Interviewing Japanese students about global food

by Ian “Nai” Harano Grey, Wai Yi Lam, Lisa Hetterling

For our class in Professor Reiher’s course we were tasked and paired up with a student from Japan to interview. Our group was lucky enough to interview Yurika Kudo, a student from Seikei University. We set up an interview on Zoom and spoke with her in Japanese about food cultures in Japan. Our objectives were to understand the globalization of food within the area Yurika lived within. For many of us, it was the first time conducting an interview in Japanese or even our first interview with a total stranger, making it a valuable hands-on experience.

This year’s methods course during fieldwork in Berlin
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2025

Even though at first, we were a bit nervous we ended up becoming more and more comfortable the more we spoke.  It allowed us to put into practice the theories we had learned in our methods class and served as a meaningful cultural and language exchange. The experience also helped us become more familiar with an interview setting and prepared us for future research. At the beginning, we worked to have more fun simple topics and added more complicated questions as the interview progressed.

After the brief self-introductions and some light-hearted small talk, we transitioned naturally into the conversation, which flowed effortlessly thanks to Yurika’s openness and the easy dynamic among all of us. Since she is originally from Akita, we first discussed the specialty food of the region. As we learned, Kiritanpo and Okomen are Akita’s specialties. Her favorite food is sushi, more specifically salmon sushi, and she enjoys Japanese cuisine a lot.

Talking with Yurika also offered us a glimpse into how culinary cultures appear in Tokyo. Korean food, for instance, is super popular among her peers. She especially loves tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and gejang (marinated crab) and likes to visit Shin-Okubo (Tokyo’s Koreatown) for new flavours. Indian curry, she noted, has also established itself as a simple yet tasty favourite. For all of Tokyo’s international options though, we reflected that foreign dishes often arrive more-or-less subtly reinterpreted, familiar in some ways, but distinctly local.

Similarly, when comparing notes on how Japanese food travels abroad, we came to an intriguing conclusion. California rolls for example, with their avocado and cream cheese filling, initially struck Yurika as very odd, but she saw them as part of a familiar pattern. We recognised that every culture and market tweaks more foreign flavours to their own palate and that of its consumers, whether that means toning down spices or adding familiar, local ingredients. With all of these fantastic exchanges we left the call feeling very energized about such a wonderful interaction.

This experience was not only a fantastic challenge, but also a great deal of fun! After the initial nerves we were able to have such a wonderful cultural exchange even though none of us were native in any of each other’s languages. Yurika was such a kind and high-spirited person and gave us really wonderful insights. Not only could we relate to so many aspects of foods that have travelled from Japan, but also the interview also showed how food does change when it travels. We all have a different connection to Japanese food and that connection was able to have us bond even upon first meeting.

When wrapping up we all were so happy and even took a screenshot to remember the moment. Interviewing in another language leaves some fear of misunderstandings or awkward miscommunications, but luckily even when there were complications, we were able to speak around the language gap to get to our points with haste. When both parties are willing to learn and exchange with each other it really makes for an energetic atmosphere. We are lucky that Yurika could foster that with us and are very thankful for such a wonderful experience.

Die Forschungswerkstatt bei der Langen Nacht der Wissenschaften 2025

Seit zehn Jahren führen Studierende der Japanologie in der „Forschungswerkstatt japanische Küche“ eigene Projekte zu japanischen Restaurants, Lebensmitteln und kulinarischen Trends in Berlin durch. Die Ergebnisse haben sie in Videos festgehalten, die während der Langen Nacht gezeigt werden. Neben dem Filmscreening werden Akteure der japanischen Foodszene in einer Diskussionsrunde miteinander und mit Studierenden über den Wandel der japanischen Küche in Berlin diskutieren.

Wir möchten alle Interessierten herzlich zur Veranstaltung der Japanologie im Rahmen der Langen Nacht der Wissenschaften am 28. Juni 2025 ab 17 Uhr einladen. In der Holzlaube bieten wir ein buntes Programm aus Filmvorführungen, Diskussionsrunden, Vorträgen und Mitmachangeboten. An verschiedenen Ständen können Besucher*innen mit Studierenden der Japanologie über Japan sprechen, origami falten, Einblicke in Kalligraphie und temari erhalten, onigiri herstellen oder ihre Fähigkeiten mit Essstäbchen erproben.

Ort: Holzlaube (Fabeckstr. 23-25), Raum 2.2058 und Raum 2.2059

Zeit: 28.06.2025, 17:00-22:30 Uhr

Tickets: https://lndw-tickets.reservix.de/tickets-die-lange-nacht-der-wissenschaften-25-jaehriges-jubilaeum-in-berlin-rund-50-einrichtungen-am-28-6-2025/e2394242

New Video on Japanese restaurateurs in Berlin

Lara Fischer, Arian Malek und Nicole Risto have interviewed three Japanese entrepreneurs who run eateries in Berlin. The video the students have produced, presents these interviews and gives insights into their migration experience, their work and their everyday life in Berlin. Please watch the video here:

Japanese Food Festivals in Berlin

by Cornelia Reiher

Japanese food is very popular in Berlin, and certain Japanese foods even have their own festivals. In October, I attended the opening of Sake Week and a rāmen festival. Since both events were held on the same day, it was a very exciting day full of interesting sights, delicious taste sensations and exciting encounters with people who are passionate about Japanese food and drink. According to their website, Sake Week is organized by the Sake Embassy, an organization that describes itself as a „liquid meditation movement“. The last Sake Week was held in 2022 in five cities with 50 events, while Sake Week 2023 featured 100 events in nine cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovakia.

The welcome sign of Sake Week.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

After we had climbed the stairs to the opening event at a brewery, we were greeted with a “Japanese Radler” made from beer, yuzu sake and lemonade. After a short welcome, we were able to participate in sake tastings from two import companies that offered sake from different prefectures in Japan. The audience that had gathered for the event included people from the restaurant and retail industries, Japanese cultural organizations and their friends and supporters. I met restaurant owners, chefs and sake sommeliers who told me how they pair dishes with sake. They all participate in Sake Week by hosting special sake-themed events at their restaurants and bars. One restaurateur told me that she likes sake because she finds that most of her customers are already attuned to wine and are more open with sake because they don’t know it as well yet. With sake pairings, she has more leeway and guests can make new discoveries.

Finger food, Japanese radler and sake tasting.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

With different types of sake, fusion finger food and interesting conversations, the two hours went by way too fast and like the sake entrepreneurs who packed up their sake to travel to the rāmen festival, we had to head there too. However, on the way to the rāmen festival, it had started to rain and by the time we arrived, we were completely soaked. Despite the bad weather, there was a long line of people waiting to buy a ticket. Fortunately, we had purchased our tickets online and were able to walk right in. The event was designed as an outdoor event with various booths. When we arrived, people were crowding the few covered seats. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was good and most visitors enjoyed the Japanese food and drinks under the temporary rain shelters.

A rāmen stall at the rāmen festival.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

Since we were already wet, we looked around first. In addition to three stalls selling rāmen, there were other Japanese dishes such as takoyaki, taiyaki and okonomiyaki, a sake stall and a stall selling various Japanese handicrafts. One booth was set up in the style of Hakata Yatai. These food stalls are typical of street vendors in Fukuoka, a city in northern Kyushu. The food offered was appropriately tonkotsu rāmen, a specialty from this area also known as Hakata rāmen. The soup broth is based on pork bones and the dish is traditionally topped with sliced pork belly. We got in line and got a seat right by the cart.

Tonkotsu rāmen and Hakata yatai-style dining in the rain.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

While we bravely took our seats outside, most of the guests ordered rāmen to go and ate it under one of the few canopies. We held the umbrella above us and although it was a challenge to hold the chopsticks in one hand and the umbrella in the other, the noodles tasted delicious. Maybe because I had never eaten ramen at a yatai in the rain before. Several young Japanese men and women were working at the stall. Two girls took orders and cashed up, while the other employees prepared the ingredients, cooked the soup and served it. We sat right in front of the containers of ingredients, like eggs and scallions, and I hope my umbrella did not drip into it.

Takoyaki and sake stalls at the rainy ramen festival.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

Later it cleared up and more people came to the festival area. But since we were still wet, we decided to look for a dessert and call it a day. We were lucky and bought the last vegan taiyaki with matcha cream and cherries and headed back to the next S-Bahn station, passing supermarkets, gas stations and car dealerships. It was an eventful day, and I was amazed at how many people from very different backgrounds are fascinated by Japanese food and have come just to eat rāmen and other Japanese dishes. At the same time, there is a growing number of non-Japanese entrepreneurs working to promote Japanese food and drink in Germany and I would like to learn more about what drives them.

Japanese fusion food for students: Freie Universität Berlin’s new cafeteria Shokudō

by Cornelia Reiher

This blog is mostly about Japanese restaurants in Berlin, but since a Japanese-style cafeteria opened at our own university in December 2022, this post will feature Shokudō Cafeteria (shokudō means cafeteria in Japanese), which is inspired by Japan and offers fusion cuisine. It is located very close to the Institute of Japanese Studies and is in the same building as the former vegetarian cafeteria. So it still offers vegetarian and vegan dishes, but in a Japanese way. Although most Japanese dishes include dashi, a Japanese fish broth, all dishes are actually vegetarian or even vegan, according to the staff.

Koi and Mount Fuji adorn the walls of the new Shokudō cafeteria
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2022

When I visited the new cafeteria for the first time with my colleagues, I was surprised at how much the place had changed. The interior design is heavily based on Japanese motifs, including a mural of Mount Fuji, koi, and pine trees. In one part of the cafeteria, there is a zashiki dining area, where customers sit on cushions on a platform with a tatami-like rug and eat from low tables. In Japan, this also means taking off your shoes before stepping onto the tatami mats, and most students do this, but not all are familiar with this custom. There are also regular tables, but the zashiki dining area is very popular, and we were lucky to find a seat. People seem to enjoy this different way of eating and also use it as a place to rest, chat with friends, or do their homework.

Dining under pine trees and eating noodle soup with chopsticks
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

The food includes existing Japanese dishes such as different types of maki sushi, gyōza, rice or noodles like rāmen and udon, but also their own inventions like edamame burger or pumpkin gratin with edamame. Sometimes regular dishes are simply renamed to seem more Japanese, or an ingredient typical of Japan is added, such as pumpkin soup with soy sauce. While the salad bar is mostly unchanged except for the addition of wasabi dressing and kimchi, desserts are also inspired by Japanese food culture and often include matcha or sesame seeds, such as chocolate mousse with matcha. Because the cafeteria serves a large number of people every day and must offer vegetarian or vegan dishes at a reasonable price, the ingredients are quite different from those used for the same dishes in Japan. However, compared to the average cafeteria experience, the food was nice.

Rāmen, edamame burger and maki sushi are examples of the food served at Shokudō
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

More than the food itself, the experience of eating with chopsticks, sitting on the tatami-like floor, and talking about the Japanese interior was a nice change from my usual lunch break. Still, many questions remain, such as: Why was Japanese food chosen as a theme for this cafeteria over all other popular Asian cuisines? Why was the interior designed this way and what do students think of this new cafeteria? How many different dishes can this cafeteria offer in the long run, or will it mainly offer noodle soup and sushi? I am looking forward to the course in the summer semester on Berlin’s Japanese foodscape and will definitely explore these and other questions with our students.

Japanese Artists in Berlin’s Japanese Foodscape

by Cornelia Reiher

Over the years I have interviewed many people who work in Berlin’s Japanese foodscape. Most of them are Japanese and many did not come to Berlin to open a Japanese eatery or to work in one. The reasons for moving to Berlin and the life stories of Japanese men and women who own, cook or serve in Japanese eateries in Berlin are diverse. Few are trained chefs and even fewer had originally planned to work in or open a Japanese restaurant in Germany. What struck me is that many of my research participants came to Berlin to study art, work as artists or pursue a career in fashion or the music industry. Another interesting observation is that Berlin was often not their first place of residence abroad, but many had lived in other places like London, Paris or New York before coming to Berlin. In this post, I will introduce people who moved to Berlin to study or perform art and began to work in Berlin’s Japanese foodscape for various reasons, with diverse goals and for different periods of time.

Many of the Japanese cooks, restaurant owners, pastry chefs or service staff in Berlin’s Japanese eateries are (former) musicians, painters, dancers, designers, make-up artists or tailors. A Japanese waitress I interviewed this year came to Berlin to take dance lessons and look for a job as a dancer. She was interested in the work of Japanese artists living in Berlin and visited the city for a week in 2017 before moving here on a working holiday visa in 2022. She had previously lived in London, then returned to Japan during the covid pandemic, and when she finally decided to move to Berlin, the Japanese artists she already knew helped her find a place to live. To earn a living, she works as a waitress in a Japanese restaurant. She found the job through MixB (Mix Board Classified), a Japanese-language classifieds website in Germany that many Japanese restaurants use to post jobs. She had already worked in restaurants in Japan and the UK and perceives her job as a way to earn money, but also enjoys working and socializing with other Japanese people and learning more about Japanese cuisine.

A Japanese man I interviewed this year cooks in a popular Japanese restaurant. He is a painter and attended an art school in Japan.  When he came to Berlin in 2019, it was his first time living abroad and he didn’t know German. His motivation to live in Europe was his interest in art. He wanted to visit museums and exhibitions and would have preferred to go to France or the United Kingdom, but the cost of living in Germany was lower. He applied for a working holiday visa, and when he arrived in Germany, he first took a language course. He also found a job and a shared apartment through MixB and began working in a restaurant on a working holiday visa although he had no previous experience working in a restaurant. But he was trained on the job and after two years now trains others. After the visa expired, his boss applied for a work visa and he now works five days a week, but wishes he had more time to paint. Working in a Japanese restaurant pays the bills, but he would rather have more time for his art.

While the two people I have introduced above try to find a balance between their jobs in the Japanese foodscape and their own artistic ambitions, there are also Japanese artists who have found a new profession in gastronomy. After a career as a musician or dancer, they have opened a restaurant or café and run it full-time. Some of these artists have completed additional training as chefs or pastry chefs in Japan, France or Germany. The different careers of Japanese artists in Berlin who work in a restaurant to finance their studies or artistic ambitions vary in terms of duration and outcome. While some stay in Berlin for only six months and then return to Japan, others stay permanently and a part-time job in a restaurant becomes a full-time job, while others give up art as a profession and start their own restaurants or cafes. In summary, the experiences of Japanese working in Berlin’s Japanese food landscape are diverse, and examining the relationship between the life course of Japanese migrants in Berlin and the city’s Japanese foodscape is an interesting endeavor to understand the city’s culinary dynamics.

Summer in the city: Japanese food and drink as refreshment in hot Berlin

by Cornelia Reiher

Berlin is experiencing an unusually hot summer right now, but there are plenty of ways to cool off. One of them is refreshment at one of the capital’s Japanese cafes and eateries. In July, I took a friend, a food journalist from the U.S., on a little tour of Berlin’s Japanese food culture. We started with iced matcha latte and matcha tiramisu at a Japanese bakery in the afternoon. A group of Japanese customers enjoyed the lazy afternoon in the shaded plaza in front of the bakery. The store had also set up a tanabata decoration. The Tanabata festival celebrates the coming together of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, two lovers separated by the Milky Way, in July. In modern Japan, people generally celebrate Tanabata by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poems, on small pieces of paper (tanzaku) and hanging them on bamboo. We were surprised by the multilingual tanzaku and touched because many of them expressed the wish for peace against the background of the war in Ukraine.

Tanzaku in multiple languages hanging from an improvised wish tree in a Japanese bakery in Berlin.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2022

As we sat outside talking about how much Japanese restaurants in Berlin have changed over the past two decades, my friend told me how surprised she was at the wide selection of Japanese food now available in Japanese and Asian supermarkets. I took the cue and we visited a travel agency that now sells Japanese food, sweets, spices and sake. The Japanese staff enthusiastically introduced different types of sake and even shared recipes with us, telling us about their favorite foods and their way of cooking. This conversation about sake made us want a drink, and after passing several Japanese restaurants where customers were sitting outside enjoying a cold Japanese beer, we stopped at an izakaya and ordered drinks. The menu offered not only a wide selection of alcoholic beverages from Japan, but also cocktails and a haiku by Matsuo Bashō on each page. We ordered cocktails with yuzu and shiso leaves and enjoyed the creativity of fusion cuisine.

Iced matcha latte, matcha tiramisu and yuzu collin.
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2022

Looking for a place to eat dinner, we passed a number of Japanese restaurants that were closed for the summer vacations. But others were also closed due to lack of staff. Many of the Japanese restaurants rely on part-time staff who come to Germany on working holiday visas and often return to Japan in the summer, so summer was a difficult time even before the pandemic. But the Covid 19 pandemic made travel more difficult and added to restaurants‘ problems finding staff. But after a short walk, we found a Japanese restaurant that was open, and we were able to not only enjoy a delicious dinner, but also end our culinary expedition with cool azuki and matcha ice cream and goma purin.

Azuki and matcha icecream and goma purin
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2022

The Joy of Fieldwork: Interview at Cocolo Rāmen X-Berg

by Cornelia Reiher

After our online interview experience with students from Seikei University and an interview in the classroom, our group visited a Japanese restaurant to interview the manager and an employee who is one of the course participant’s friends. As he happens to work at Cocolo Rāmen in Kreuzberg he was so kind to agree to be interviewed and asked the manager to join in as well. We traveled to Kreuzberg together and when we arrived at Cocolo in the early afternoon, most of the customers ate outside enjoying the warm and sunny weather. After putting together two tables for our rather large group inside the restaurant, students started to ask the questions they had prepared.

Cocolo Rāmen in Kreuzberg belongs to the Kuchi group run by the famours Vietnamese restaurateur The Duc Ngo who owns several Asian and Japanese restaurants in Berlin and Frankfurt. Cocolo Kreuzberg opened in 2013 and moved to another location within Kreuzberg in 2019. The restaurant’s interior is cozy and rustic. Everything from the wooden tables and benches where we were seated to the bar is hand-crafted. Students’ questions covered the personal biographies of our interview partners as well as the restaurant’s menu, staff, guests and the Corona-19 pandemic. We learned that the manager, Mr. Sumida, had already lived in Germany for more than twenty years, while Mr. Kuwahara came to Berlin only three years ago. While Sumida san manages the restaurant and has worked there from the beginning, Kuwahara san mainly works in the kitchen and makes rāmen and other dishes.

While the restaurant is now mainly frequented by locals who live in the neighborhood, before the pandemic, Cocolo was also a popular destination for tourists. Not only the guests have changed due to the pandemic, but also the restaurant’s sales strategy. While Cocolo was closed during the first lockdown, they started takeout services during the second lockdown in November 2020. As in many other Japanese restaurants in Berlin, the menu changed to adjust dishes for takeout. They added more rice dishes like donburi to the menu, for example. Another pandemic-related problem is that Cocolo, like so many other restaurants, had and still has difficulties finding staff.

After the interview, we ordered rāmen and enjoyed the variety of different tastes. Sumida san and his team take pride in the handmade ingredients, including miso used for miso rāmen. All ingredients are fresh and no frozen ingredients are used. This is reflected in the great taste of all the dishes we tried. Some of the students ordered the vegan and vegetarian rāmen variations. While vegetarian rāmen was on the menu since the restaurant opened, vegan rāmen was just added a few years ago. Sumida san was so nice to treat us to appetizers including delicious gyōza, edamame, karaage and horensō gomaae. Gochisōsama deshita!!!

Compared to the other interviews we have conducted so far, doing the interview in our research participants’ workplace had many advantages, but we also dealt with new challenges today. One advantage was that we could ask questions about what we observed, including interior and staff. If we would not have visited the restaurant, we would not have seen the noodle machine and watched how rāmen noodles were cut and we could not have tasted the food ourselves. Through being in the restaurant, we were able to feel the atmosphere firsthand, watch staff at work and listen to the background music that included Japanese enka and pop songs.  One disadvantage, however, was exactly this background music for recording the interview. However, it was a good experience of yet another and different interview situation and reminded us of the importance of taking notes. The most exciting thing of course was eating rāmen together after the interview. Thank you so much Sumida san and Kuwahara san for your time, for the hospitality and for treating us to the delicious appetizers!!!!

Participant observation at a Japanese restaurant

by Cornelia Reiher

While group visits to restaurants were difficult last summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year we were able to do our annual field trip to a Japanese restaurant again to practice participant observation. After an introduction to participant observation in the classroom, we traveled from campus to one of the many Japanese restaurants in Berlin to have lunch together. I asked students to observe interactions between staff and customers, work processes and division of labor in the restaurant and the interaction of the employees with each other, how Japaneseness is staged in the restaurant and what hygiene measures against Corona are still in place and how they are implemented by employees and guests.

When we entered the restaurant, we saw hand sanitizers and a perspex partition wall at the counter and waitresses wearing masks. However, since wearing masks is not mandatory in restaurants anymore, most of the guests did not wear masks when they entered the restaurant. In addition, self-services like hot water refills and soy sauce on restaurant tables were finally back. During the pandemic, the restaurant started a bustling take-out business and when we visited the restaurant, many people came in to pick up food. In addition, the restaurant recently began working with one of the many food delivery services in town, so delivery service employees would come in and out of the restaurant to pick up deliveries.

After a delicious lunch, students began to observe, wander around the restaurant and take notes and photographs. They also documented observations relevant to their individual research projects. The food labeling group took pictures of the menu and paid attention to the labeling of vegan and vegetarian dishes. The group working on Japanese sweets in Berlin ordered mochi and discovered a separate mochi menu. And the group working on Japanese alcohol and izakaya in Berlin checked the menu for alcoholic beverages offered at the restaurant.

The field trip was a great experience because students did not only practice observing and taking field notes but also had the chance to socialize with each other. Many courses at FUB had just moved back to onsite teaching this semester and some of the students did not have the chance to get to know their peers on campus and to meet outside of the university. I hope that this course will not only help students master qualitative research methods and put them into practice, but also create social and enjoyable experiences for them.