by Torben von Borstel and Irina Chernysheva*

On June 11, we walked around S-Bahn Station Savignyplatz to explore Japanese restaurants in the neighborhood. We were assigned to observe six restaurants. Unfortunately, four of them were closed. Although there was much more to observe in the two restaurants that were open, we could even learn a lot from visiting the closed restaurants.

Sachiko Sushi, photo © by I. Chernysheva

The first restaurant we wanted was closed. All that we could do was to take photos of its display window. We had a little more luck with the second restaurant. It was also closed, but two staff members and their friends were there. We had the chance to talk to them and to look at the menu. The restaurant’s specialty is deep-fried vegetables, meat or seafood on a bamboo-stick. One of the staff members told us that in the current situation it is only possible to dine outside and a reservation beforehand is necessary. The third restaurant we went to offers takoyaki and other Japanese homestyle food. It was also closed, but fortunately one staff member was there, waiting for a technician and we managed to have a conversation with him. He told us that the takoyaki machine was broken and the restaurant was closed for this reason, but would reopen in July.

The next restaurant on our route was the first one that was actually open. It is located on a noisy street with a narrow sidewalk and there were many guests sitting outside. The building where it is located, however, was under construction. This considerably complicated observation. The next restaurant on our list was also closed. It looked very unusual from the outside for a Japanese restaurant. Because of the mirrored windows, it was impossible to take the slightest look inside. We took photos of the restaurant’s front, including Corona announcements and the menu. The last restaurant on our way fortunately was open. We dropped by to buy refreshments before heading to our meeting at Savignyplatz. While we were waiting for our orders, we could observe the surroundings and the menu more closely. In contrast to the restaurants we had visited before, this location also offers dishes from Chinese and Korean cuisine.

Announcements and Menu on the Ryotei 893 window, photo © by T. von Borstel

All in all, this ethnographic walk was fun. And we have certainly learned the lesson, that before actually going to restaurants for participant observation, it is well worth to check the opening hours and think about what time might be the most appropriate for a visit. In addition, this exercise was also a nice opportunity to meet in person with our fellow students.

*Torben von Borstel and Irina Chernysheva are students at Freie Universität Berlin’s Japanese Studies MA Program.