ENTERPRISE
Window to Kabul
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RUPALI GHOSH visits what is not just an eatery in Tokyo, but one determined man's way of introducing Afghanistan to Japan.
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RUPALI GHOSH
Mohhamad Hassani wants `Kanda Kabul' to succeed for the sake of his people.
IT is easy to find Mohhamad Hassani outside a crowded subway exit in central Tokyo — he is about the only person around wearing a cobalt blue embroidered pathaan suit.
Hassani, now in his late thirties, has been living in Japan for the last 11 years but his introduction to the country was in another avatar: "I came here in 1992 to serve as an attache in the Afghan Embassy," says Hassani who belongs to the minority Hazara tribe in Afghanistan and speaks the Dari dialect.
Hassani, who also speaks Japanese fluently and knows only a smattering of English and Urdu, has led a chequered life. He was imprisoned for four years in Afghanistan for activities against the pro-Soviet regime then in power. It was only in 1992 when a new regime came to power that Hassani was sent from his war-torn country to work at the Afghan Embassy in Japan.
But just about four years later, when the Taliban seized power in Kabul, he quit his post to show his contempt for the new government. He stayed on in Japan, despite initial discrimination and hardship, and has now been granted a special residence status — a prerequisite for pursuing permanent residency in the country. Sitting Japanese style on the tatami-covered floor of his small three-month-old restaurant — the first Afghan eatery in the country — Hassani looks back on those difficult early days in Japan. "I knew no Japanese, so that was the first thing I learned," he smiles. In those days a very poor Hassani lived in a tiny, sparsely furnished apartment in a distant suburb of Tokyo. He worked as a translator, helping Japanese lawyers who worked with Afghan refugees in the country. Unlike the language, which he learnt easily, Hassani could not adjust to Japanese food, "I cannot ever get used to this food," he says ruefully.
This motivated him to make his dream of starting an Afghan restuarant a reality. "Actually `Kanda Kabul' (`Kanda' is the name of the area where the restaurant is located) is many things to me," he says. "It is an expression of my longing for Kabul — not what it has become today — but what it can be if it ever gets to know peace for a long enough time."
`Kanda Kabul', tucked into the basement of a two-storey squat typical Tokyo building, shares its street space with Starbucks, several large sporting goods stores and a few small ramen restaurants. `Kanda Kabul' is small — it seats about 30 people at a pinch — and warmly furnished in black and white and polished dark wood. A tapestry map of Afghanistan and some Afghani artifacts including ornate vases, samovars and statues complete the look of this little window to Kabul. Across one wall is an eye-catching painting by Japanese artist Koji Suzuki. It depicts a ship cutting through waves under a starlit sky carrying animals and a Buddha-like figure reminiscent of the Bamiyan statues destroyed by the Taliban not so long ago.
"I started `Kanda Kabul' with the help of a small group of my friends. I am very grateful to them," says Hassani whose restaurant serves delicious authentic Afghani food prepared by his wife Roya, cooked with traditional spices ... "and my tandoor is from India," he adds, laughing.
As he talks, Ohnoki Kensuke, foreign rights attorney, and Hassani's close friend, walks in. Ohnoki along with two other friends, the writer Kayoko Ikeda and Japanese journalist Isazaki, was instrumental in helping Hassani establish `Kanda Kabul'. More than just an eatery, Hassani wants to use the restaurant to introduce Afghanistan to the people of Japan. "After September 11, 2001, it has become more important than ever, to tell people here that Afghanistan isn't a country filled with terrorists and killers," says Hassani. "The Americans did not help us, just as they have not helped the Iraqis by overthrowing Saddam Hussein ... Saddam is a bad man but it was a personal Iraqi problem, there was no need for America to go to war against them."
Hassani and Roya's family live in Kabul. "Ever since this new government took over, nothing has changed for the people — there used to be a Taliban before the American attack insisting on beards and long veils, now there is another kind of Taliban in Kabul. Nothing has changed." Hassani's brother works in the Agricultural Ministry in Afghanistan. "He has not received his salary for six months now," says Hassani who visited Kabul this year in January.
Far away from the political turmoil, violence and poverty of his country, Hassani wants `Kanda Kabul' to succeed for the sake of his people. When he first conceptualised it, he wanted to create a sort of window to Afghanistan. But the practical problems of setting up a full-scale cultural centre were too formidable. Also, it would have been difficult to get the necessary funding only for a cultural centre. "We didn't have the resources for it, so it wasn't a practical idea," he says.
What was practical, and workable, was to establish a restaurant given that Tokyo is a gourmet's paradise with cuisine from all over the world available here. "But there wasn't anything from Afghanistan, which is what made `Kanda Kabul' an attractive business proposition as well," says Hassani.
"I decided to use the restaurant as a stepping stone to the cultural centre, so in that way I can introduce Afghanistan to the people here in a gradual way," he explains. The centre, which will focus on Afghan music, art and craft, will encourage debate on cultural and literary issues. For the moment though, `Kanda Kabul' has begun only with Afghani music sessions on select evenings. Hassani's friends invite interested people; they also help initiate the discussions, not unlike Kolkata's intellectual addas, over many cups of hot sweet Afghani tea. Also, on the first Saturday of each month, the restaurant holds a gathering where Ohnoki speaks on refugees and resettlement issues.
At 4 p.m. on Friday, `Kanda Kabul' is a hub of activity, as Roya and another young Afghani woman helper are preparing the evening's set menus. Along with the standard beef, chicken and vegetable curries, other Afghan specialities like narenj pulao (orange pulao) and eggplant cooked with tomato and yogurt feature on the menu. Hassani is busy brewing pots of black Afghan tea, as he prepares for another long evening of hard work. "But all this work is worth it, if I can make the people of Japan get to know us as we really are," says this determined Afghani ambassador of peace.
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