Rash Behari Bose, Odisha’s Curry Connect With Japan

The two were the key forces in forming the Indian National Army (INA) The Azad Hind Fauz. Both died in 1945.

They are the two Boses – Rash Behari Bose and Subash Chandra Bose. They are Odisha’s Japan connect.

It was Rash Behari Bose who was responsible for introducing the curry to the Japanese, which is still served in the high streets restaurants of Tokyo and other cities. In 1912, Rash Behari made an attempt to assassinate Lord Hardinge, the then British Viceroy and Governor-General of India. He failed in the attempt and later escaped from India and landed in Japan in 1915.

In Japan he found shelter at the Nakamuraya bakery owned by the wealthy Soma family. Aizo and Kotsuko Soma hid Rash Behari for many months in the basement of their quarters.

During that time, a British ship had fired at a Japanese merchant carrier and relations between the two countries had soured. As a result, the Japanese government withdrew the deportation order on Rash Behari.

As he was free to stay and move around in Japan, Bose asked Aizo and Kotsuko’s permission to marry their elder daughter, Toshiko, with whom he had fallen in love. As Toshiko reciprocated his feelings and the families were very fond of him, they agreed to his proposal and the two married in July 1918.

It was during this time that Rash Behari introduced the Soma household to a recipe close to his heart. The family loved the delicious Indian curry and it soon became a family favourite.

The marriage had a tragic end: in 1925, at the age of 28, Toshiko passed away due to tuberculosis, leaving behind two young children. Two years later, Rash Behari decided to partner with his father-in-law to set up a small restaurant on top of the bakery that would sell Indian-style curry and rice.

The selection of ingredients and preparation of the dish – named Indo Karii – was personally supervised by Rash Behari who wanted Asians to experience India’s food and culture.

The curry ingredient history: The Rash Behari family had cooks from Odisha who were fondly called as Thakurda, they looked after the kitchen. In the family the cooks had their special preference for some family members and Rash Behari was one of them. It seems the Cook (Thakurda) who shared these ingredients and the taste was from Kujang Odisha –Jagatsinghpur district. In a way it can be said the Japanese curry connection is from Odisha.

The curious citizens of Tokyo began flocking to the restaurant to taste authentic Indian food and soon the restaurant grew into such a big venture that it became one of the first food companies to go public on the Japanese stock exchange.

Thanks to newspapers, which extensively wrote about his struggles against imperialism and his romance with Toshiko, ‘Bose of Nakamuraya’ became a household name in Tokyo and his ‘Indo-Karii’ was famously christened the ‘taste of love and revolution’. But the curry connect of Japan with Odisha was never highlighted.