for any Japanese living alone in Ahmedabad, Sakiyama said. “This is a vegetarian state and so, finding meat is difficult. We also have to adapt when it comes to travelling on a bus or taking a flight. The Indian and Japanese standards are different. So, we cannot have it the way it is in Japan,” he said. Sakiyama says he has picked up a few Gujarati words for greeting and welcoming local colleagues.
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“The idea of the event is to help integrate the Japanese families with Gujarat. This helps the business also. If families are there, then the local Japanese culture can coexist with the Gujarati culture,” said Mukesh Patel, the president of Indo-Japan Friendship Association. The evening at AMA was attended by diplomats, including Toshihiro Kaneko, Chief Consul of Consulate General of Japan in Mumbai, and officials from various Japanese firms such as Mizuho Bank, Daiichi Jitsugyo India Pvt Ltd, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd, JETRO Ahmedabad, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Pvt Ltd.
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