Venezuelan Raúl Marquéz and his wife Miho, of Japanese origin, decided to start a business in Tokyo with the traditional Venezuelan dish: arepas. Tokyo Arepa sells an average of 50 units daily, at least 90% of diners are Japanese
Venezuelan migrants and refugees have brought their gastronomy with them to many countries in recent years, in which they have had to leave their native country involved in a severe crisis that impacts the majority.
Dishes like the traditional hallaca or tequeños are very famous in Spain, for example. Although when it comes to popularity, arepas are perhaps the most recognized dish abroad. That is why they are available in the main cities of the world: New York, Paris, Rome, even in Tokyo, where thanks to the ingenuity of a Venezuelan, the arepa is also present.
Tokyo Arepa is a food trucks that runs daily through the streets of the capital of Japan to offer the flagship dish of traditional Venezuelan cuisine. The venture arose thanks to the merger of a Venezuelan-Japanese couple who ventured in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
Love, the main ingredient of Tokyo Arepa
Raúl Márquez is from Caracas and is 41 years old. His profession is not related to cooking. He is a lawyer, specialist in tax and corporate law, as well as a graduate in Fiscal Sciences. He told through WhatsApp to the voice of america who decided to emigrate from Venezuela 13 years ago, when he went to Canada with the intention of “learning languages and seeing the world.”
However, in Canada he not only found knowledge, he also found love. During 2012, when he was studying English at the Vancouver English Centre, he met Miho, a young Japanese woman who was also in the course and with whom he later struck up a love relationship.
A year after their meeting, after spending a few months in Venezuela, Márquez decided to move to Japan to learn the language, formalize his relationship with Miho and get married.
Already in their new home they both talked about the possibilities of starting a business. The initial idea was a Venezuelan food restaurant, something that could be atypical in Japan, but also exotic. However, the restrictions due to the pandemic led them to take another route.
«One day, thinking about the desk, I turned back all the pages of the initial project, I saw that the name of Tokyo was there as one of my first options. That day I decided that Tokyo, a city that has almost the population of all of Venezuela, needed an areper, because arepas are sold in all the capitals of the world. So I said: well, I’m going to take the arepa to Tokyo,” recalls Raúl Márquez.
This is how Tokyo Arepa was born. An enterprise headquartered in a food trucks, a car they bought at auction and then remodeled. At the moment it crosses the Japanese city.
“They ask for queen pepiada as if it were sushi”
The idea of undertaking in Japan with an arepera was a challenge for the couple, according to Márquez. “At first it was a challenge because presenting a product in a market where you think nobody knows about it, it’s scary. But in the end we were wrong. In Japan people know more about Venezuela than we can think », she adds.
However, the “experiment”, as Raúl described it at the time, was successful. Currently Tokyo Arepa sells an average of 50 arepas daily. It ensures that at least 90% of its guests are Japanese.
Being a business that was born in the midst of the pandemic, extra hygiene measures, as well as distancing, have been essential steps for your business to continue.
“In Japan they have not been so radical. What has allowed us to work outdoors, which reduces the chances of contact and therefore contagion, “says Raúl.
The variety of flavors offered by the couple is perhaps another of the secrets of their success. Their menu It has classic arepas but they also offer fillings fused with Japanese food. A sample of what his business is essentially: a merger between Raúl and Miho.
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Among the favorites is the Katarosu, which is an arepa stuffed with pork chops. premium grilled canadian, organic feta cheese, tomato, organic olive oil, salt and pepper. Another favorite is the American barbecue, stuffed with chuckeye American premium slow roasted, special guacamole, organic feta cheese.
However, the best-selling arepa is neither of those. According to Márquez, the winner is the Reina Pepiada (stuffed chicken with avocado and mayonnaise).
“Until now the feedback It has been very positive, and people come and take their Harina Pan (brand of corn flour with which arepas are made) and ask for Reina Pepiada as if it were sushi, “he says.
Raúl does not hesitate to advise the thousands of Venezuelans who, like him, left their country in search of other opportunities in countries far removed from their own. “Learn the language of the country where you live. Languages open doors. Today the gates of knowledge are at a click from your phone or your computer,” he says.
For Tokyo Arepa, Raúl Márquez assures that he has many plans for the future. One of the most immediate is to establish his business as a franchise so that other people can invest in his brand and the Venezuelan arepas travel, not only Tokyo, but all the cities of Japan, his new home.
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