Tag - kissaten

 
 

KISSATEN

Japan Times
CULTURE / Longform
Apr 24, 2023
Showa seduction: The unending attraction of retro Japan
Yet another generation is smitten with mid-20th century Showa Era style, designs and products. Is there more to it than nostalgia?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 7, 2021
Paying pilgrimage to the last kissaten on the Kumano Kodo trail
Writer Craig Mod takes inventory of the coffee shops that are left alongside the old roads of the Ohechi Kumano Kodo UNESCO World Heritage routes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 31, 2021
Japanese-style coffee is rooted in the local kissaten, but its reach is global
Brew methods and tools connected with Japan's local coffee shops have held an outsize influence on specialty coffee, permeating third-wave coffee shops and home setups around the world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 10, 2021
A ‘new wind is blowing’ for Japan’s coffee culture
Japan's kissaten and coffee shops are no strangers to social change. COVID-19 is pushing both shops and their customers into digital-driven habits.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 2, 2019
Portals of the past: Peering into Tokyo's traditional kissaten coffee shops
"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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 13, 2019
Vaughan Allison: Transforming nonessentials into essentials
Vaughan Allison on why his blood is black, his best concert memory and the most underrated area in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Nov 29, 2018
Farewell Mary Jane: Grieving for a lost jazz hideout
The late Donald Richie, a legendary chronicler of 20th century Japan, once said that to accept life in Tokyo, you must embrace constant change and not give in to nostalgia. In the 60 years he lived in this great city he saw multiple transformations — from the immediate post-World War II days to the economic miracle of the bubble years. To him, Tokyo was a constant whirl of redevelopment and expansion.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 21, 2018
The long pour: Tokyo Coffee Festival rounds up specialty coffee from across Japan
Japanese coffee shops are more international than ever, yet manage to preserve a unique sense of kodawari, an uncompromising dedication to the craft.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Aug 12, 2017
Kissaten Nasu: Breaking out the old-timey atmosphere
Kissaten Nasu is three separate but conjoined entities: As the name of the restaurant implies, it's a kissaten, a traditional cafe. But it's also a curry shop and a jazz cafe, and the master might just be one of the most dapper and suave cafe owners this side of Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KNOWING KISSATEN
Mar 24, 2017
Tokyo's classical music cafes are time capsules for audiophiles
In this age of musical abundance, it's hard to fathom that an LP once cost the equivalent of a few days' wages in Japan. In the 1950s, audiophiles who couldn't afford to buy their own music did their listening at coffee shops known as meikyoku kissaten ("musical masterpiece cafes"), which boasted high-end audio gear and extensive libraries of classical or jazz records.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KNOWING KISSATEN
Feb 24, 2017
Tokyo's retro coffee palaces are in a class entirely their own
The archetypical kissaten (traditional coffee shop) would probably be a cozy neighborhood joint with faded '60s decor, one of those vintage pink pay phones that only take ¥10 coins and a couple of elderly customers smoking furiously as they squint over their newspapers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KNOWING KISSATEN
Jan 27, 2017
Chatei Hatou: A pilgrimage site for traditional coffee
When Starbucks arrived in Japan in 1996, it should have spelled trouble for Doutor, the dowdy coffee chain that had dominated the market since the 1980s. In fact, the opposite happened: by cultivating demand for gourmet coffee, Starbucks actually revived the fortunes of its hot dog-vending homegrown rival.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 13, 2017
Suzuya: one of the old capital's oldest coffee shops
Last year, Suzuya celebrated its 70th anniversary, making it one of the oldest kissaten (traditional coffee shops) in Kyoto. To the best of my knowledge, only Salon de The Francois — which opened in the interwar period — pips it for longevity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EARLY START
Jan 6, 2017
Have breakfast in Tokyo where time has frozen, but the coffee's hot
Visiting one of Japan traditional coffee shops, known as kissaten, is a unique way to start to the day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 9, 2016
Togenkyo: A return to Japan's traditional coffee-shop style
Togenkyo is a cafe curated to the nth degree. Being so self-conscious, even self-indulgent, could be a turn off, but Togenkyo has its charms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jul 10, 2015
Ogawa Coffee: An old-world coffee house without the traditional atmosphere
For a small city, Kyoto is big on coffee. As with every city in Japan, the current "third-wave" coffee boom has brought more choice and quality when it comes to cafes and beans. This is undeniably good news for coffee drinkers. Ogawa Coffee and Inoda Coffee, two Kyoto coffee institutions, both predate the current boom by a long while. However, where they differ, at least in style, is that while Inoda has kept an old-world Japanese kissaten coffee house look, Ogawa is decidedly modern, with (sadly) not a bow tie in sight.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 24, 2015
Mazura is a hazy paradise for 1970s salarymen
Now that washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) is part of the World's Intangible Cultural Heritage, the next step is to make the nation's kissaten (tea and coffee shops) part of the world's tangible cultural heritage before they disappear.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
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