by Cornelia Reiher

Conducting interviews in Japanese is an important part of the methodology course. That’s why I invited someone actively involved in Berlin’s Japanese foodscape to join the class once again this year. In previous years, we visited restaurants and retail shops offering Japanese food and interviewed their employees, owners, or managers. This time, however, I chose a food entrepreneur who runs a pop-up business selling Japanese ice cream in Berlin. Berlin’s Japanese food scene is dynamic, deriving much of its charm from temporary and experimental formats, such as pop-up restaurants, markets, and events, where new food trends are introduced and tested.

Although it was a long trip, Taka was kind enough to come to Freie Universität in Dahlem for the interview. The students had prepared questions. After a brief round of small talk and an explanation of the interview process, the students obtained his consent to record it. Then, they began asking questions, first in English and then in Japanese, about Taka’s background, his business, Japanese food culture, and the concept of Japanese ice cream.

We learned that Taka always wanted to introduce Japanese cuisine to Berlin. However, he realized that Japanese food in Berlin is quite expensive and not everyone can afford it. This is one of the reasons he came up with the idea of selling ice cream; it offers an affordable glimpse into Japanese food culture and Taka loves ice cream. He has documented his ice cream tastings in Berlin and Japan on his Instagram account to find his niche and unique flavor. In Berlin, he collaborates with a local sake brewery, using byproducts from sake production (sake kasu) to make his ice cream. This allows him to combine flavors and create delicious vegan ice cream, since sake kasu is high in protein. Accordingly, his favorite ice cream is sake kasu ice cream. However, he also combines it with other flavors, such as sakura.

Methodologically, we learned that it’s best to conduct interviews in the interviewees’ native language whenever possible, as they often feel more comfortable speaking it. After the interview, the students told me that they felt empowered by the positive experience of conducting a successful interview in Japanese. They now feel more confident doing it on their own. Later, the students transcribed two minutes of the interview recording to learn how much work and time is required to make informed decisions about using interviews for fieldwork in Japan for their master’s theses.

by Cornelia Reiher

As is customary, the “Berlin’s East Asian Foodscape” methodology course included a visit to a Japanese restaurant this semester. Armed with participant observation assignments, the students headed to a restaurant one Friday in June that serves sushi and Japanese home-style dishes, such as donburi.

When we arrived at the restaurant shortly before noon, a crowd had already gathered, waiting for it to open. Since reservations are not accepted, we had arrived right on time and were glad to find a table for our large group among the groups of employees and Japanese women. The waiters immediately placed cups of hot green tea, chopsticks, small bottles of soy sauce, and the menus on the table.

First, we ordered food and ate. During and after the meal, the students observed and documented how the staff communicated with customers and how the restaurant organized its workflows. They noticed the multilingual environment and observed that many of the servers spoke German, English, and Vietnamese. They also found the large number of service staff and the busy takeout service, which operated simultaneously and was quite popular, interesting.

The students took notes after the meal, and in some cases, even during and before it. Due to the large crowd at lunchtime, the table was cleared immediately after we finished eating. Seeing more guests waiting in the entrance area, we left after an hour. This experience taught us that participant observation sometimes occurs under time constraints, as observers must adapt to others‘ schedules.

A week later, we were back in the classroom. We compared and discussed our field notes and findings. Some students had used their phones to take notes, while others used notebooks and pens. The most important insight was that field notes must be rich and precise in order to produce text for a thesis or paper months later. Keeping this in mind, I sent the students off to complete their next observation task: the Ethnographic Scavenger Hunt, this time on their own. They will share their experiences in blog posts in July and August.

by Haru Yokota and Haruna Usui

In May 2026, students from Seikei University and FU Berlin met again for online interviews about food culture and everyday eating practices in Japan again. This collaboration started during the COVID-19 pandemic and we have arranged for our students to meet online every year since then. Thank you, Yoko Kawamura for this wonderful collaboration! In this post, two students from Seikei University report on their experiences.

Haru wrote:

As I don’t have much exposure to Germany or German culture, I was really looking forward to talking with my partner. The interview was conducted in Japanese and took place in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. We talked about our eating habits, Japanese cuisine abroad and foreign cuisine in Japan. In particular, we discussed the definitions of “authentic” and “fusion” cuisines. I’m interested in cuisines from around the world, but I used to find fusion cuisine was a bit of a challenge because it is adapted and differs from what’s actually eaten overseas.

Through the interview, however, I realized that even in Japan, dishes such as curry and mapo tofu have been adapted to suit Japanese tastes, and could therefore also be considered fusion cuisine. Conversely, one example of Japanese fusion cuisine found overseas is the California roll, a type of sushi that originated in the United States. Initially, I viewed this negatively, considering it to be inauthentic Japanese cuisine. However, I realized that adapting dishes for the local population has a positive aspect in that it helps spread Japanese cuisine around the world. I thought that my favorite dish, curry, might be seen as a “California roll” to Indians.

This interview gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own definition of “authentic” cuisine and on the global spread of food culture.

I am grateful for this interview, which has provided me with new insights, and to the teachers who helped facilitate this connection.

Haruna wrote:

First and foremost, I am very grateful for this precious opportunity. As a student who is interested in and studying intercultural communication, this project, which allowed me to connect in real time with a university student living in Germany, was incredibly fascinating to me. Since my partner had experience studying abroad in Japan, we conducted our entire conversation in Japanese. Although we had exchanged emails to set up the date and time, I was initially nervous because it was our first time seeing each other face-to-face. However, she was smiling the whole time and listened to me while nodding along, which helped me relax and truly enjoy the conversation.

The theme of our discussion was Japanese food culture. We exchanged a lot of opinions on topics ranging from small-scale to large-scale, including the characteristics of Japanese food culture, comparisons with other countries, and the presence of Japanese food abroad. Throughout the conversation, three main things stood out to me. First, I realized how deeply my partner understands and loves Japanese food culture. Second, although Japanese cuisine has been highly popular lately, it might not be as widespread abroad compared to other countries’ cuisines. Lastly, I realized that despite being Japanese, I still do not fully understand my own country’s food culture. During the interview, my interview partner asked me very detailed questions about it, and I felt that there were few answers I could give with absolute confidence. Especially now, when Japanese food culture is attracting so much global attention, I strongly feel the importance of reexamining our very own culture. Being exposed to an outside perspective made me appreciate the value of daily “washoku”, which I had taken for granted. Moving forward, I want to properly understand its profound appeal myself and confidently pass it on to the next generation and the rest of the world.

In conclusion, although it may be repetitive, I would like to express my gratitude for being given such an opportunity. Being able to interact with someone who has a different perspective from mine in Japanese was a highly valuable experience full of various insights and inspiration. It was also a wonderful opportunity to experience the depth of language-based communication. Building on this experience, I hope to continue deepening my learning with an even broader perspective. Thank you very much.

by Ahmad Kasbah

In May of this year, we – that is, students of East Asian Studies at Freie Universität Berlin – had the pleasure of conducting online interviews with students from Seikei University in Tokyo. For most of us, this was our first opportunity to gain firsthand experience interviewing someone while struggling with a language barrier. Some of us knew no Japanese, while others knew some. Surprisingly, we were able to conduct some interviews completely in Japanese.

So, what exactly did we do? Let’s start with the topic: Food.

We were tasked with picking interview partners from another part of the world and interviewing them about their experiences with Japanese food culture and trends. After deciding in the seminar who would interview whom, we reached out to our future interview partners via email. We quickly arranged online meetings and prepared interview questions in advance.

The difficult part came afterwards: the interviews. Since not all of us spoke Japanese, we had a wide range of experiences. Some mixed English with a desperate attempt at sign language, some stuck to English, and a few just talked in Japanese. This hands-on method of collecting qualitative data was helpful in various ways since interviewing peers of a similar age is much more enjoyable and casual than a strict or serious first interview. After the interviews, we followed Japanese tradition and thanked our interview partners for their time via email.

Some time later, we received feedback on the interviews from the students in Japan. Surprisingly, they were also very happy with how we used their time. They added that the interviews were valuable to them on a human and cultural level, pointing out that the questions we asked about food sparked their curiosity about why things are the way they are in Japanese food culture.

Ultimately, we had the opportunity to conduct our interviews. More importantly, we were able to participate in a successful method of establishing intercultural connections and interactions from which both parties derived satisfaction.

Ahmad Kasbah is a student in the MA program Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin

by Cornelia Reiher

Spring has arrived in Berlin, the cherry trees are in bloom, and the summer term has just begun. This means that it is time for the next season of the methods course, „Berlin’s East Asian Foodscape,“ formerly known as „Berlin’s Japanese Foodscape.“ As always, I will teach social science research methods to students in the Master’s Programs in Japanese Studies and Global East Asia through hands-on learning. I will continue to do so by studying East Asian cuisine in Berlin, which will enable encounters with people who make, sell, and consume food from East Asia. Together with an international group of students with expertise in various East Asian countries and languages, we will explore new trends, interview participants in Berlin’s East Asian food scene, and attend food-related events to observe the global dynamics of Berlin’s culinary landscape. Since everyone loves to eat and talk about it, students can contribute their expertise, develop their own research projects, and, hopefully, create exciting videos or other formats by the end of the term. Stay tuned to see the results in October! In the meantime, we will share our experiences on this blog from interviews with Seikei University students in Japan, field trips, interviews with food producers, as well as the annual Ethnographic Schnitzeljagd (ethnographic scavenger hunt). I am looking forward to an exciting course with great projects, great encounters and great food!

by Maiko Luisa Zisgen

Cultural eating and cooking habits are an important part of my life. Even though food itself is simply necessary to survive, I personally experience food to impact me beyond a basic need. First of all, cooking and eating is a habitual, or even ritualistic practice that I exercise every day. Usually, depending on in which city or country I am residing in, these meals are rotations of the staple dishes made by ingredients that are available to me. As someone who has only been living in Berlin for a few months, I am still trying to navigate through the Japanese foodscape in this city. Because of my Japanese cultural background, eating Japanese food regularly is quite important to me. Not only do I enjoy going to Japanese restaurants but also cooking Japanese meals myself.

In my hometown Bonn, there is a tightknit but small Japanese community. The Japanese restaurant scene has changed and developed over the years, but consistently stayed small, especially when it comes to culinary businesses owned by Japanese people. There are many more authentic restaurant options in the surrounding areas such as Cologne and Düsseldorf, which obviously have much larger Japanese communities. The proximity to these cities (approximately thirty minutes and one hour by train) might also be an explanation for the lack of authentic Japanese restaurant options in Bonn. Düsseldorf, which has the third largest Japanese community in Europe (Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH 2025), offers a diversity of Japanese foods, such as rāmen, tonkatsu, sushi, teishoku, soba, mochi and many more. There is also a variety of Asian supermarkets that sell Japanese products and ingredients for cooking.

Although the selection in Bonn is not as extensive as in Düsseldorf, there are enough stores to purchase the primary ingredients of Japanese cuisine. The emergence of Asian supermarket chains such as GO Asia and Tains-Pandamarkt has made Japanese food products more accessible. The fundamental ingredients are mostly available there. These include miso, shōyu, mirin, ryōrishu, rice vinegar, dashi, and Japanese rice. Besides these basics, I enjoy being able to purchase other products, such as ponzu, rāyu, sesame dressing, wasabi, tonkatsu sauce, and even Kewpie mayonnaise, a classic Japanese household staple. You can also purchase all kinds of noodles and instant meals, including soba and udon noodles, instant rāmen and miso soup, and Japanese curry and yakisoba. I also frequently take advantage of the selection in the refrigerated sections of chain stores, which usually offer quality Japanese culinary ingredients, such as enoki mushrooms, silken tofu, konnyaku, and takuan. Other personal favorites from the freezer section include frozen aburaage for soba or udon dishes, frozen gyōza, and premade gyōza dough for making them at home. This variety of Japanese foods allows me to cook many of my favorite meals at home, such as nabe, yasai itame, and miso soup.

In Berlin, there are multiple Go Asia stores. Because one of them is in my neighborhood, it has been my go-to destination to shop Japanese groceries. Another Japanese store I have visited is Smartdeli Sushi & More in Mitte. It is mainly a restaurant with multiple sushi, sashimi and teishoku options, but they also have a space where they sell Japanese products. The options are limited and in average a little bit more expensive than the products at Go Asia. Nevertheless, it is a good option when shopping exclusively for Japanese groceries. My personal highlight were the Japanese rice options, such as the yumenishiki rice. Furthermore, there is a store called Japan Plaza in Mitte, which is the second location of the Shochiku Supermarket, one of the most popular Japanese stores in Düsseldorf (Japan Food Express GmbH 2025). The Japanese product options in Berlin are therefore similar to Düsseldorf, in the sense that there are a lot of Asian supermarkets with Japanese products and additionally shops that are specialized in Japanese products, compared to Bonn, which lacks the variation of specialized shops. When it comes to Japanese restaurants in Berlin, I still have a lot to explore. Besides the restaurants in Kantstraße, there are several restaurants run by Japanese people spread out in the city.

The comfort of the availability and easy access to these Japanese culinary products improve my quality of life enormously. But this is also true for German food and includes my favorite kind of bread. When I was living in Tokyo for seven months, I did not have access to German-style bread. The bread in Japanese bakeries is much sweeter and softer. The change of product availability forced me to adapt and to cook more Japanese dishes. But after a few months, I, a creature of habit, started missing my old habitual foods. I can still vividly remember the feeling of comfort when I finally ate a piece of sourdough bread and experienced that familiar taste again. The familiar taste had an emotional impact on me.

In summary, since food is cultural and cooking and eating are cultural practice, whenever I lived abroad, these cultural practices gained importance in my life. Through food, I can still feel close to where I come from, even if those habits shift a bit outside that context. I felt this just as strongly in Japan, where I suddenly missed German bread and familiar dishes. The same goes for Japanese cuisine: being able to find Japanese ingredients in Germany lets me keep that part of my everyday life and feel more connected to it. Having access to Japanese foods in Germany allows me to practice the Japanese culinary culture and therefore strengthen my cultural identity. This is the reason why the availability of Japanese foods is so important to me.

References:

Japan Food Express GmbH (2025), Japan Plaza Berlin, https://japanplaza-shop.de/japanplaza

Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH (2025), Little Tokyo in Düsseldorf – Japanische Kultur erleben, https://www.visitduesseldorf.de/erleben/sehenswertes/little-tokyo-duesseldorf

Maiko Luisa Zisgen is a student assistant at the Institute of Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin and helps with managing and updating this blog.
 

by Cornelia Reiher

Although men dominate the Japanese restaurant scene in Berlin, women play a vital role in various capacities across the city’s Japanese foodscape. They are entrepreneurs who run their own restaurants, online stores, food stalls or stores, they cook, help in the kitchen, import food and drinks, serve food, and plan menus and events. Japanese women who work in Japanese eateries in Berlin are students, young women on working holiday visas, freelance artists or the wives of Japanese expatriates or German men. Some have studied German in Japan. Others are interested in art and came to Berlin to study or work. Only a few of the women have previous experience in the food industry. As only a handful of Japanese women actually own the eateries where they work, they more often work in and manage places owned by their German or Japanese partners, work as freelancers, or are employed at restaurants owned by others. Female freelance chefs also offer cooking workshops and catering. (Reiher 2026).

For women involved in Berlin’s culinary field, the reasons for leaving Japan are diverse. Especially women who previously worked in the Japanese food industry wanted to escape their male-dominated workplaces (cf. Reiher 2022, 108). Some relocated to Berlin, because they were worried about food safety and wanted to leave Japan after the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe (cf. Reiher 2023, 1061). Others, who were trained in Japan’s culinary field, left Japan, because they did not see any job options in the food sector. And especially single women in their thirties and forties left Japan to escape their families’ expectations to get married.

Japanese women in Berlin’s Japanese foodscape face many difficulties in their everyday work. They often have precarious jobs, sometimes several jobs at the same time. This economic insecurity is often accompanied by social insecurity. At the same time, this lifestyle also offers them a certain degree of freedom they were missing in Japan. However, their degree of agency and freedom to shape Berlin’s Japanese foodscape as well as their own lives and careers varies depending on their position, experience and skills. At the same time, the position of all female Japanese food producers in Berlin is characterized by a double marginalization as both women and migrants. (Reiher 2026).

All women I have talked to agreed that working in the catering business is easier as a woman in Germany than in Japan. In Berlin, many intentionally or accidentally ended up in women-only workplaces or created them because they felt more comfortable working with women. Negotiating gender roles also means finding a balance between working in a restaurant and family life. Social support from family and friends is important in achieving this balance. However, the co-ethnic networks of Japanese migrants in Berlin are not as well developed as those of other migrant groups. Therefore, Japanese migrant women cannot rely on the help of co-ethnic networks to the same extent as other migrant entrepreneurs in Berlin. Not only is the number of Japanese migrants in Berlin comparatively small, but there are also different groups of Japanese migrants who are not connected to each other, especially because many left Japan to distance themselves from Japan and other Japanese people (cf. Reiher 2022, 108).

This double marginalization as both women and migrants also explains why so few women are in charge of the Japanese eateries where they work. In order to overcome the significant legal, administrative and linguistic hurdles migrant restaurateurs face, many Japanese women rely on local men. They manage financial matters and paperwork due to the women’s limited language skills and unfamiliarity with the networks and resources needed in a new city. Additionally, the insecurity surrounding the duration of Japanese women’s stay in Berlin makes them more hesitant to establish their own businesses. Some Japanese female chefs, however, prefer not to open their own restaurants, valuing the freedom to travel and the avoidance of the dual burden of managing both a business and family responsibilities.

In summary, Japanese women in Berlin’s Japanese foodscape tend to rent temporary alternative spaces such as pop-up restaurants, stalls at events or markets rather than open their own eatery to try out new concepts and formats of Japanese cuisine due to the associated social and economic risks. Even though a few women stand out and are heavily promoted in the culinary media and are therefore highly visible, this publicity belies the fact that many Japanese women who dream of owning their own restaurant or becoming more independent in other ways work as employees and have to make many compromises in their everyday working lives.

References

Reiher, Cornelia (2026), „Women in Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes: Gender hierarchies, culinary creativity and food entrepreneurship,” in: Kimminich, Eva und Schröer, Marie (Hrsg.), Kulinarische Codierungen: Semiotik des Essens in Alltag, Medien und Gesellschaft, Baden Baden: Ergon, pp. 107–126.

Reiher, Cornelia (2023), “Negotiating authenticity: Berlin’s Japanese food producers and the vegan/vegetarian consumer,” Food, Culture & Society 26, 5: 1056–1071.

Reiher, Cornelia (2022), “Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes during the Covid-19 crisis: Restaurateurs’ experiences and practices during the spring 2020 restaurant shutdown,” Berliner Blätter 86: 105−122.

In their video, Lidia Salvador and Lena Danz show how the practice of „eating alone“ in restaurants has traveled from Japan to Germany and how it materializes in a Ramen restaurant in Berlin. Please watch the video here:

Lena Danz is a  a student in the Master program Global East Asia at Freie Universität Berlin. Lidia Salvador is a student in the Master program Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.

Cornelia Reiher published a book chapter based on data from this project on Berlin’s Japanese foodscape. It focuses on female Japanese food entrepreneurs and chefs.

Reiher, Cornelia (2026), „Women in Berlin’s Japanese foodscapes: Gender hierarchies, culinary creativity and food entrepreneurship,” in: Kimminich, Eva und Schröer, Marie (Hrsg.), Kulinarische Codierungen: Semiotik des Essens in Alltag, Medien und Gesellschaft, Baden Baden: Ergon, S. 107–126.

Please check it out here: Kulinarische Codierungen – 978-3-98740-241-8 | Nomos

In their illustrated report on Chinese restaurants in Berlin, Mariia Safonova, Julia Mąkosa,Julia Marchlik and Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi present their findings on regional diversity of Chinese cuisine in Berlin’s Chinese foodscape. Please read the report here:

Julia Mąkosa, Julia Marchlik, Mariia Safonova and Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi are students in the Master program Global East Asia at Freie Universität Berlin.