mission.japan

One toaster-oven size pizza. (Which for reference is about half the size of a 10-12” round pizza, except it’s generally rectangular. Because that’s what shape the toaster oven is.)

The way I figure it, the sauce (homemade) is 10 yen per pizza, the dough (homemade) is 20 yen, and the toppings (all six kinds) run about 100 yen (things like cheese and olives are expensive here). So I’m thinking a normal pizza would run for 260-300 yen. And it could easily sell for twice that.

Which got me thinking about pizzerias and such. Establishments of that nature are not all that common here—delivery pizza yes, but sit-down eat-in pizza no. Why not? I don’t know.

I’ve had this on the back burner since Sunday, when I hosted four at my apartment for pizza and general hanging out in between the morning and evening services. People apparently like the pizza I make. It definitely doesn’t taste like delivery pizza—I had that once at the end-of-year staff party in December. It was okay, but it had the typical delivery pizza flavor.

Maybe what Japan needs is real pizza. Something that actually has substance and individual flavors. Pizza is probably (gasp) healthy if you go with the right ingredients. And it tastes good. (If you go with the right ingredients. Beware, bad pizza abounds.)

So while I’m running these numbers I’m thinking, “You know, I bet running a pizzeria would be a lot better than teaching English.” Of course it would be more work, but it would be more fun. Sunday afternoon was a lot of work just to prepare things for five people, but it was tons of fun. That and there’s something internally relaxing about preparing tomato sauce or kneading dough.

Several months ago having a regular cafe of some sort was part of the plan for a new church building. It was cut out because of risk. Teaching English is safe, so that’s still in the plan. But the thing is that everyone thinks a cafe (or perchance a pizzeria—a pizzafe? with a cake shop—capizzafe?) is an excellent idea. It’s even something we discussed briefly on Sunday afternoon.

Why can’t we take a little more risk over here? English works on a certain level—it’s lasted for ten years. But there must be other options. Things that would break the mold of foreigners in Japan only being able to teach English for a living. Things that would let the church reach out to new people (a cafe sees a wider variety of people than English classes) and still support the church itself (if you can sell pizzas like coffee here you’ll be set).

There have to be a million ways to reach out to people in a cafe. Print Bible verses on the menu, on the napkins, wherever. Engrave the furnishings with crosses and such. Put a New Testament at every table. Advertise church events at the door. Host live Christian music—the whole point of Music Cafe is to reach out to people in a cafe environment, isn’t it?

Sure, there’s a big up-front cost to starting a brand new business. Sure, there’s a fair chance it will crash and burn. Sure, it’s chock full of risk. Why shouldn’t we at least try?

I’m leaving Japan on May 29th. I won’t return to teach English. But if I were offered a position at a Christian pizzeria/cafe/cake shop, even if I were just a waiter, I’d start applying for my work visa that day. Why? I don’t know. I just have a feeling that maybe an occupation like that is a really great fit, both for me and for the church here.