This column marks the one-year anniversary of Kissa Kultur. What started as a way to help freelancers find interesting spots to enjoy a coffee between jobs has now become a fascinating historical dig through postwar Tokyo.
Many of the kissaten owners I have met were salarymen fed up with their jobs, intent on starting their own businesses. Against the advice of families and employers, these brave datsusara (men who quit the company life to strike out on their own) became the original "masters of their domain."
To distinguish themselves from the many others who followed suit, each kissaten owner brought something unique to his or her little piece of heaven, such as the "selected regal cups" at Aka Renga (Kissa Kultur, July 1999) or the hyaku shurui no koohii (100 kinds of coffee) at Coffee House Poem (January 2000).