SpecialArticle 4

Jagmohan Chandrani – Fatherof Little India in Nishi Kasai

By Mukesh Williams

Author Mukesh Williams

Jagmohan Chandrani has spent four decades building the Indiancommunity and his own business in Nishi Kasai in Edogawa Ward,
Tokyo. An ardent photographer, sharp shooter, tea connoisseur,cuisine expert, communitarian, restaurateur, businessman and social
analyst, he manages his life pretty well in Japan. Chandrani turns 69
this year but his predominant passion for tea remains unabated. His
tea company called Shanti, which means peace, continues to survive
the pandemic emergency. His concern for others has endeared him
to both Japanese and Indians alike.
Born in Calcutta in the early 1950s, Chandrani studied Economics
at Delhi University in the 1970s and now lives in Tokyo. He combineswith his pioneering spirit the evolutionary history of Sindhi migration
before 1947 to India. Today his extended family is spread out indifferent cities of the world – Calcutta, Bombay, Jodhpur, Tokyo,
Toronto, and London among others. Rooted in a religious ethnicethos, Chandrani possesses the métier to combine different culturesand cosmopolites into a single psychological whole. He does notmiss India, nor regrets coming to Japan. His deep understanding ofJapanese culture coupled with his altruistic spirit has made him into
the “Father of Little India”. He leads the Indian Community of
Edogawa from Nishi Kasai located on the Tozai Line in Tokyo. In thisarea mostly software engineers live to whom he has been bothguarantor and provider of board and lodging. Living in Japan foralmost half a century he is “nearly a Japanese” in his attitude andideas. His children are settled in the United Kingdom. His wife after
whom the tea brand is name partners him in his business. A man of
Photo: Author

Jagmohan Chandrani at his office desk

46 Japan SPOTLIGHT • September / October 2021

many parts he can recite song lyrics from Bombay Talkies and quote
Shakespeare and Dickens. The Indian expatriate community looks up
to him for global business advice. They are grateful to him for getting
help ranging from housing and food to linguistic interpretation andprocedural direction.

Schooling in India & Knowledge of Japan
Japan was a mysterious and esoteric country for Indians in the1970s. The art of bonsai, ikebana and the kimono looked abstruse tomost Indians. Chandrani elaborates, “The colors woven on theJapanese kimono are invariably so many, yet they are neatly
arranged as the areas covered by each column are rather small. The
kimono looked unusual to me.” Indians also found the paper doors
or shoji in wooden houses rather surprising. Young Chandrani had
these two questions about Japanese houses: “How can you have apaper door? What safety would it give?”
Indian students from English-medium schools who did the SeniorCambridge exam in the 1960s were introduced to various cultures
especially those of the UK and United States but their knowledge ofJapan was limited to Fujiyama, geisha, zaibatsu, Minamata Disease
and the Dodge Plan. For those from Calcutta there were othersources of information provided by fellow Bengalis who visited
Japan such as Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Rash
Behari Bose, Subhash Bose and Radha Binod Pal. Swami
Vivekananda explained to Indians the Japanese love for their nation.
He advised young Indian men to visit Japan to learn from it, butwondered if they would return to their home country after meeting
beautiful and sweet Japanese girls.
Swami Vivekananda believed that unlike Indians, Japanese werenot “subjugated” and because of it Japan became an exemplarycountry for India. Chandrani remembered that “in our school days it
was a well-established idea that young people should go to Japan. In
my mind Japan was a place to go to. I tried to learn more about
Japan through American magazines like Time and Life. The story ofJapan in Life was not a happy one. Life broke the news about
Minamata Disease in the late 60s and early 70s. I was then in higher
secondary in Don Bosco School and entering college. There was aphotographer named Eugene Smith. He photographed the victims
and published it. Life looked at the world, the world looked at life. Of
course it was shocking. Seeing the human angle, how the family tookcare of people completely immobile and in tremendous pain wasquite moving.”
https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/

Don Bosco High School, Calcutta
Chandrani studied Literature in English at the all-boys missionaryrun Don Bosco School in Calcutta. He was a voracious reader ofbooks in English. One day in English class he was secretly reading
Dickens’ Pickwick Papers when the class was on. “The teacher pulled
my book from inside the desk and was surprised. He wanted to scoldme but could not. Instead he made my literary habit somewhat
exemplary as I was reading good literature.” Chandrani was reading
not only books in English but periodicals – “directly from magazinesand got a drift of what was happening in the world.” So he was notuncomfortable with people from other cultural backgrounds. As forJapan, not much information was available to him regarding “theirculture and daily life”.

handle trade enquires generated in India. So he was not so busy.
But he carried with him his student days’ hobby of photography.
Japan was a land of cameras and here he bought many expensive
ones. “So I was in the center of Tokyo and at a loose end. When I
was in college my father gave me money to buy a motorcycle but
instead I bought an expensive camera with three lenses. Now inJapan I began to buy one camera after another. I began to do
photography using film for slides. I began to have many things todo.”

Trade Between India & JapanIn 1970 an international exposition took place in Osaka called Expo’70. It was the first time the Expo had come to Asia. This was thetime when it was not easy for Indians to procure a passport. But forthis event the government of India allowed people to travel to Japan.
“Even students from our school, my uncles and cousins went toOsaka. Since I had to appear for some exam my parents said I could
not go. I felt extremely disappointed. At this time Japan was a world
supplier of battery-operated toys. When my relatives retuned fromJapan they bought terylene clothes and saris for the ladies. I got adoll of Fuji Musume holding flowers and standing in a glass box. Forchildren they got a battery-operated bus, Ferris wheel and merry-goround. But I was unhappy that I could not go.”This was a time of the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union.
The Americans introduced the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral
Export Controls (COCOM) policy, which did not allow any item oftechnology to be resold to the Soviets. Japan was also affected by it.
India was deemed close to the Soviets. So India, as Chandrani said,“was under lock and key. We couldn’t sell any technology-related
equipment to India.” Import of textiles from India was also a riskybusiness. Some Indians were exporting Japanese watches but
Chandrani did not take up this idea. He says, “I was young and felt
exporting was not my game – jawani ka josh.” He debated with theidea that he should import prawns, iron ore or textiles. But when hediscussed with experienced Sindhi traders in Japan they dissuadedhim, since he did not know the Japanese language and his Japanese
would-be counterparts would not know English. How would he dosales? He asked himself “What should I import? Fashion changes inthree or four months. Food gets spoilt quickly.” He was at his wits’
end. Then he hit upon an idea.

Business Family of the ChandranisEntering the Tea Business

Three generations of Chandranis have been involved in the importexport business. Initially they began dealing in textiles and plastics
from Japan to India. In the early 1970s Chandrani’s paternal cousin
was in the textile trade. His brother was in New York supplying thefashion industry dealing in textiles and fabrics. So his cousin wouldbuy fabric from Osaka and send it to New York where it would befabricated. In 1977 business in New York became quite intense, so
Chandrani’s cousin left Osaka for New York. A vacuum was createdin Osaka. Chandrani states, “Since I was at a loose end and notmarried the finger landed on my head.”

Chandrani came from Calcutta and had business connections in
the tea trade. Internationally well-known companies were doing brisk
business in Japan. He convinced himself, “This is the area I shouldenter.” When his first tea consignment came from India he found anewly-built warehouse near Nishi Kasai. “So I came rushing down.
My ship came and the tea boxes were brought by truck and kept inthe warehouse. But my difficulties were not over.” This was thedecade of the 1980s. Thirty years had gone by and the Nehruvian eraof romance with India was almost forgotten. The two elephants
which were gifted by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Ueno Zoo
may have sired their offspring but the India-Japan bonding wasweak. “The general impression of India in the 1980s was it was not aclean country and was difficult to do business with.” A popular belief
in Japan was that tea came from England not India. Many Japanesesaid, “I take English tea and not Indian.” Hardly anyone knew thatmost of the English tea came from India. Chandrani confessed, “We
had to do promotional activity for the tea we were selling. Drink thistea for 100 yen. If you don’t like it, don’t pay. Half an hour later

Expo ’70 in Japan

Japan in the Late 1970s
Coming to Japan in the late 1970s was not a great idea as both thelocal perception of India and the global business environment werenot good. “Being young, inexperienced and new to the cultural andbusiness environment of Japan added problems to setting upbusiness.” When Chandrani came to Japan in 1978 his work was toJapan SPOTLIGHT • September / October 202147

customers would come back for another cup.” After much effort hegot a lucky break and entered a departmental and set up a tea store.
In the 1970s trade with India and Japan was quite limited. Japanwas a closed market and the society was also not open. Imports oftea until 1972 were limited by a quota. Only a few companies, Britishbrands mostly, were importing tea. In 1972 the restrictions wereremoved and tea could be freely imported. “Business in Indian
cuisine, fabric textiles or prawns had their problems ranging fromseasonality to lack of experience. We were trying to find somethingwhich had universal appeal. Tea seemed to be a good idea but mostof the big companies were bagging and selling tea. I felt tea should
be bought and brought directly from India. Fools rush in whereangels fear to tread.” So Chandrani got tea directly from India toJapan in 1981. But he had big mountains to cross in front of him.
Japanese buyers wanted to know will he be there tomorrow? Hewondered if he could succeed in getting a Japanese clientele. Fortune
smiled on him and he met the owner of a coffee house who not only
served coffee but also tea. His coffee house served tea in pots. Hegave Chandrani an 80-seater shop in Kawagoe to supply leaf tea, ablend of Assam and Nilgiri. Tea drinkers increased. “The coffeehouse owner had 240 shops of which he then gave us five shops. In
six months with a new replacement of tea pots with tea bags made inJapan we could succeed. Then business increased.” There was arequest to Chandrani from a Tokyo company which was buying blacktea from his company to supply them with Japanese tea from Kyoto
in tea bags. Two years later the Kyoto government presented
Chandrani with a trophy for promoting Kyoto tea.

Changing Image of India
The image of India began to improve slowly from 1988 when Rajiv
Gandhi organized the Festival of India in Japan. India was wooing
Japan and trying to change its image of being a “hot and dirty”
country to that of a lucrative market. It was during the 1980s thatSuzuki entered India under the name Maruti Suzuki and Chandrani
supported an OEM supplier to the company. When the Festival ofIndia happened Chandrani was 30 years old, “a greenhorn” as hedescribes himself. In the Festival there was dance, drama andmuseum exhibits. “I decided to do a Mela which was held at theUeno Park – sell mitti ka khilona (earthen toys), dug-duggi (smallbamboo drums) and other similar goods.” The Children’s Dayhappened during this time and no entry fee was charged at Ueno
Zoo. Thousands of people entered the Festival. “Indian handicrafts,goods, food were strange or ajooba for the Japanese. No fortunatewind blew our way. And after three or four days not much jelled.”

and asked it to “come and teach us”. At this time Germany, France,
the US and Japan were the major countries manufacturing
automobiles. So India came to Japan. Within this context Chandrani
did consultancy in technology transfer to a Suzuki parts supplier.
Suzuki was looking for parts suppliers through joint ventures in themanufacture and supply of car seats, doors, axles, brake fluid andcoolant. Chandrani supported an OEM supplier of coolant and brakefluids to Maruti. “Being an OEM supplier was a major thing in theindustry. The risk in coolant supply was less.” Working with aJapanese company who were suppliers of spare parts to Suzuki inJapan made it easy to tie up in India.

Y2K Bug & the Entry of Indian Engineers
into Japan
Years passed and in 2000 the Y2K bug hit Japan. The bug turned
the last two digits in a computer to 00 reverting it back by 100 years.
Japan wanted engineers to rectify the problem. The US had alreadybegan employing Indian engineers. “When the Japanese came toknow this, they were surprised,” said Chandrani. The Japanese primeminister, Yoshiro Mori, changed the immigration rules and allowed
visas for Indian engineers. Japanese TV and magazines carried a“super good” image of India. A Japanese taxi driver once told
Chandrani, “Indo, IT people, so strong in mathematics. They have agood brain.”

Board & Lodging & Support forIndian IT Professionals
Once the Indian IT engineers came they needed accommodation inTokyo where they could cook their food. Their daily allowance washandsome, but as many of them were vegetarians, JapanesePhoto: Author

Entering Suzuki BusinessChandrani points out that the Indian government continued to woo
Japanese businesses. It provided Suzuki with land and machinery
48 Japan SPOTLIGHT • September / October 2021

Spice Magic Calcutta Restaurant

restaurants got exasperated by what they wanted from them. They
had to survive only on bread, butter and fruits. Hundreds of Indianscame to work and live in central Tokyo. It was at this time Chandranicame into the picture. About 5,000 flats had been built in Nishi Kasai.
“Four Indian families in Nishi Kasai – Hotani, Verma, Bhatt andChandrani – got involved to help. Bhatt and Verma were in the travel
not restaurant business. Hotani was a retired diplomat. So we would
run into each other. In the month of August, we made a group ofeight to support people coming from India. Suddenly Indians started
coming who were looking for a place to live. Our group convinced
local Japanese landlords to rent houses to Indians. These Indiansalso needed to eat Indian and vegetarian food.” Chandrani hired two
Indian cooks who made simple Indian food – subzi-roti-chawal orvegetable curry, flat bread and rice. Food was provided on the basisof pre-paid coupons. Some engineers came for a short duration.
Chandrani hired a building and converted it into a guest house for 20persons. The customers paid 3,000 yen per day all inclusive. Theguest house became totally full. From these humble beginnings
Spice Magic Calcutta emerged which branched out into North Indianand South Indian cuisine in Nishi Kasai.

Nishi Kasai Community of Indians
Indians are family-oriented and enjoy themselves with family andfriends. In Japan they often feel lonely when they cannot find acommunity. As the Nishi Kasai Indian community grew it needed aschool, grocery shop and festival celebration like a Diwali Mela. For
this purpose a komin kaikan (a public hall) was rented.
The acceptance of Indians in Japanese society was rathercomplex. Chandrani tells us: “There was admiration for their hard
work and at their success. They were accepted but not by all.” After1998 the number of Indians increased to 4,000. In Japan a new
Photo: Author

Chandrani with family and friends

Photo: Author

Chandrani speaking at the Diwali Festival in Nishi Kasai

image of foreigners emerged. So basically a perceptive change of theimage of Indians came through information technology. There was a
new respect for Indians. “Japan is unique and wants to preserve its
uniqueness. I could do business with them. But after a day’s work
you still have to learn a lot.” Looking at the future, Indians andJapanese need to assimilate with each other. Festivals like Diwali
Festa in Nishi Kasai, Diwali in Yamashita Park, Yokohama andNamaste India that now occurs annually in Yoyogi Park have createda visible presence of Indians. “The Japanese share many things withthe Indians – the way they give respect to elders, go to temples topray and offer something there, and organize festivals.”

Connecting Business Initiative with World Events
Chandrani is conscious of political events, international policies,
global trends, national stereotypes and efforts of Indian andJapanese leaders in opening business opportunities for expatriates
and trading companies. He is able to connect his own businessresources with popular cultural perceptions, business trends and thepolitical directions of the last half century. His story tells us that inorder to succeed we must balance our own inventiveness with anawareness of global trends. Another thing we learn from his life isthat pursuing a hobby and maintaining an altruistic commitment toothers can keep us happy and help us to innovate. Finally, he has asense of humor and a twinkle in his eyes. His iconic beard has stood
the test of time. He carries real experience from the university ofhard knocks.

Professor Mukesh Williams is advisor to the South Asia Research Center at
Soka University, visiting faculty at Keio University, consultant/news analyst for
the BBC World Service, St. Stephen’s College Alumni representative andAcademic Exchange Programs coordinator in Japan.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • September / October 202149