LIFE IN JAPAN
Ngo My Tong
 Occupation:
Owner of Angkor Wat
restaurants in Yoyogi and Shibuya.
"I came to Japan from a refugee camp
in Thailand in 1981. I came from a country at war, ruled by a communist government. I
applied for refugee status to the Japanese Foreign Ministry after registering at the UN
High Commission for Refugees, and after one year I and my family were granted visas.
In Cambodia, before the communist
revolution in 1975, I worked at trading companies, and as manager of a Japanese car
outlet, so I had experience working with the Japanese before. When the Vietnamese came in
79, I fled the country with my family, all seven of us.
When I first came to Japan, I studied
Japanese language, culture, and customs for three months. Then I was introduced to various
employers and different kinds of work. At first I worked at a cardboard box maker for a
year, but I wanted to do something else.
I thought to myself, there are no Cambodian
restaurants in Japan, yet many Japanese had been to Cambodia before the war for tourism,
diplomacy, or business, and had eaten Cambodian food.
I felt I could make a go of it, so I quit
my job and opened my first restaurant.
When I opened my first restaurant in 1982,
I was incredibly busy at first. I was the first refugee in Japan to open my own business,
so newspapers and television gave me a lot of coverage, and many Japanese came out of
curiosity. But none of my customers would say if they thought the food was delicious or
not &endash; it' the Japanese way. Soon I started losing customers rapidly, and began
to worry. So I started asking people what they thought of the food. Was it too sour, too
spicy? Cambodian food contains many strong flavors which aren't suitable for Japanese
tastes, so I had to modify the recipes. Then I began to regain customers in the second
year.
I'm always here and my son is at the
Shibuya restaurant watching over things. But when I first opened the restaurant my
children were small and I had to do everything myself. These days I leave everything to
them.
After the war we had to get all our
ingredients from Thailand, as it was impossible to do business in Cambodia, but these days
we can get things from Cambodia. However, I only get spices and seasonings, as the
Japanese inspections for meat and vegetables are too strict.
These days I go home often, since the
political situation has stabilized. But I don't have anything left in Cambodia. I've got a
good business going here, and my kids have grown up here, so I'm not planning to return
anytime soon. Maybe one day, when I retire, I'll go back."
Ngo spoke with Daniel Grunebaum
Do you know an interesting person
in Tokyo? E-mail us at editor@tokyoclassified.com |
LIFE IN JAPAN: