Juan Carlos Tanaka was 22 years old when he emigrated to Japan in the 1990s. Like thousands of young Peruvian Sansei, he was looking for a better future in the country of his grandparents.
Japan gave it a second life. There he met a Japanese woman, married her and they started a family. He learned to be practical, efficient and punctual. And he discovered the dish that in Peru would become his source of income, the reason for his appearance in the media, the driving force of his life: ramen.
The earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011 hastened his return to Peru. That same year, he opened the Tokio Ramen restaurant in Lima. It was not the first to specialize in Japanese soup in Peru, but it was the one that paved the way for its popularization in the country.
In the past, for Peruvians, ramen was nothing more than the instant soup that was bought in supermarkets or bodegas at a low price. Noodles, boiled water and that's it. Today, ramen has a level of recognition in which Juan Carlos Tanaka has played a fundamental role.
(Photos: Personal archive of Juan Carlos Tanaka)
JAPAN, A NEW WORLD
Japan opened the doors to another world. He says it was like traveling in a time machine to the future. He saw things he had never seen in Peru.
“I realized that Japan was more advanced in every sense, from education, which is the basis for being able to grow, know how to understand and project oneself. Now I realize why they have the progress they have and where they are. His way of thinking, of seeing things, there are many good things to learn.”
In an anecdotal tone, laughing, he relates: “I remember that when I was six years old I saw the movie Star Wars , and I saw that the doors opened automatically. So far in Peru I do not see the doors opening automatically. In Japan I would stand in front of the door and it would open. The first memory I had was Star Wars .”
Tanaka was a dekasegi for 15 years. His last workplace was a ramenya , where he learned the basics of ramen preparation and trained for four years. Before that, also for the same period, he worked in a traditional restaurant that offered sashimi and sushi.
It was not his first experience in the food sector in Japan. He also worked in factories of the 7-Eleven and FamilyMart convenience store chains, specifically in the production of onigiris and bentos that they later sold in their stores.
In Japan he started cooking out of necessity. He bought bentos in stores, but since only one didn't satisfy him, he had to eat two to fill his stomach. When he realized that the money he spent was enough to buy supplies for three or four days at the supermarket, he decided to start cooking Peruvian dishes, which he missed a lot. At first, he remembers, he threw away the food because he didn't like it, but little by little he learned and took the pleasure of cooking.
DOUBLE NOSTALGIA
Tanaka travels to Japan every two years to stay up to date with developments in the ramen industry: trends, preparation, new techniques, etc. In March of this year he attended a ramen fair and tried this Japanese dish in its increasingly numerous variants, which also incorporate foreign contributions.
(Photos: Personal archive of Juan Carlos Tanaka)
Like Anton Ego, the food critic in the film Ratatouille who is excited to try a dish that revives memories of his childhood, when Tanaka was in Japan as a dekasegi and ate Peruvian food he remembered the place where he was born and raised, his childhood, his family.
Curiously, now that he was in Japan, when he ate Japanese dishes, other types of memories surfaced in his head: his first steps as a dekasegi, when he was a young man who had recently arrived from Peru trying to make a future for himself, the streets he walked through, the smells.
“They are flavors that stay in your mind. The palate has memory,” he says.
This back-and-forth nostalgia says a lot about how Juan Carlos assumes his identity. Where other Peruvian Nikkei probably see conflict, division or ambiguity, he finds harmony, union, harmony.
“My identity is one hundred percent Peruvian. I feel identified with Japan. It's my second home. Japan has given me a lot: knowledge, respect, punctuality. I like Japan, I like Peru. “I would like to have my life between Peru and Japan.”
Juan Carlos considers himself lucky for his land, his origins, his upbringing. This is how he explains it:
“It is fortunate to have been born in Peru, because I have my roots, my Japanese blood, but my heart is Peruvian. I have learned all the Peruvian culture since childhood, I am Peruvian, my palate is accustomed to Peruvian food, but at the same time I have Japanese grandparents, and the tradition of Japanese food has always been maintained at home. Since I was a child I have been lucky enough to be able to have two types of cuisine at home, or it could be three: Creole (Peruvian) food, Nikkei food and Japanese food. I have those three types of palates.”
From Peru he highlights that “the people are kinder, more open, more affectionate, they have a less intense, slower pace of life. On the other hand, in developed countries people have a very intense life, day-to-day life hardly allows them to see their friends, everyone is dedicated to doing their own things. Not like here, you finish work and go to a friend's house, you can do it. Here we have that advantage: being closer to family, friends.”
THE BASIS OF SUCCESS
Although he imports his ingredients from Japan, Juan Carlos says that preparing ramen in Peru is not like doing it in Japan, since he does not have all the necessary elements to do so. He seeks to get as close as possible to the ramen prepared in Japan and considers that he achieves it by 90%.
Now, his restaurant does not only offer traditional Japanese dishes. At the request of his clients, he has also ventured into fusion, through dishes such as Tokio Punche, a ramen enriched with the contribution of quinoa, a food of Peruvian origin.
Tanaka is respectful of traditions, but that does not prevent him from having an open mind, permeable to variety, which offers him “more opportunities to be creative, he creates ideas, flavors. Awaken your creativity.”
As an ambassador of ramen in Peru, he works to spread its qualities, betting on entirely natural ingredients and a meticulous preparation process, from the preparation of the broth that takes 16 to 18 hours.
Peru is one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. However, many businesses fail along the way. Tokyo Ramen is not only still around five years after its birth, but it also has a solid reputation.
The basis for success, Tanaka explains simply, is maintaining quality. In everything: flavor, presentation, supplies, attention, environment, hygiene. When you do things well, the rest (clients, praise, income) comes by itself, he adds. The desire for quality makes it possible for his business to continue growing and he plans to open a second restaurant.
At first his customers were Japanese, Nikkei, ex-dekasegi and people who had tried ramen in the United States. That is, people who for one reason or another were already familiar with this dish. In five years its clientele has expanded to other sectors of Peruvian society, gaining new followers for ramen.
Juan Carlos Tanaka dedicates himself completely to the preparation of his dishes. “I totally identify with everything I do. The preparation of my food is what I feel, what I want to convey, what I want to offer to the public.”
Perhaps without being aware of it, he has given another reason that explains his prosperity: doing what he feels, what he identifies with, what he is passionate about. There is no greater success than that.
© 2016 Enrique Higa
