Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo

Japan Times

2 days ago

Steps from Tokyo's Higashinakano Station, a pair of mural-like signs hang from the weathered wood facade of a tall, slender building fronting Yamate-dori Avenue.
One features a fresco painting of Mount Fuji, flanked by the four auspicious beasts of Chinese mythology, alongside the visage of Mahatma Gandhi. The other, perched above an adjacent window, depicts several multicolored nymph-like figures mid-flight and interspersed with cryptic phrases in Japanese like 'food autonomy zone' and 'noncooperation with warring nation-states.' Although understated for street art across the globe, the signage is potent commentary in a country not known for overt political messaging.
This is Pao Compound , a nine-story dining, shopping and entertainment complex in Nakano Ward dedicated to promoting exploration and understanding of countries lying along the historical Silk Road — including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey — while also serving as a gathering space for local residents. The structure has multiple entrances, each serving as something of a portal to the region.
The door lying underneath the Mount Fuji mural, for example, opens to a staircase flanked by kitchenware from Afghanistan: enormous wooden ladles, goat milk jugs, earthenware serving dishes, iron tea pots and row upon row of teacups. Meanwhile, the intoxicating scents of spiced meats and handcrafted flatbreads waft out into the street from the compound's first-floor restaurant, which is accessible from both the building's front and the adjacent side alley.
Pao Compound stretches for several floor into the Tokyo skyline. |
KIMBERLY HUGHES
You would be forgiven for thinking a Middle Eastern or Central Asian expat was behind Pao Compound. Instead, the complex is the brainchild of Tokyo native Takuji Yasunaka, who conceived of the business following a 1980 visit to Afghanistan in the immediate wake of the Soviet Union's invasion that kicked off the nearly decade-long conflict.
Then just 24 years old, Yasunaka originally traveled to the country to meet up with an Afghan friend, who had previously worked as a university professor in Japan.
'It was an era of global change, when it felt like the whole world was in turmoil,' recalls Yasunaka, 69. 'I was a socialist then, and so I couldn't believe Russia's invasion of the country. I wanted to go and see for myself what was happening.'
Arriving in Afghanistan on foot via its border with Pakistan, Yasunaka was overwhelmed by the experience of hiding in underground caves along with local villagers to escape bombs being dropped by Soviet and Afghan military planes.
'I filmed everything using an 8-millimeter camera, and the footage was later bought by major news networks,' he recalls. 'Being part of this experience, where humans were literally fighting for their survival, is what inspired my lifework here in Japan.'
Takuji Yasunaka originally founded Pao Compound as a grilled meat skewer restaurant after years traveling to Afghanistan in the 1980s. |
KIMBERLY HUGHES
Yasunaka began fundraising in Japan to help reconstruct decimated Afghan villages, traveling several times to the country and once meeting the esteemed physician Tetsu Nakamura , director of the Peshawar-kai aid group, on an airplane in 1984.
Yasunaka began importing rugs and household goods from Afghanistan around this time and also decided to open a restaurant on land owned by his friend, Katsusada Yoshida, in Higashinakano, where Pao Compound now stands. Bringing back a Turkmen-style yurt ('pao' in Japanese), the rounded structures used by Central Asian nomadic peoples, the pair launched their business in 1988 as a lamb skewer-grilling operation outside in the garden.
'At the time, I was drinking often in Shinjuku Golden Gai ,' Yasunaka says, referring to the famous nightlife district, 'and a lot of the characters I met there started showing up to our restaurant. It was also the time of the 'ethnic food' boom, and we started to be covered by mainstream media like Pia magazine and NHK television crews.'
The company continued expanding, with Yasunaka engaging his network to continue shaping the space over the ensuing decades as a reflection of his slow, DIY-style ethos.
'We have basically just been having fun,' he says with a laugh.
The murals fronting the building were conceptualized by Yasunaka himself and painted by his artist friends, while the spiral staircase connecting the ninth-floor event space with the rooftop was crafted by artisans who first soaked the wood in warm water to make it bendable. With Pao Compound being an ever-evolving project, Yasunaka notes that plans in the works include reviving the previous iteration of an Iranian-style restaurant on the second floor, along with a tea house and traditional herb shop and an acupuncture clinic on the fourth floor — all slated to open this autumn.
A nine-story yurt
To go from Pao Compound's base to its roof may not be as extensive as Yasunaka's own travels, but it's enough to get just a taste.
Much of Pao Compound's interior design is influenced by Central Asian motifs, including yurts. |
KIMBERLY HUGHES
The first of Pao Compound's nine floors is occupied by Caravan Sarai, a restaurant serving 'Afghanistan and Silk Road cuisine,' its name a variation on the historical caravanserai rest stops that provided lodging for Silk Road travelers.
The menu features kebab skewers, stir-fries and the house special of karahi — meats simmered in deep cooking vessels and mixed with rich spices. The chicken variety comes accented with charred and salted roast tomatoes, ginger strips and crisp shishito peppers, while the minced lamb version is accompanied by tender eggplant and tomato (a vegetarian option features cauliflower and zucchini).
For atmosphere, playlists feature artists such as renowned Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and the walls are covered with elaborately decorated flyers for film festivals, art exhibitions, lectures and workshops held around Tokyo on themes related to the Middle East and Central Asia — some current, others dating back decades. Some events also take place in the structure's ninth-floor 'polycentric space,' which is styled as a yurt and encompasses a bar named Romarakuda (a play on the Japanese for 'donkey-camel').
Visitors can take their pick of diversions across Pao Compound's other floors. Shops are bedecked in shelves of woven baskets, throw pillows and tables for sitting and perusing magazines and books on the region — some courtesy of Pao's onsite publishing company. There are rows of Afghan rugs, which Yasunaka explains are sold at around half price (¥15,000 rather than the standard ¥30,000) to make them accessible to young people.
Also on the second floor is Pao Tour, a travel agency focused on trips to the Middle East. Meanwhile, the eighth floor houses Silk Road Bunko, a library and 'nomadic culture center' accessible via a thick, handcarved door in the style of Afghanistan's Nuristan Province with motifs said to ward off negative energies. Inside, the collection of Central Asian titles came courtesy of Kosuke Maeda, a researcher and close friend of Yasunaka's, who passed away in 2022.
'A kind of utopia'
On Pao Compound's second level, the multipurpose bazaar-style space called Golab (Persian for 'rosewater') is overseen by Setareh Moattari, 29, a native of Tehran, Iran. A graduate of Tsukuba University, Moattari has a role that allows her to fulfill her dream of acting as a cultural liaison between her two homes of Iran and Japan — even as political realities make leisure travel between the countries unfeasible.
Setareh Moattari is a native of Tehran, Iran, who now works in a shop in Pao Compound, where she hopes to expand people's perceptions of her home country. |
KIMBERLY HUGHES
A 10-person tour to Iran scheduled for September had to be canceled — with future prospects uncertain — so Moattari says she is now focusing on introducing her homeland through Pao Compound.
'Iran has a long history as a civilization, as well as incredibly gorgeous nature and travel spots,' Moattari says, gesturing toward items in her shop like ghalamkar (woodblock hand-printed tablecloths) and blue-tinged salt rocks inside a glass case. 'While Iranian people are familiar with Japanese culture, the same cannot be said in reverse — which is an imbalance that I am striving to address through my work.'
The project that is perhaps dearest to Yasunaka's heart is the restoration of a community water well fronting Pao Compound, which he hopes to have functional by autumn. He explains that there was already a 40-meter-deep well on the grounds when the business first opened, and his dream is to fashion it into a space where local residents and visitors alike can stop by to draw up water in a manner similar to Japan's Shinto shrines.
This, he hopes, will encourage a return to Japan's historical community-oriented lifestyle, while fostering an initiative to cultivate resources independently rather than waiting for third parties to provide them.
'People today are ruled by their smartphones, so I want to provide a way for them to interact with things directly in a tactile manner while meeting with others face to face,' Yasunaka says. 'That's why I have a gallery and bazaar here, and why I am also planning to revive the water well. Rather than political ideology, what I hope to leave behind for future generations is something tangible.'
Referencing the nymph-like mural out front depicting a Shinto concept of the heavens, Yasunaka adds: 'In a way, I guess I am hoping to create a kind of utopia.'
For more information on the Pao Compound, visit paoco.jp