By EMIKA TERASHIMA/ Staff Writer
June 11, 2024 at 08:00 JS
Japanese and Ethiopian participants dance during an exchange event in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward on May 12. (Minako Yoshimoto
Ephrem Haile, who fled from political strife in Ethiopia in 2005, now feels right at home in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.
“I’m more closely associated with this town than with Ethiopia now,” Haile said. “I want to continue living here with my children.”
Katsushika Ward on the east end of Tokyo leads all wards with 103 Ethiopian residents, or just over 40 percent of the total in the capital.
And like Haile, they appear more eager to mix with the locals than become isolated in their own “community.”
Haile’s 11-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son were born in Japan and can’t speak any of the Ethiopian language.
On the evening of May 12, many people dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing gathered at a community center in a residential area of the ward for an exchange event with local residents.
The participants danced to lively music and feasted on “injera,” a crepe-like homemade Ethiopian flatbread, and a curry-like stew called “wat.”
Haile was encouraged to take the stage. The smiling 44-year-old stepped to the music, prompting others to join.
Haile operates the Little Ethiopia restaurant with his wife in Katsushika Ward, a few minutes’ walk from Keisei Electric Railway Co.’s Yotsugi Station along the Arakawa river.
He said he wants to make his restaurant, which opened in 2016, a place that connects people from Ethiopia and Japan.
The restaurant is decorated with Ethiopia’s tricolor flag of green, yellow and red, as well as illustrations of African landscapes.
Serving authentic wat with a distinctive sour taste, Little Ethiopia often bustles with Haile’s compatriots and local residents.
The number of Ethiopians who moved to Japan increased after the May 2005 snap election in the African nation, according to the Adeyabeba Ethiopia Association, a nonprofit organization that supports Ethiopians living in Japan.
Opposition supporters staged protests over the election results, and many people were arrested, injured or killed.
Haile first came to Japan about 20 years ago, immediately after he graduated from university, to help his older brother who was already living in the country.
When Haile returned to Ethiopia temporarily, he feared for his safety after his relatives and friends were apprehended or faced other forms of repression in the aftermath of the 2005 election.
He decided to leave again.
Public safety has continued to deteriorate in Ethiopia. A large-scale military confrontation erupted between the government and a political party in 2020, followed by a conflict between Ethiopian security forces and armed insurgents in 2023.
The many factories that deal with metalwork and machinery parts in Katsushika Ward offered employment opportunities for the arriving Ethiopians.
Haile came to the ward after learning about an apartment building that accepted non-Japanese residents.
Abebe Sahlesilassie Amare, director of the Adeyabeba Ethiopia Association, said Ethiopians may be attracted to one area because of their custom of living close to their parents after moving out of their family homes.
The association hosts an exchange event three times a year themed on sports, culture and food.
“It is not our goal to build a ‘little town’ where only Ethiopians get together and live,” Amare said. “We want many people to know that each of us is a member of the community even though we have a different nationality.”