"He's really not a spy, just an ordinary old Japanese man living in China."
33-year-old Danzi ran to the police station again, and while taking out all kinds of "evidence", she explained that the curry shop where she worked, although the owner was Japanese, her boss was really just an ordinary Japanese.
Danzi's boss is called Takaharu Shimada, who was originally a lawyer in Tokyo and lived a "successful person" life in Japan, after 2010, he came to China, and came to Wuhan, which is somewhat similar to his hometown Fukuoka.
Originally, he only planned to live in Wuhan for a year and a half, but he fell in love with Wuhan and decided to live here for the rest of his life.
In the following ten years, he was mistaken for a "Japanese spy" many times, no one helped him explain at first, he could not speak Chinese, and each time he was very cramped, not knowing how to prove his identity.
In 2014, Danko went to his curry shop to apply for a job, and after that, if someone reported that he was a "spy", Danzi would help him explain that he was just an ordinary old Japanese man, he was kind and humble.
So what kind of story does Takaharu Shimada have?
Let's find out!
1. Living alone for most of your life
Takaharu Shimada was never married, so he was free all his life, which is why he was able to move from Japan to China without thinking too much about it.
Of course, Takaharu Shimada, who has never been married in his life, does not mean that he has never had a sweetheart.
When he was 15 years old, Takaharu Shimada once liked a girl named "Junko", but at that time, he was only a secret crush buried in his heart and did not dare to confess to Miss Junko.
Later, after graduation, everyone went to different places, and Takaharu Shimada did not have any news of Miss Junko.
When he talked to Danzi about this, Danzi once asked him if he would regret not confessing at that time?
Takaharu Shimada said that when he thinks about it now, he doesn't feel too sorry.
However, in his curry shop, there is a dish called "Junko Donburi", which is all his nostalgia for Miss Junko.
Takaharu Shimada's family is in Fukuoka, Japan, and his academic performance has been good during his student days, so he was later admitted to Hosei University in Japan, left his hometown of Fukuoka, and stayed in Tokyo to work as a lawyer after graduation.
Takaharu Shimada, who is in his 70s this year, was young at the best time of Japan's economic development.
At that time, he was working hard to earn money, and at the same time dreamed of traveling the world in the future.
In this way, before he came to settle in China, he traveled to more than 30 countries in the first half of his life.
Among them, in 1981, he came to China once.
When talking about his impressions of China when he first came to China, Takaharu Shimada can recall hotels that don't sell hand-ground coffee, and buses that are dark at night because there are no electric lights.
Before coming to China, he had read some books about China, which said that China's economy was underdeveloped and it was a relatively backward agricultural country, and when he came to China for tourism more than 40 years ago, he once thought in his heart that China was indeed very backward.
However, decades have passed, China's economy has developed, and when he came to China again in 2010, he was also stunned by the current situation of China's development, he did not expect that 30 years ago, a country that did not even have electric lights on the bus, in just 30 years, there will be such a big change.
So what was the opportunity for him to choose to come to China again and choose to spend the rest of his life in China?
2. Japanese grandpa with his curry rice
After retiring, Takaharu Shimada returned to his hometown in Fukuoka, where he originally wanted to spend the rest of his life.
However, more than 20 years ago, he noticed that there were many Chinese students in Fukuoka, and some of them had just arrived in Japan, and some of them rented places not far from him.
Some of these Chinese students are financially strapped and will lend a helping hand when he learns about it.
So these Chinese students who lived around Shimada's house at that time, they had a good relationship with Shimada Koji.
In 2002, several Chinese students came to his home as a guest, and he made his own curry rice, which is one of the most common and common home dishes in Japan, but these Chinese students, they told Shimada Koji that there is no such food in China, they have not eaten curry rice.
Because the curry rice he made was so delicious, an international student said to him, "If you go to China to open a store, business will definitely be good", which is also a sentence that made Shimada Takaji have the idea of opening a store in China.
However, he always remembers that when he traveled to China in 1981, he saw that China was relatively backward at that time, and he hesitated, worried that if he went to China to open a curry shop, there might be no one who could "afford it".
Including the idea that he wanted to open a curry shop in China, he mentioned it to some of his Japanese friends, who told him at the time that the plan was not reliable.
So he later gave up the idea of opening a curry shop in China, until 2010, a Chinese student who had eaten his curry rice returned to his hometown in Wuhan, and had the idea of opening an authentic Japanese curry shop in Wuhan, he thought of Takaharu Shimada and called him, so Takaharu Shimada was invited to come to China for the second time.
At that time, Takaharu Shimada, he was in his 60s, he lived alone in Japan, no relatives, not even pets, so he didn't have any ties in Japan, so he planned to go to China again, and travel around China by the way.
At first, he planned to stay in China for about a year and then return to Japan, but when he went to China, he found that things were not what he had thought.
On the one hand, it was the Chinese student who invited him to come to China to teach curry, which was modified according to the taste of the Chinese, and he felt that the taste was too different from the curry he had made all his life.
On the other hand, after he came to China again, he didn't expect that China had changed a lot, so he also had the idea of continuing to live in China.
At this time, another Chinese student invited him to open a curry shop in China and promised to do what he did, so he decided to stay in China and opened a curry shop near Wuhan University.
Over the years, the people who came here to eat curry shop were residents of the neighborhood and students of Wuhan University, and then his curry shop became more and more famous, and many people came from afar just to eat a bite of the Japanese curry he made.
He makes the curry freshly every day, and it takes 8 hours to make it once.
The amount of curry he makes one day is to fill three large stainless steel stew barrels, and Koji Shimada is 76 years old, but he still does it himself.
From boiling the curry soup to putting in the various ingredients, every detail must be strictly controlled.
For example, the onions in the curry should be stir-fried over low heat until amber before being added to the curry soup.
Half of the potatoes should be new potatoes and half old potatoes, because this ratio can make the flavor more prominent.
After that, he added coconut milk, red wine, honey and milk to this pot of curry, and the dosage must be accurate, a little more or a little less, the color and taste of the curry will be "wrong".
Although Takaharu Shimada's curry making is complicated, the thing he is happiest about is that when guests take a bite, they will tell him that it is "really delicious", and at that moment, he will feel that everything is worth it.
The curry shop that has been opened in Wuhan for more than 10 years, the business was very poor at the beginning, he is a Japanese, and he can't speak Chinese, including the service, which is also the service of a Japanese-style fast food restaurant, which will make many diners feel uncomfortable, for example, many customers sit down and plan to order, but he has to pour a glass of water for the other party, let the other party drink tea and order at the same time.
However, after more than 10 years, many of his regular customers have grown from young to middle-aged, especially his first customers, who now often bring their children to eat curry rice.
3. Japanese grandfathers do good deeds in China
At Takaharu Shimada's curry shop, the employee who has been working for the longest time is Danko.
In 2014, Danko, who had just graduated from school and could speak Japanese, came to Takaharu Shimada's curry shop to apply for a job as an assistant manager.
That year, Danzi was only 23 years old, and she didn't expect that her fate with this curry shop would be so deep.
Later, Danzi became the store manager from the assistant to the store manager, and Shimada Koji trusted her very much, and Danzi was responsible for the management, research and development of new dishes, and even several demolitions of the store and the relocation of new stores.
Living in China for more than ten years, Shimada Takaji has always wanted to learn to speak Chinese, but for him, learning Chinese is very difficult, but fortunately, with Danzi as a very capable store manager, he doesn't have to worry about many things.
Because the shop has always been open around Wuhan University, many students who want to leave Wuhan after graduation will come to the curry shop to say goodbye to Takaharu Shimada, and everyone affectionately calls him "Grandpa Island" and will invite him to their wedding when they get married.
So over the years, taking advantage of the opportunity to go to various parts of China to attend weddings, Takaharu Shimada has also traveled to many cities in China, and even as far as Hainan.
Unlike many people who open stores to make money, Takaharu Shimada came to China to open a curry shop, but he didn't do it to make money, for him, as long as he had enough to live, the employees in the store would not have to worry about life.
So no matter how much the store's turnover is, he will only set aside 3,300 yuan for himself every month, and the rest of the money, except for the salaries of employees and some fixed expenses in the store, he will use it to do good deeds.
During his more than 10 years in China, he donated the money he left over from opening a curry shop to China's Hope Primary School, and also set up a "donation group" with a few friends in Wuhan to support poor students in China.
Once at the subway entrance, he saw an old man in rags, and Shimada Koji felt that the other party was too pitiful, and while crying, he took out the money in his pocket and stuffed it into the other party's hand.
Takaji Shimada is getting older, and Danko often tells him that he must save some money for retirement.
However, Shimada Takaji said that he did not worry about his pension in China, he said that in China, he lived a very happy life, and the Chinese around him were also warm and kind, so he also tried to help everyone as much as possible.
Before coming to China, Takaharu Shimada, who was alone, set himself the goal of living to be 70 years old.
However, after coming to China, at the age of 76, he hopes that he can live a few more years.
During the days of Wuhan's lockdown, Takaharu Shimada's curry shop was also unable to operate, and at Danzi's request, he followed Danzi back to his home in the countryside of Wuhan.
Danzi's family is very good to him, including Danzi's parents, who also said that if one day Shimada Takaharu is too old to move, if he does not plan to return to Japan, he can stay in their home to support the elderly.
But Takaharu Shimada didn't want to trouble Danko's family, he had lived his whole life, so he also told Danzi that if he couldn't move one day, he asked Danko to help him find a nursing home.
When Danzi heard this, he turned his head and tears fell.
Okay friends, this is the end of the story about Takaharu Shimada, what do you think about it? Welcome to leave a message to share!