5 thousand Indian restaurants on the verge of closure: In Japan, capital requirement increased from Rs 29.82 lakh to Rs 1.78 crore; Applications decreased by 96%

The ‘Himalayan Caravan’ restaurant in eastern Tokyo has been running for the last two decades. Due to the availability of excellent taste at low prices, there is a huge crowd of customers in the afternoon, which is now in great trouble.- File photo.

The Japanese government has become strict regarding foreign immigrants. Due to this, thousands of Nepali owned Indian restaurants running there are in danger of closure. The administration has suddenly tightened ‘Business Management’ visa rules for restaurant owners.

In fact, the government suspects that rich Chinese investors are creating fake companies to misuse this permit. To prevent this, the minimum capital requirement has been directly increased from 50 lakh yen (about Rs 29.82 lakh) to 3 crore yen (about Rs 1.78 crore). Additionally, it has been made mandatory for every restaurant to employ at least one full-time Japanese citizen or permanent resident. This change has resulted in a massive 96% drop in applications. The old operators have been given only three years time to fulfill these conditions.

According to experts, this change in rules will have a very bad impact on small foreign entrepreneurs doing business in Japan. According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, less than 9% of Japan’s local companies have capital of more than 30 million yen. In such a situation, it is proving to be completely impossible for a small-scale Indian curry house to arrange such a huge amount.

According to 32-year-old restaurant owner Anju Khatri, when big companies are not able to find local employees, then how will small foreign immigrants like us get them? The ‘Himalayan Caravan’ restaurant has been running on a quiet street in eastern Tokyo for the last two decades. Its Nepalese owner Sanjay Sahni came there for the first time as a chef in 2006. For him, the regular customers coming here have now become like a big family.

This restaurant’s curry-naan lunch set for ¥850 is very popular among employees, general readers, and the elderly. Due to the availability of great taste at low prices, there is a huge crowd of customers in the afternoon, which is now in great trouble. Foreign chefs and expatriates provide a cultural touch to Tokyo’s cuisine as well as affordable food options. If this decision leads to the closure of Indian, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, local workers will lose their favorite lunch options forever.

Foreign citizens are only 3% in Japan, but Indian restaurants are more than McDonald’s

Only 59 thousand Indians live in Japan, but there are about 5,000 Indian restaurants there. This is more than the total number of outlets of the world’s largest fast food brand McDonald’s operating there. This business has spread only on the strength of small investors. Foreign citizens constitute only 3% of Japan’s population. This is much lower than the 15% average of OECD countries. Most of the owners and staff of the Indian restaurants running there are Nepalese immigrants, whose total number there is currently around 3 lakh.

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