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.