A Kurdish language professor owns the Kurdish restaurant in the culture-rich Japan.
Professor Vakas Jolak uses his restaurant to introduce Kurdish culture to the Japanese people and people visiting his restaurant.
"Mesopotamia is the land where both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow and the birthplace of the two-water valley civilization," owner Vakas Jolak told Japanese Nippon TV.
When asked why he named his restaurant Mesopotamia and not Kurdistan, Jolak said that Kurdistan overlaps the Mesopotamia area where civilization was born. It seems Jolak wanted to show people of Kurdistan's historic and cultural richness.
Jolak opened this restaurant in 2017 and is the only Kurdish restaurant in Japan. The restaurant also serves as a cultural center introducing Kurdish culture and language. As its owner says, his restaurant could be a refugee for the Kurds visiting Japan.
A map of Greater Kurdistan on the food menu of Mesopotamia Restaurant
"People say that we Kurds are the world's largest ethnic group without a state. The area known as Kurdistan, where most Kurdish people live, includes parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Azerbaijan. Sadly, though it isn't a recognized nation," Jolak complained.
Speaking of Kurdish cookery, the owner of Mesopotamia notes that "throughout history, Turkish cuisine has been influenced not only by Central Asian cuisine but also by Greek, Persian and Arabic cuisine, we can say that the famous Turkish dishes originated from the Kurdish dishes."
Born in 1981, Jolak hails from a small village in Turkey's Kurdish regions. In the late 1980s, the Turkish government cracked down on the Kurdish nationalist movements. Jolak's brother was deported several times for being a member of one of the Kurdish-banned parties. Accordingly, like thousands of other families, one of Jolak's brothers sought refugee in the Netherlands while others emigrated to Japan.
Vakas Jolak initially dreamed of becoming a Kurdish language teacher, but at that time, Turkey denied the existence of Kurds as an ethnic group and their language, so he had to study only the Turkish language and literature, forcing him to move to Malaysia to continue his studies. Unable to return to Turkey, his brother assisted him in moving to Japan in 2009.
Vakas Jolak currently works as the evening manager and chef of Mesopotamia Restaurant, he is also a professor of Kurdish in the Department of Foreign Culture and Language Studies at the University of Tokyo, and the director of the Kurdish-Japan Cultural Association.