1. Global Boom of Japanese Curry TasteAtlas, an interactive travel website that introduces traditional cuisines, announced “Best Traditional Dishes in the World” in December 2022. It caused a buzz among Japanese people, since “Japanese Curry” was ranked first, instead of sushi or ramen. Japanese curry is characteristic with its thick sauce and uniquely developed over the last 100 years, influenced by curry in other countries, like India, the origin of the dish. Before we realize,...

1. Expanding Global Tofu Market Sushi, ramen, curry rice, tonkatsu, etc. With the Japanese food boom continuing across the globe, the dishes at the center of the trend are gradually changing. Among Japanese dishes, tofu is likely to be the next food whose popularity explodes in the near future. According to Mordor Intelligence, a market research company in India, the global tofu market size was 930 million USD in 2017 and is estimated to reach...

Speaking of Japanese cuisine, you may think about sushi, tempura, ramen, and yakitori as representative dishes. However, we need to keep in mind that not every Japanese chef can cook all of them. In Japan, each restaurant came to specialize in a particular dish: a sushi restaurant serves only sushi, while a ramen restaurant serves only ramen in general. Of course, public eateries and izakaya (a Japanese-style pub) can have a versatile chef and serve...

  If you are a restaurant owner or hiring manager, you may have had an experience where you posted a job ad to attract young Japanese sushi chefs in their 20s or 30s, but applicants turned out to be in their 40s or 50s. When you try to recruit a Japanese sushi chef, there are usually two main challenges: it is difficult to find one in the first place, and furthermore, not many applicants are...

  Since the 1980s, when the United States saw the Japanese food boom, recruiting Japanese sushi chefs has been a difficult task that faces owners of Japanese restaurants. In this article, we will talk about the job market of Japanese sushi chefs, methods of recruiting them, and how to attract potential applicants. 1. Sushi Chefs in Japan ■ The Number of Sushi Chefs in Japan According to the 2014 survey conducted by the Ministry of...

There are plenty of restaurant guides in the world, but the most famous one is without doubt the Michelin Guide. Since the Michelin Guide Tokyo was first published in 2007, it has been one of the statuses for the restaurants in Japan as well. Furthermore, among the 5 cities that have the most Michelin-starred restaurants, Tokyo ranks first, followed by Paris, Kyoto, Osaka, and New York. With 3 cities included in the top 5, Japan...

Visiting this website, you are probably interested in trends of the Japanese food industry around the world. Aside from Japan, the origin of the cuisine, it is the United States that leads major movements of the market. Currently, 500,000 Japanese citizens live in the United States, whereas there are about 1.5 million Japanese Americans. Japanese communities are rooted in the nation and support the culture of Japanese cuisine. JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) released a...

Introduction: Japan’s Culinary Appeal Meets the UAE’s Appetite for Luxury and Authenticity A Strategic Guide for Japanese Restaurateurs and Chefs Eyeing the Emirates The UAE, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has become a culinary hotspot in recent years, offering a fertile ground for international cuisines to flourish—and Japanese cuisine is no exception. Whether you’re a Japanese restaurant owner thinking of expanding to the UAE or planning to hire a Japanese chef to elevate your brand,...

Startup Costs and Investments Opening a Japanese restaurant in Italy requires a significant upfront investment. It’s important to plan for both initial startup costs and sufficient working capital for the first year of operations. Below is a breakdown of typical cost components and their estimated ranges: Expense Category Estimated Cost (EUR) Company registration & legal fees (including permits) €2,000 – €5,000 Location rent/deposit (for first months) €3,000 – €8,000 (depending on city/size) Renovation and décor fit-out €20,000...

Japanese Restaurant Market in the Netherlands: Market Trends and Insights (Part 1) Growth and Popularity of Japanese Cuisine Japanese cuisine in the Netherlands has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. Over the past 5 years, the number of Japanese restaurants has surged. For example, in Amsterdam the count of Japanese restaurants doubled from 71 in 2017 to 147 by early 2022. Nationwide, the trend is similar: in 2014 there were around 373 Japanese restaurants in...