I’m just another foreigner living in Japan. I live in South Tokyo just outside of the huge ex-pat community. I hope that what you find here in these pages will be useful, informative, entertaining, or some combination of the three. And, if you have anything you’d like to share, feel free. I, for one, enjoy learning new things and hope to learn something from everyone who has something they want to share here. So come on in, browse, and share.
Coffee
Do you consider a good cup (or four) of coffee to be a just another daily necessity? Maybe, to you, it’s one of the finer things in life? For me, a day without the stuff is not one worth facing. I’m a bonafide addict (caffeine withdrawl headaches… the whole 9 yards) and not a bit ashamed of the fact. Moreover, having lived in the Pacific Northwest in the US for 8 years before coming to Japan, I’ve become a bit of a coffee snob so I figured, before coming here, that I’d have to learn to live without really good coffee. Indeed, I find myself frequenting Starbucks shops here more than I’d like to. That’s because really good coffee shops aren’t abundant in Japan. However, they can be found, especially in the Tokyo/Yokohama area.
Starbucks at Hachiko Crossing in Shibuya - Quite Possibly the
Busiest Starbucks in the World
If you’re like me, you enjoy brewing coffee at home and relaxing in the comfort of your own living room while sipping away. You can definitely find decent coffee beans if you live in a major metropolitan area. In the Tokyo area, I recommend Kaldi Coffee. On top of good-quality whole beans you can find a variety of foods from around the world there.
Coffee makers available for purchase in Japan are getting better every year. Recently, I purchased a model with a built-in coffee mill (bean grinder) made by Sanyo.
If you’re a coffee connoisseur, and are worried about starting a life in Japan sans your favorite coffee shop, don’t fear. You should be able to find a favorite local place. And, if that place happens to be mine as well, I may just let you treat me to a cup.
Cheers
Ahhh…. coffee!
If you haven’t tried Dean and Deluca’s coffee yet, i highly recommend it. In my opinion they serve the best cup in Tokyo.
They can be hard to find though, there’s a small shop in Shibuya and a fairly large shop near the Maru biru near Tokyo station, and another large shop in Shinagawa. I’ve heard of a few others but haven’t been yet.
Thanks, Mike. I think I’ll try the one in Shibuya out.
Cheers!
[...] be some similarities in our appreciation of coffee. Kinda weird seeing a picture of a great big Starbucks in Japan that he describes as possibly the busiest Starbucks location in the [...]