Nwe Nwe Kyaw arrived in Japan 12 years ago, the wife of a political refugee from Myanmar granted asylum in Japan. In Yangon, she had been a teacher; here she had to figure out something else to do.
"There were no Burmese restaurants in Japan where the (authentic) taste hadn't been erased. So I thought I would try to introduce real Burmese flavor to Japan," said Kyaw, who, in a cardigan and wire-rimmed glasses, still looks like a teacher.
In 2002, she opened Ruby (3-8-5 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo; (03) 6907-3944) in Takadanobaba, where much of Tokyo's Burmese community lives. It has since become the place to go for an authentic bowl of mohinga, a noodle soup seasoned with ginger and lemongrass that is sold from street vendors everywhere in Myanmar. At Ruby it's delicious.