🇪🇹 Little Ethiopia in Tokyo | Discover Ethiopian Food & Culture in Japan 🇯🇵
[Music] All right, so I’m back in Tokyo, but
this video is not going to be your average tour. I had heard about a restaurant called
Little Ethiopia here in Tokyo, and today I want to check it out. As I’ve mentioned before, my
mother’s Japanese, but also my father’s Ethiopian. I grew up in Washington, DC. That’s the mecca
of the Ethiopian diaspora, the United States. So today I would like to see what this Ethiopian
restaurant in Tokyo is like. Some of y’all might be like, “That’s kind of crazy. Your father’s
Ethiopian. Your mother’s Japanese.” You know, people tell me that all the time, and I know
I’m going to keep hearing it for the rest of my life. But I guess before we get started, I do
want to give y’all a little bit of fun facts about Ethiopia and Japan. I love history. I love culture
and the intersection of it all. So, y’all going to get a lot of that in my videos. The Ethiopian
marathon runner, Aba Beila, came to Tokyo in 1964 and won the gold medal in the marathon. That
was the second time he did that. That’s the first person in history to get two gold medals in a
row. The first time he did it in Rome in 1960, which he ran barefoot. The second time around, he
did it with shoes on in Tokyo in 1964. In fact, there’s a city in Japan where they have a
name. They have a street named after him. So, a lot of people don’t know, but one of the most
famous Ethiopian renowned producers and composers of Ethiopian pop music is half Ethiopian, half
Japanese. His name is Abgas Shiota except he grew up in Ethiopia unlike me who grew up in the United
States. But he’s worked with legends like Astraw and Teddy Afro among other huge names in Ethiopian
popular music. He’s basically the Quincy Jones of Ethiopian popular music. He did for Ethiopian
popular music what Quincy Jones did working with Michael Jackson and other artists here in the
United States. In fact, a spoken extensively in his interviews about the similarities between
Ethiopian and Japanese music, especially when it comes to the pentatonic scale. In Ethiopia,
there’s a scale called the ticetta scale. It is a nostalgic genre. Sometimes about love, sometimes
about the past and beautiful moments. In Japanese, there is the jooshi scale. And these scales sound
very similar. So although this is a coincidence, it’s not a coincidence. It’s not because the
countries have some kind of relationship, but scientifically the music creates similar sounds,
which I think is extremely interesting. All right, so now I’m about to head to Little Ethiopia. I
had to take the train to get there. Right now I’m staying in Asakusa, which is a very touristy
area. Not nearly as touristy as Shibuya or Shinjjuku or anywhere like that, but touristy
the same because they have the famous St. Soji Temple here. And at the same time, I do want to
mention, okay, so I’m in Japan. Why should you go get Ethiopian food? Well, if you’re a tourist
for a week or two, you might not want to. However, if you’re living in Japan, maybe once in a while
you want to eat a different type of cuisine. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Ethiopian,
but you know, Italian or tacos or whatever. So, I’ve just arrived at Yosuki Station. It looks
like this is one of those anime towns. A lot of Japanese towns or neighborhoods, there’s animes
that are based in them. This is a soccer anime. It’s on Netflix. And whenever there’s an anime
based in the town, usually they have posters of the anime at the metro station. But now, let’s
walk over to the restaurant. So, here it is. Little Ethiopia in Tokyo at the Yotsugi
station. All right, let’s go in, man. Let’s see if it’s open. Let’s see what’s happening.
Salam din. How you doing? All right. So, we got the menu right here. As you can see over
here, it says spicy lentil soup, but the Amharic word for this is miss. And then we have the tibs,
which is like a meat stir fry sauté kind of dish. [Music] You can’t forget the shadow. [ __ ] is
like what your mother or your father would make you at home. This like the most home type of food.
You know, when your parents don’t want to take you out to dinner, they say there’s [ __ ] at home.
So, as y’all can see, I got the tibs right here, and then I got a little bit of salad, and I got
the mitzvita. The mess mita is really hot. So, you mix the tibs with the mitzmita to make
it spicy. And this is a good starting meal. I might get something else. I’m not super hungry
right now, but we’ll see after I eat this. [Music] All right. So, now I’m outside a little Ethiopia
with my new friend Dawit. He is from Ethiopia, Adisawa. Adisaba, the capital. How long have
you been here in Japan? It’s like uh now one one year and 3 months. Okay. 1 year. And you
moved here because you have a lot of family, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And why did your family
move to Japan instead of the US or, you know, Europe? Uh, it’s kind of like my mom, she came
here like when she was like maybe 20 or something and she married here. So, she started her life
here. Then after like some of sisters came then me I was like living there. Now I just like want
to be close to my family. So I came here. Okay, that makes sense. And uh what do you think of
living in Japan? Do you enjoy it so far? Yeah, it’s cool. Me, I like it because uh it’s safe.
Like most of all, it’s very safe. If you come from you have to watch everything all the time, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s Yeah. Exactly. Here you lose your phone. Nothing like it doesn’t matter.
Whatever you lose, you can get it back. And uh I think the people are polite. I like
the system of how they live. Okay. Me, I’m enjoying it. I’m having fun. And do you think
you’re going to be here long term or I think long term. Long term. Yeah. If God willing and I’m
going to stay here a long time and uh it kind of be like a little bit stressful sometimes,
but for sure if you have like some people like I have friends here, I have my family here. So
me I’m okay with thank you for the interview. All right. So, now I’m in uh Little
Ethiopia at Yatsugi Station in Tokyo. And I think this is one of the older
Ethiopian restaurants they have. And I’m with one of the owners. Um him and
his wife run the restaurant together. So, let’s start with your name. Ephraim. Ephraim. You
are from Ethiopia, right? Of course. Ethiopia. Didn’t you say Congo too where you spent time
there? Or was that just Okay. I thought you said Congo. You said Congo. This one is from
Congo. She’s from Congo. I’m from Google. All right. Um, how many years have you lived
in Japan? And then how old is this restaurant? Serious, man. I’m living here 20 years. 21 years that restaurant is like 10 years 10
years and 21 years in Japan I uh for me 21 okay and what made you decide to move to Japan
instead of maybe like you know like where I’m from Washington DC or somewhere in Europe.
What made you immigrate to Japan over those other places where there’s a lot of us? Yes, I
came here to for my job. I just What was that? Deciding to come here to do my own business. So
my not my own business just to do something and I get the visa to making like uh some job here in
Japan. So I came for that purpose. And do you like living in Japan? How is it? How are these 21 years
been? Yes, I like and I love Japan. All right. And then I never forget about Japan. And then I
don’t like to go back my country to to live in I left Japan more of my I I I think I saw your
kids walking in here earlier and they they all speak Japanese fluently obviously cuz they’re
born here right now. Do they speak Amharic as well? Both Amharic and Japanese. My kids? Yeah.
No, just a Japanese. Just uh they try to listen but Okay. They are not speaking. Okay, cool.
It’s okay. Um how big is the Ethiopian community in Japan? Ethiopians is not like big but uh we
are not more than not 700 on this time but the community is going up now. I don’t know why.
Yes. Yes. 700 is not bad. But the Ethiopians here do they like are do they have friends who
are Japanese or most of their friends are other Ethiopians? You have Japanese friends. I’m sure
you speak Japanese fluently. Of course you know um more of this uh restaurant have like a
lot of uh Japanese friends and family that’s uh we are chapas who live in around is not that
much but this area is calling like little chopia it means like chias living around here the
government is deciding like to calling but we are not much But uh uh about your restaurant,
not too much uh Europeans customer, but a lot of uh Japanese and worldwide customers more. Do you
find that Japanese people like Ethiopian food? I saw some of the customers in here. It looks
like they like the food here. Of course, they looks like like typ typical Europeans. Looks like
typical Europeans. Some Japanese coming to here and they are ordering. Even I’m not eating like
regularly like you know kid spicy food that ask me like know I was a lab and then like that that that
one’s crazy means you know most of them is living and trying to living in trying food over there and
after there they came here but Japanese government is not allowed to like know serving raw meat. But
they know because they are Japanese. So they know that law. But they ask me even they came here like
to eat in raw meat. So that that time like hard time for to reply to them because I love raw meat
also. Okay. I mean isn’t sushi is like raw meat, right? Sushi is raw fish, you know. S sushi
and beef is different, right? Sushi is more, you know, sushi is familiar for Japanese. So they
know how to like treat sushi to eating for like know eating for row and then beef is not familiar
for Japanese. So they are imported from America, Australia and some other kinds. So it’s like
frozen after frozen you know we make like how we are to eat and something. So it’s difficult
to serve. Uh definitely. And um do you have a favorite Japanese food? Of course. Sushi. Sushi.
Why? Why sushi? Yeah. Why is like I like raw meat. That’s why it looks like no beef raw meat. Yeah.
Okay. Do you have a favorite area in Tokyo or in Japan in general? Is there somewhere that you like
to go to with your family when you have vacation? Yosi Yosi is my favorite place in you know why
this looks like and it look like so I love I love so many coming here to visit that
so this year looks like so interesting so he looks like Ethiopia you know they have
the the soccer the football anime the train station yeah yeah you know Ethiopian love
soccer champion soccer team also sabish So name is called soccer team. So we are
all playing. Yeah. Oh actually I I I do have another question. So when I used to live
in Adis, everyone told me I look like Abigas Shiota. You know who Abigas is? I know Abigas.
He’s my friend. I miss him when I go after uh tornado when I go back to Ethiopia. I miss him.
He’s a nice guy. And like I said at the beginning of this video, there’s a famous Ethiopian
music producer who is part Japanese and that most Ethiopians usually know who he is because
of his contribution to Ethiopian music. Yeah, I think he looks more Japanese than me. Love
you, man. Can you introduce yourself in Japanese? [Music] restaurant. All right, thank you so much for the
interview. Thank you, man. Thank you, man. It’s leg. Yes. All right. All right.
I got to say the experience went really well. It’s always good to see people from
your country. Even though I’m Japanese, it’s good to see people from my
other country in Japan. Crazy world.
Did you know there’s an Ethiopian restaurant in Tokyo where the local Ethiopian community in Japan gathers to share their culture, music, and amazing food? In this video, I visit Little Ethiopia, a hidden gem serving authentic Ethiopian cuisine — from injera to spicy doro wat — right in the heart of Japan.
Join me as I talk with the owner, learn about the Ethiopian diaspora in Japan, and explore how this small restaurant has become a cultural bridge between Ethiopia and Japan.
✨ If you love travel, food culture, or hidden spots in Tokyo, you’ll love this story!
📍 Location: Little Ethiopia, Tokyo, Japan
🎥 Topics: Ethiopian food, cultural exchange, African community in Japan, hidden restaurants, Tokyo food culture
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