It was really great for the first-timer. We also spent a week in Hiroshima with my relatives and toured there, too. We wanted to see the fall leaves changing colors which were absolutely beautiful. Someday we'd like to see the cherry blossoms, too.
It was really great for the first-timer. We also spent a week in Hiroshima with my relatives and toured there, too. We wanted to see the fall leaves changing colors which were absolutely beautiful. Someday we'd like to see the cherry blossoms, too.
Cool.
I had the pleasure of going to all those areas except Nara & Fuji, only over the course of two trips.
Sounds like a whirlwind tour of of Japan's major tourist destinations. Never a dull moment I'm sure! I bet it was a fun filled trip with lots to see.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:39 am Post subject:
Tokyo Coffee
By OLIVER STRAND | December 16, 2011
The New York Times
Patrons sit and sip outside Nozy Coffee in Tokyo.
When I tell people that I went to Tokyo to check out the coffee, I get two reactions. One is bewilderment �\ as if I went to Denver for the surfing. The other is fascination: those who pay attention to coffee know that Japan is the world�fs third-largest importer (after the United States and Germany), with obsessive buyers who regularly land the winning bids at Cup of Excellence auctions, and that it produces the coffee gear everybody wants.
Japan�fs interest in coffee isn�ft a fad. Dutch traders first introduced the drink a little more than 400 years ago, but it wasn�ft until the port of Kobe was pried open in 1868 that coffee became widely available. Soon it was fashionable. Tokyo�fs first kissaten, or coffee shop, opened in 1888; by the 1930s there were 3,000 in the city. The supply of beans was cut off during World War II, but once it returned in the 1950s there was another coffee-shop boom. According to Masanobu Kusunoki, director of the UCC Coffee Museum in Kobe, Japan had 160,000 kissaten by the 1960s.
Today, the kissaten are disappearing, replaced by Western-style chain stores and a growing market of home brewing. Still, there are around 80,000 kissaten left in Japan, which are easy to spot in Tokyo.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:26 pm Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
^ I'll stick with o-cha.
Hehe. I'd love to go to some of the those coffee shops more for the experience than anything. I eagerly bookmarked the article so that if I'm fortunate enough to visit Tokyo again, I can go.
I have a feeling EstherM is a regular at Hobgoblin.
I feel that too!
This Christmas will be different though. I am going to binbo salary men's paradise Shinbashi for dinner and then to Shibuya to do some mean Karaoke.
Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 12782 Location: USA Country:
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:13 pm Post subject:
EstherM wrote:
I feel that too!
This Christmas will be different though. I am going to binbo salary men's paradise Shinbashi for dinner and then to Shibuya to do some mean Karaoke.
Sounds like you'll be making merry.
Have to do a final shopping push tomorrow. _________________
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