Shinya Inagaki, 52, a lean man with an eternal smile, has the air of a monk. This Japanese from Nagoya, who has settled in France for two decades, carries out his trade as an artisan baker as if it were a priesthood. He works alone, with oriental patience and industriousness. He seems happy in his tiny premises – oven and shop in the same space – on Trois-Frères street, at the foot of the Sacré-Coeur basilica, in the Montmartre neighborhood, one of the most iconic in Paris.
The bakery, Shinya Pain, is open to the public only from Thursday to Sunday, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. He sells six or seven varieties of organic bread and some simple cakes, such as the small Basque cakes that he takes out of the oven during La Vanguardia's visit. Shinya has a loyal and appreciative clientele, who is previously notified of the products of the day on his Instagram account, with almost 9,000 followers.
What is the secret of good bread?
–I think that using flour from ancient wheat varieties. I buy it in Champagne and in the south of France.
–I imagine that time and patience also count, right?
-Exactly, that's right. A long fermentation is needed, a minimum of between 18 and 24 hours. That is essential.
Shinya's place is not out of place in a very cosmopolitan neighborhood and a tourist magnet. The gastronomic offer is varied. Very close to the bakery is Le Refuge des Fondus, opened in 1966. There is also a Korean restaurant, a typical Breton crêperie and the inevitable pizzerias.
Shinya studied economics for four years at Nagoya University, but soon realized after finishing his degree that doing his own thing would bore him. “He wanted to work with his hands”, he confesses. After being employed in a tea room and learning how to make bread (the Japanese usually have it as an appetizer), he felt an irrepressible desire: “France is the country of bread. My dream was to go to France”. Not speaking French, he landed on an organic farm in Saint-Lô (Normandy), to whose owner he is still very grateful because he taught him all the secrets of the trade. “I was a peasant baker,” he recalls. I learned from A to Z”. He then attended classes and received his official title. In 2020 he opened his own location in Montmartre.
France suffers from a structural deficit of bakers, just as it happens in Italy with pizzaioli. There are thousands of vacancies. Young people are reluctant to undertake this path. It is hard work that requires getting up early and working on holidays, and requires high temperatures. Shinya is not an isolated case. Other foreigners have opened bakeries in France in recent years, perhaps fascinated by the possibility of living in a country they admire and practicing a stable profession that favors social contact. During the confinement due to the pandemic, the daily visit to the bakery to buy fresh products was the only way out of the home for many people, especially the elderly. Boulangeries are still a brisk business. Its average annual turnover is close to 500,000 euros. The baguette is also a prestigious product, an example of French know-how and has even entered the Unesco heritage.
Are you happy in France? Don't you feel homesick for your country?
-I like a lot living here. The people in Montmartre have been very nice to me. It's great. It's not just producing and selling. There is human contact.
-What is missing from Japan? It's much cleaner than France, isn't it?
-Nooo!, heh, heh, heh. Well, yes, it is true that in Japan everything is very clean, very air-conditioned, very well organized, people are punctual. France is different.
-And what does your family think of you being here?
My parents accept it. If the son is happy in France, they are happy too.
Shinya admits that, of the three days that his shop is closed, he only really gets to rest on Mondays, since Tuesdays and Wednesdays are already preparation days. But oriental stoicism and good humor always accompany him. He finds it funny, for example, that his street is called Trois-Frères (three brothers). “With me we are four”, he jokes. There could not be a better integration.
