A Long Path of Immigration from Japan to Paris

 

Alexi runs a small Japanese restaurant on a narrow street with ten Asian restaurants just off Boulevard Saint-Michel near Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.  Although Alexi is ethnically Japanese, he does not speak Japanese. He is a native speaker of Russian who also speaks French and English.  

He came to Paris from Moscow twenty years ago with his mother when he was fifteen years old. He finished high school in Paris and went to university. He studied finance and worked in banking for a decade. Then several years ago, he decided to leave banking and open a restaurant. I have had Ramen, Donburi, and Curry at his restaurant. He is a really good cook. 

Soviet Flag, 1917-1923

In 1920, Alexi's great-grandparents left Japan and settled in Vladivostok. In the 1930s, they were sent from Vladivostok to Kazakstan. They were, in effect, pioneers. They had to build their own home and the town they lived in. Alexi's grandparents were born in Kazakstan. In the 1960s they moved to Moscow where Alexi's parents met and married.  

Soviet Flag 1930s to 1991

Alexi is about the same age as my daughters and his parents are both in their early 60s.  His mother still lives in Paris. His father still lives in Moscow. 

Russian Federation Flag

Alexi is worried for his father and about the war, but his father has no plans to leave.  

The path people take in life through different cultures at different times fascinates me.  Four generations of Alexi's family emigrated to very different cultures and set up a new life. Their path from Japan though Russia, Kazakstan, back to Russia and now to France is a saga of overcoming difficulties. 

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[Although I have lived in three countries outside of the US, it was with the Army on active duty in West Germany, Iraq and Kuwait. Even within the US, I have lived in seven states, but only in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania as a civilian. I lived in Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kentucky on active duty with the military.]