I was born in 1931 in the Korean city of Keijo, now known as Seoul. My elder twin brothers were also born there. Soon after my birth, my father was sent on a research trip to Europe. He spent about a year there, and returned home with a mountain of souvenirs. After he suddenly passed away, our family returned to Tokyo, but living among my father’s souvenirs, my brothers and I talked constantly about how we’d go overseas to work when we grew up. After the long and arduous war ended, we once again dreamed of going to Europe. My brothers went there first and I joined them in West Berlin in 1960, where we established a company to import Japanese goods. However, the following year, the Cold War worsened and the Berlin Wall began to go up, throwing our company into crisis. Meanwhile, the West German government launched a plan to establish a large international center in the heart of West Berlin in order to invigorate the economy. We were asked to open a Japanese restaurant there, and it was this unexpected opportunity that plunged us into the world of Japanese food culture.

In 1974, we opened a Japanese food import business called Nippon-Ya in Vienna. The Cold War was still on and this business allowed us to support those Japanese residing not only in Vienna, but in other parts of Eastern Europe, who had difficulties obtaining Japanese food products and household items. That experience has continued recently in our work to supply Japanese food ingredients to Middle Eastern countries and the Balkan region. One of Nippon-Ya’s major objectives is to introduce Japanese food to locals, so it has been actively engaged in public relations activities, such as holding a “Japan Week” in local department stores or setting up large booths at major fairs and exhibitions.

In the 1980s, both of my brothers passed away, so I decided to withdraw from the restaurant business. I do, however, remain involved with the supply of Japanese ingredients for the many Japanese restaurants now in Vienna and in neighboring countries. About 80 percent of the Nippon-Ya clientele is local. In 2006, at the suggestion of my daughter, we opened a “Japanese tea room” called Cha No Ma adjacent to the Vienna Nippon-Ya. The tea room clientele is almost 100 percent local; it is a small establishment, but popular with young people.

When we first opened our Japanese restaurants in Europe, Japanese food and food products were little known, but today there are likely very few people who do not know what sushi is, and many can use chopsticks quite skillfully. There are now over 300 restaurants in Vienna which include some kind of Japanese food—particularly sushi—on their menus, which is impressive in a city of just under two million. This transformation is something that fills a pioneer like me with tremendous joy and satisfaction. Another thing we have always tried to do is to be conscientious, to always consider the standpoint of our customers and to adapt our business to the realities of the marketplace. I am greatly encouraged to see that this principle is shared by all of our employees.