"Sorry, we're full," I hear someone say as I open the door to Ladrio, a pre-eminent kissaten (traditional coffee shop) situated in a tumbledown alley in Tokyo's Jimbocho neighborhood.

Ladrio is located in a tumbledown alley in Tokyo's Jimbocho neighborhood. | RIKO MONMA
Ladrio is located in a tumbledown alley in Tokyo's Jimbocho neighborhood. | RIKO MONMA

I'm naturally disappointed and yet a part of me takes solace in the fact that such an old place like this — slowly fading from the landscape of Tokyo — is still managing to draw a steady clientele.