Pakistan, Aug. 8 -- Japanese food has largely been synonymous with sushi and teriyaki and beyond that that familiarity and knowledge of the cuisine starts to fade.

Which brings me to a deeper question of whether people truly care about different cuisines for their own sake or do they want to appear refined and cosmopolitan by showing off their food choices? When one thinks of Mexican cuisine, its tacos, when Indo-Pak food its chicken tikka masala or the 'curry', Italians are renown for pizza and pasta and so on and so forth. On top of that introducing more items than the more familiar menu items to a paying customer base is another challenge, especially in a market as fickle as Pakistan.

This is a challenge that the new Japanese restaur...