When I came to Mumbai for the first time, years ago, I was certain that the city had a strong Japanese community. What else explained neighbourhoods being called things like “Saki Naka” and “Oshiwara”? A couple of months in the city and I realised my chances of getting miso soup were about as high as getting dosa in Osaka. But the niggling doubt remained in the recesses of my mind that Mumbai had a Japanese connection that was being ignored. And then, I came across one Japanese composer who would get a ride to the far reaches of Mumbai if he got into a cab and said his name….

(Yoshi Wada, Japanese sound installation artist) (Oshiwara, godforsaken suburb of Mumbai)

There was a composer called Yoshi Wada

Who thought he’d found home in Oshiwara

But the dusty suburb

Was full of Marathi proverbs

So the composer’s sushi craving got him nada.