Indian restaurants and Japan: The changing face of Japan

Major social change frightens many people. In SanStates in the 1960s and 1970s as Chinese
Francisco, I remember my grandmother beingimmigration continued and the immigrants moved
concerned about Chinese moving out ofoutside areas where Chinese immigrants had
Chinatown, "They are buying up thetraditionally lived. Fast forward to 2009 and you
neighborhood." A friend when I was in high schoolcan find Mexican food almost everywhere in the
had similar views, "When I was a little kid, thisUnited States.
entire neighborhood was white." Never sure ofMove across the globe to Japan and you will find
how to respond to such fear of change withIndian restaurants, run by Indians, starting to pop
undertones of racism, I was often speechless.up in medium size cities across Japan. As Japan
Ethnic restaurants aid us in unscientifically trackingand India do not share a land border, the Indian
trends in immigration. Lovers of Mexican foodpresence and number of Indian restaurants in
who traveled around America in the 1960 andJapan will probably never rival the Mexican
1970s could find delicious Mexican food in Californiapresence and number of restaurants in the United
and from Texas across through the Southwest.States. Still, using our unscientific ethnic restaurant
Naturally, Mexican food was available in majorinformation, we can see that Indian immigration to
cities, but you could not find Mexican foodJapan is increasing, showing us what the future
everywhere the way you could find Italian food.holds.
Chinese food was spreading across the United