Tuesday, April 23All That Matters

American that speaks no Japanese opens restaurant in Japan.

by bargellos


American that speaks no Japanese opens restaurant in Japan.




View Reddit by bargellos – View Source

28 Comments

  • CradleRockStyle

    Interesting. Is he American born and raised? Sounds like he has a bit of an accent. Maybe he’s picked up a slight Japanese accent!

    Reply
  • Gary_Vigoda

    This was a neat video. I have a ton of Asian restaurants near me that are really authentic, family owned where they probably go through the reverse of this. Dropping into a different culture without knowing anything has got to be a bit scary.

    Reply
  • Bear_Hoonden

    Very cool to see the different perspective of living in a place and not being able to speak the language yet still making it work and getting by. Not to mention, it’s a great niche business, I can’t imagine there are a ton of authentic American burger places are in Japan. Those burgers looked on point too!

    Reply
  • sboxle

    His attention to details and making everything fresh really says a lot about his values.

    A lot of business owners expect to succeed with an average product, but he’s clearly passionate about making a quality product and it’s super admirable.

    I’m glad it’s working out for him because when you focus on the craft, getting those first customers is the hardest part!

    Reply
  • nomadality

    I went to his restaurant in Fukuoka during the pandemic when I was in town for a few days and craving a good burger. Very friendly guy talking to everyone at the resto. Burgers were good.

    Reply
  • thatusernamealright

    Small restaurant specialising in a specific food item, one guy obsessed with details, seemingly doing everything by himself…

    Yeah he’ll be alright in Japan.

    Reply
  • dewittless

    It’s really interesting how his cadence and grammar had been slightly effected by being in Japan for so long. There’s just a constant dropping of the letter a and the rising and falling inflections.

    Reply
  • allothernamestaken

    Fresh ground chuck/brisket? Fresh baked rolls? Smoking his own bacon? I bet this guy makes a better burger than most Americans can find.

    Reply
  • Slavic_Dusa

    Finding a small shopkeeper who speaks little to no English in NYC tri-state area is not common but not surprising at all.

    In other countries, it is unheard of to the extent they make documents about them.

    Reply
  • dDogg32

    I’ve always had random daydreams of doing something like this. I’ve never worked in a restaurant, I’m Cajun and make damn good gumbo, etoufees and such. I was stationed all over the world in the military and feel like people all over should experience some Cajun culture.

    Reply
  • The_sad_zebra

    He’s even got the look of a dad who knows his way around a grill. Those customers are getting the full experience.

    Reply
  • themastersmb

    The hours on his sign show 11:30 – 2:00 PM and 5:00 – 10:00PM. Then with all of the prep work I imagine this guy is doing like a 12 hour work day.

    Reply
  • beirch

    I find it super interesting that his accent and mannerisms has changed noticeably from living in Japan and having a Japanese wife. Some words and pronunciations are very similar to Japanese speaking English, which is very interesting to me considering he was raised and lived most of his life in the US.

    Just goes to show how influenced we become by our surroundings over time.

    Reply
  • BigBlackHungGuy

    This video was well done. Food porn. Genuine people. No music, just the ambient sounds.

    I need more of these.

    Reply
  • bargellos

    I didn’t expect this to take off the way it did. Allow me to address a couple things:

    I didn’t make the video. All credit goes to the vlogger whose channel I got it from. Looking over his other videos, they all seem to have a very high level of quality and is worthy of a deep dive.

    Full disclosure, I have a personal relationship with Jim, the guy in the video, so I can try and provide as much detail as I can with respect to his and my privacy.

    – He’s US born, didn’t serve in the military, and grew up in the South Bay in LA County. He’s never lived outside of the US prior to moving to Japan in 2018.
    – As far as his cooking goes, prior to opening this restaurant, was good but not at a professional level. He worked outside of the restaurant and food service industry apart from part time gigs he took when he was in high school or early 20s.
    – He’s a native English speaker. I can only attribute some of his phrasing and vocabulary to him not having regular contact with other fluent English speakers, and resorting to pidgin English he uses to communicate with customers, and in this case, a Japanese interviewer.
    – His Japanese is far from fluent. He’s never had any formal schooling in the Japanese language, I doubt he can write it, and apart from common signage, I don’t think he can read it either. He’s gotten by on simple phrases and whatever he’s managed to pick up since he moved in 2018. His wife, who’s from Fukuoka, isn’t involved in the day to day operations. From what I know, she helped him get established, and found the spot his restaurant is, but beyond that, it’s all his operation. She wasn’t in the video from what I saw, nor in the background.
    – His experience as an immigrant isn’t intended to demean or diminish anyone else’s experience as an immigrant, in the United States or abroad.

    Reply

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