In the heart of Tokyo, a humble Egyptian street food is fostering an unexpected cultural connection. Koji Ishitaka, a Japanese chef with a passion for cuisine, has not only opened the city’s first koshari restaurant but also found love and a deeper understanding of Egypt through this iconic dish. Koji, a graduate of Hattori Nutrition College, a renowned culinary institute in Tokyo, ventured into Egyptian cuisine eight years after graduation, a period of time he spent working at a famous café in the Japanese capital. Little did he expect, however, that Egyptian food would shape his life for many years to come. For starters, this sought-after Egyptian meal bound him together with the woman he married. “I have liked cooking since I was a child,” Koji told Egyptian Streets. This devotion to cooking grew inside Koji as he grew up. When he joined secondary school, a female classmate advised him to join a cooking institute, an advice he heeded attentively. Koji happened to lose his phone later, an unfortunate event that severed his contact with this female classmate. When he opened his own restaurant a few years later, he ran…
