Twenty-five minutes before the 5 p.m. opening, staff at Teppen, a Japanese-style bar in Tokyo's Shibuya district, and employees of other businesses gather around the counter for a daily meeting.
But this is nothing like a dull, time-consuming brainstorming session for new ad copy or a corporate meeting to exchange daily information among the staff. It is more like a group of football players huddling before going out on the field.
After a minute of silent meditation, manager Takashi Okamoto, 27, asks some of the 30 participants to give a one-minute speech, this day about their loved ones.