Monday, April 13, 2009

喫茶店の日(kissaten no hi)

They say April 13 is kissaten no hi(喫茶店の日), Day of Tea Room. On April 13, 1888, the first tea room in Japan was opened in Ueno (上野). Its name was kahiisakan (可否茶館). The building was western-style and there was a pool hall on the first floor and the tea room was on the second floor. They offered a cup of coffee cheaper than a glass of milk. However it was closed after 5 years.

When I was in the USA for the past two years, I missed something. One of them was so-called kissaten (喫茶店) in Japanese, which is a coffee shop or a tea room. I do not drink coffee, but I like to have tea and cake there. There are so many kissaten in Japan, especially in Aichi (愛知) prefecture. Japanese kissaten is different from coffee shops in the USA. I hope you have a chance to visit Japanese kissaten someday.

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