A day trip to Nara, Japan

Todai-ji Temple

The Great Buddha

For visitors to Japan, Nara contains a very nice slice of the land of the rising sun. Not so famous like Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima or Osaka - Nara is known for its historical importance, the Great Buddha site, and last but not the least the sake (rice wine). It was the first permanent capital of Japan (before Kyoto and Tokyo) and is located near Kyoto and Osaka (takes less than an hour to reach there).

The main attraction of Nara is the todai-ji temple, which houses the great Buddha statue (the Diabutsu) which was created out of iron. All the non-samurai had to give up their swords to help create this huge statue of Buddha, amazing huh! According to the lonely travel guide book, this rivals Mt. Fuji and Kyoto’s golden pavilion as the single most impressive sight of Japan! Also, the Todai-ji temple is the largest wooden building in the world. 

Sake barrels

You will also come across free roaming deer walking all over the city. Sometimes they get aggressive but that is only when they see food. You can feed rice cakes (from local vendors) to them, just be a little careful as they would almost knock you over to get the rice cakes. One good thing, the ones with antlers have them filed.

Touka-e Festival in Nara

We stayed late to watch the elegant summer night illumination events (in Japanese Touka-e festival). Since its beginning in 1999, it has attracted a large number of tourists and converted them into ardent fan of Nara. It is a fascinating sight, more than 20,000 candles illuminate Nara's famous world heritage sites. Each candle is set in a small plastic cup, and lit by hand, one by one.

Finally, sake. If you come to Nara, dont forget to try the sake. The history of Japanese sake started in Nara, and since then Nara has been producing the finest sake in Japan, indeed!

Nakamuraya Curry Traces back to the Indian Revolutionaries in Japan

Nakamuraya Instant Curry Pack

If you are in Tokyo you must visit Nakamuraya bakery (restaurant). It has branches all over Tokyo specializing in Indian curry. The first of its kind in Japan, Japanese-style Indian curry has been sold since 1927 as one of the reputed products of Nakamuraya. They also sell pre-cooked instant curry that only needs to be heated and served at home. It is indeed a popular product in Japan and you can get them in almost every convenient or departmental store across Japan. Why did Nakamuraya, which was originally a bakery start selling Indian curry? And continues to be obsessed with Indian curry for nearly a century? 

It was an Indian, Rash Behari Bose, who introduced Indian curry to Nakamuraya. He was a revolutionary leader fighting the British in India. The post war generations of Japanese may not know the great Indian revolutionaries like Rash Behari Bose or Subhash Chandra Bose, but they were well-known figures in Japan in the years before the Second World War. Rash Behari Bose was one of the key organizers of the bomb attack on Lord Hardringe and the Gadar conspiracy at Lahore. In 1915, he fled to Japan to avoid a certain death sentence and had no inkling of the harsh destiny in store for him, and that he would never step on Indian soil again. He was instrumental in persuading the Japanese authorities to secure foreign help for India’s liberation from the clutches of the imperialist power. He did the spadework for the creation of the Indian National Army (INA) before passing the baton on to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1943.  

Rash Behari Bose and his wife Toshiko*

Going back to curry, Rash Behari Bose was not only a leading extremist Indian freedom fighter but was also a chef. Soon after his arrival in Japan, the Foreign Ministry under pressure from the British Embassy issued an extradition order against him. It was Aizo Soma, owner of the Nakamuraya in Shinjuku (Tokyo) who rescued him and skillfully hid him in a studio near the restaurant. He was confined there for months for security reasons. Fortunately, there was a kitchen in the studio where he could cook and the only leisure he had was to prepare his meals. He requested the maids to buy the ingredients and spices. Watching him, the maids and the owner of the restaurant gradually learnt to cook Indian food, however it took almost twelve years for Nakamuraya to launch Indian curry later in 1927.  

With Tagore at Nakamuraya*

Bose fell in love with Aizo’s daughter and got married to Toshiko. He had two children from her. In July 1923, Bose became a citizen of Japan and registered his wife and children under the ‘Bose family’. In the same year, Nakamuraya was recognized as a public limited company. Bose along with the children became one of the leading shareholders and was also appointed as the director of the Nakamuraya. Traditionally, Japanese curries were made in the Anglo-Indian manner. In order to turn Japanese eyes to the ‘real taste of India’ he devoted himself to the launch of actual Indian curry. Popularizing Indian curry among the Japanese was also a part of his anti-colonial struggle, by trying to win back India’s food culture from British hands. And since then Rash Behari Bose came to be widely known as ‘Bose of Nakamuraya’. 

Notes

I am grateful to Corinne Boyle (Professor of Economics, Konan University) for helping me find the fascinating story about Indian freedom fighters hidden in Nakamuraya’s Indian curry. 

The above materials are drawn from the book The Bose of Nakamuraya by Takeshi Nakajima. To capture the essence of Rash Behari Bose’s life, Takeshi travelled to India to visit Rash Behari’s native place in Chandan-nagar, West Bengal.

*pictures are taken from the Nakamuraya restaurent website @

http://www.nakamuraya.co.jp/100/showa/t_1918_01.htm