“For My Son” — The Turbulent Life of Yohan, a Frenchman Who Became a Pizza Chef in Japan

“For My Son” — The Turbulent Life of Yohan, a Frenchman Who Became a Pizza Chef in Japan

A corner of the countryside surrounded by mountains and greenery. A man is baking pizza today. His name is Johan. Born in France. In this place with a different language and culture,
he chose to become a pizza chef. He realized his dream of becoming a pizza chef in Japan. However, he had many setbacks along the way. It is really wonderful to do a job you love. “Life is full of difficulties.” “Still, all of it is for yourself.” Life is not easy. It’s not easy. But, If you really want to do it, I think you can. Anyone can make dreams come true. Anyone can. He has overcome many tears
and lives a life of absolute brightness. This time, I will introduce Johan’s life. It’s been 10 years since Johan came to Japan. He first worked as a hotelier in Tokyo. After that, he moved to Iizuka by chance. However, the language barrier was a higher hurdle
than he expected. He worked as a carpenter, a bar attendant,
and a waste disposal worker. However, they were different from what he wanted to do. “Life is for you to achieve what you want to do.” Johan has always believed in that. Whenever I came home, I felt so sad. “My life. What should I do in Japan?” I can’t do it unless I like it. But, no one understood this feeling. “Johan, you always quit your job early.” “You always say, ‘This job is no good.'” But I always wanted to do a job I loved. Life is too short, isn’t it?
You never know when you’re going to die. I worked as a garbage collector
and a septic tank collector for three years. Of course I wanted to open a pizza place. But if I wanted to work as a pizza shop owner,
I would have to go to Fukuoka City to train. If I didn’t train,
I wouldn’t be able to become a pizza shop owner. So I went to Fukuoka City by motorcycle every day for three years. I practiced a lot. I practiced on my days off. After three years, I started a kitchen car here in Iizuka. And in 2025, he had a base here. “PIZZA BELLA BASE” was born as the base for the kitchen car. It’s a place filled with Johan’s dreams. He also started his own vegetable garden, which he had always wanted to do. Rosemary. Vegetables seem to be Johan’s treasure. Cherry tomatoes and sweet basil. It rained today. The tomatoes are getting bigger. He says he checks his vegetables several times a day
to see if they are growing well. I grow watermelons. I am currently growing three watermelons. I want to put watermelon and ice in a blender and make watermelon juice. Growing your own vegetables is delicious. Really delicious. My fields are pesticide-free and all organic. I want to eat healthy food. So I want my customers to eat the same. Healthy Organic No Pesticides. White eggplant. Regular eggplant. This one’s a zucchini! This tree and that one are cherry blossoms! When the cherry blossoms bloom, I want my customers to come here. It’s nice to sit here and have a beer. JKT) Cherry blossom viewing? . Yes! Cherry blossom viewing. I’m also doing beekeeping now. Oh, here comes the bee! I really come here about 3-4 times a day. Just looking is good. Japanese honey is super delicious. Bees are super cute. Stay healthy. Please make delicious honey. Onion field. I will use these onions in my “French Pork Pizza”. And I will use them in my “Teriyaki Chicken Pizza”. They are really delicious. New onions are the best! Jumbo garlic and regular garlic. They will be harvested soon. The mountain scenery is very beautiful. Johan’s goal is to use vegetables that he grows himself. Customers came before the store opened. Three groups of customers have already come. His store is becoming more well-known. Johan puts all his effort into everything he does. Inertia and laziness are not words for him. “PIZZA BELLA” is finally open. Please wait a little longer. I’m sorry. It’s okay! Getting a lot of orders right away. It looks like it’s going to be a busy day today. His pizza dough has a unique feature. “Contemporanea” is a recent trend in Italy. It’s very fluffy. It is characterized by its airy lightness and thick dough. The edge of the pizza is called “cornicione”. This part rises especially high and fluffy. This dough is not yet well known in Japan. Johan mastered it by studying it on his own. Johan’s pizza dough story is introduced in detail in a previous video. Please check it out! This is the popular “Best Margherita”. In addition to tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella cheese, it is topped with a slice of Grana cheese. Finished with a drizzle of olive oil. Merci (thank you). This is a movie I took later. Hot and fluffy cornicione. Of course, it tasted great too. This is a standard Margherita. The aroma is amazing. He has a lot of orders, but he carefully finishes each one. He spreads his homemade sweet and spicy sauce. Mozzarella cheese. Pepperoni. This is a menu called “La Spicy Pepperoni”. Cream cheese. Jalapeño. Threaded chili peppers. Grana cheese powder. Pink onion. It’s done. Thank you. Let’s meet again. Keep it up. I’ll do my best! He takes orders one after another. This is the “French-style pork pizza.” It’s topped with mushrooms, onions, and pork belly. Add mozzarella cheese. Olive oil. Thank you! This looks delicious too. Cut the cornicione part with scissors. The other pizza is the “Basil Prosciutto.” Prosciutto. Slice the Grana cheese. Sprinkle black pepper and add fresh basil. It’s done! I’ll deliver it! It’s best to eat it freshly baked. Johan seems to be working well. This is the “Teriyaki Chicken.” Spread the special teriyaki sauce. Onion. Teriyaki chicken and mixed cheese. This is a menu that Japanese people love. The meat for the teriyaki chicken is homemade. I make it. I mix the chicken in a big pot. It’s delicious! It’s really delicious. Add mayonnaise and sprinkle parsley on top and it’s done. Bon appétit! (Enjoy your meal). Many customers came today to get takeout. He is polite in seeing them off. Johan never forgets to be grateful. Today was a bit busy from the beginning. I panicked! But it’s great. Whenever it rains, I always worry. “Will customers come?” I felt relieved. I’m so grateful. Really. Last December, the food truck business decreased a lot. So I was really worried. What should I do next year? So I decided to make “PIZZA BELLA BASE” from January. There were a lot of trees here. There were a lot of big trees. So I cut them with a chainsaw myself. With a small cute chainsaw. I also put gravel here. The entrance there was really narrow. It’s pretty clean now. I prepared it with concrete. Then, I built this building. I worked hard every day for three months. It cost a lot of money. I was really worried. Will customers come all the way here? But it’s really good. A lot of customers came from the beginning. Regular customers came too. I’m always moved when customers come. Sometimes I cry. I’m really happy. Customers come here! It’s wonderful! It’s wonderful. This life is wonderful. A life where I do only what I love. It’s wonderful. Next, a family came. The kids love pizza too. “Corn and potato salad”. “Basil prosciutto”. “Corn and potato salad” is especially popular with children. Johann’s style is also to adapt to Japanese tastes. In the previous Youtube video, many Italians were surprised. “What? Pizza with potato salad? ” “That’s not Italian pizza!” But! This is Japan! In France, we eat sushi. But the sushi has salmon, avocado, and cream cheese inside. It doesn’t exist in Japan, right? But it’s delicious. Japanese people like this type of pizza. More and more customers come. This is “Quattro Formaggi”. Homemade bechamel sauce. Mozzarella cheese and mixed cheese. Grana cheese and Gorgonzola cheese. It’s irresistible for cheese lovers. It’s a classic and popular menu. Once it’s baked, pour plenty of honey on it. This is a scene quoted from a previous video. Fluffy and chewy, the texture is the best. This was really delicious! Many customers came in the afternoon. “La Smoky Bacon and Egg”. Smoked bacon, cheese, and egg. A popular Bismarck-style menu. Looks so delicious! Use the burner to make it even more fragrant. Sprinkle with black pepper and parsley to finish. The other order was “French-style Pork Pizza”. This also looked delicious. One of Johan’s work colleagues came. Looks so delicious! Let’s eat! Delicious! Super tasty! The meat is big!! He and his friends always encourage each other. Through the business of the food truck, he has made many friends. They visit each other’s stores and exchange information. A lot of people support Johan. He says he is always grateful to JKT’s viewers. JKT) I filmed your Youtube once before, right? JKT) At that time, people from all over the world sent you messages. I didn’t expect to get so many comments. Europe. America. South America. Brazil. Everyone watched it. I got wonderful messages from everyone. English Spanish Japanese. I was very moved. I cried a lot. I called my mom and dad and told them. “Watch it! Watch it!” There were wonderful messages. When I read it, I felt more motivated. I’ll try harder! I’ll really try! Sometimes I’m not busy. Sometimes I’m worried. When I feel anxious, I look at the messages on the Japanese kitchen Tour. It cheers me up a lot. It’s amazing! Everyone gave me wonderful messages. Thank you so much everyone. After coming to Japan, Johan was always lonely. Worried about not being able to speak the language. Cultural differences. Johan came to Iizuka and got married and had a family. At that time, he still couldn’t get the job he wanted. His dream was to become a pizza chef. However, everyone around him told him to give up on his dream. “It’s natural to hold back your dreams for your family.” But Johan couldn’t let go of his passion. He realized that he always had a gloomy look on his face. “Should I continue to show my children that?” He struggled day after day. Johan chose his dream of becoming a pizza chef, but at that time he got divorced and started again on his own. He was all alone. His only companion was the food truck. He continued to do business in various places with unfamiliar Japanese. And little by little, he regained his smile. The word “thank you” always supported his heart strongly. Johan is always cheerful and loves to talk to people. That’s because he knows the pain of loneliness better than anyone. What is the “right way to live”? No one knows. The days you choose for yourself are just there. If that’s a smile, I think that’s fine. PIZZA BELLA BASE was very busy today as well. JKT) How was it? Today. It’s great! I’m really happy today! Many customers came. With this weather. Even though it’s been raining all day. I’m really moved. I’m really happy. Customers have been coming all day. It’s the best. What makes me happiest is the words of the customers. Customers say, “Wow, it’s amazing! It’s so good!” That’s the best thing! Of course I like it here too. I think it’s a great place. But the best thing is that all the customers are happy. So… I’m glad! I’m glad I worked hard. I’m really poor now! But I’m glad! I’m so happy! JKT) When you came to Japan, did you imagine this kind of life? No, I didn’t. I got divorced around the same time I started the food car. It was the hardest time of my life. Alone in Japan. All I had was the kitchen car. Where should I go with the kitchen car? What should I do? I couldn’t speak much Japanese either. There were all kinds of documents. Taxes and city hall documents. I was panicking a lot! So it was the hardest. But from that time on, my Japanese got better. I worked really hard. I got better. What made me happiest? Hold on. I’m about to cry. Sorry. My son… Hold on. My son was presented with his diploma by his teacher at his kindergarten graduation ceremony. At that time, Kotaro said, “My dream is to become a pizza chef when I grow up!” I’m sorry. That made me really happy. My son is proud of my job. That’s really happy. That’s why I want to work hard every day. I’m so happy. At school, he always say, “My daddy is a pizza chef!” “My daddy makes really delicious pizza!” It’s really wonderful. Doing the work you love is really a wonderful thing. Johan’s dream was to do a job his love. He wanted to show his son how he works with a smile. The rain has stopped! It’s a sunny afternoon, as if the rain from earlier was a lie. Look! It’s completely different from this morning! JKT) It’s great. It feels good! JKT) It’s great, isn’t it? It’s great! French people eat outside. We drink coffee on the terrace. We also drink beer. Outside. That’s how it is here. This is the countryside of Iizuka, and there are rice fields there too. This is little France. You don’t need a passport. JKT) This is a rice field. This is France. Bonjour. Bienvenue. Je vous sers un café, monsieur. JKT) Rice fields in Iizuka. France! We did the same thing again lol It’s so fun that I’ve done it many times (laughs). It’s nice! It’s warm! There are rainy days and sunny days. That’s life. This time I followed a cheerful Frenchman, Yohan. His fluffy, hot, delicious pizza was born from his unwavering passion. Life is not easy. It’s not easy. But if everyone has a difficult life. Like, work is difficult. I really hope everyone will do their best. I think you can do what you really want to do. Anyone can make their dreams come true. Anyone can do it. “Dreams don’t run away. It’s always you that runs away.” These are the words of a famous Japanese author. Everyone has times when they want to run away
from what’s right in front of them. When that happens, I’ll come and see Yohan again. JKT) I hope a lot of people will come here. Everyone, please come. I look forward to seeing you. I’ve included information about his shop’s SNS
and other accounts in the video description. Please follow him.

[Pizza Bella Johan Official Instagram]
https://www.instagram.com/napoletanapizzabella/
[Napoletana pizza bella base Google Maps]
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Qgi8dw6GEiyRRxt8

This time, we will introduce “Pizza Bella Base” in Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The owner, Johan, has a very cheerful personality.
We will introduce many delicious Neapolitan pizzas.
Please watch until the end!

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【 Pizza Bella ヨハン 公式インスタグラム 】
https://www.instagram.com/napoletanapizzabella/

【 Napoletana pizza bella base Googleマップ 】
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Qgi8dw6GEiyRRxt8

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今回は福岡県飯塚市にある「Pizza Bella Base」さまを紹介します。
オーナーのヨハンさんはとても陽気な性格。
おいしそうなナポリピッツァをたくさん紹介します。
ぜひ最後までご覧ください！

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