The Cat’s Meow

A common sight in Japan is the coffee shop. Unlike the shared and almost predictable commonality of coffee shops in many American cities, those in Japan come in a funhouse of types and themes. If you’re looking for a simple cup of coffee the choices are myriad and if you’re in a Starbucks mood walk twenty yards and look around—you’ll probably see two of them. Want to be waited on by a young girl in a French maid’s costume? Easy to find. How about boys in French maid’s costumes pouring tea and coffee? Yep, that too. Coffee shops in Tokyo come in all guises.

One increasingly popular type of coffee shop is the cat café. There are anywhere from fifty to sixty coffee shops in Tokyo catering to cat lovers, cozy shops where you can sip your coffee with a cat on your lap. The Calico Café in Shinjuku has about twenty cats in a wide variety of breeds.

What kind of customer goes to these cafés? First thought is probably of odd old ladies who live alone and moderate lonely afternoons petting and nuzzling cats. But in fact, the cat cafés attract all kinds of people. You’ll find singles, couples in their 20s and 30s, and lots of people who simply like cats and for one reason or another can’t keep one at home.

In most of the cat cafés, walking in, finding a table and ordering a cup of coffee is not the way it’s done. Rates vary, but the average is $9.00 or $10.00 for an hour of cat company, with coffee extra. There are also rules and picking up just any nearby cat may not be the thing. At the Calico Cat Café there are six rules: (1) Customers must wear a ‘cat-access’ pass around their neck. (2) Cats wearing a scarf are too young to be handled or picked up. (3) Customers must not force themselves on any cat that resists. (4) Napping cats must not be disturbed. (5) No catnip or cat treats allowed, and (6) children under eleven are not allowed in the café.

I probably know at least ten Japanese people who would consider relaxing in a comfy chair, sipping a cup of cappuccino, flipping through a comic book while scratching the ears of a purring cat the ultimate in relaxation. On the other hand, I probably know a good many who view the whole thing as just a little screwy. Think I might be more comfortable if there were just one cat instead of several, and him or her dozing on the sill of a sun-splashed window across the room.

Note on the bottom photo: A cat I used to have, a red point Siamese dozing on the veranda. Her name was Husselbud.

Missing Doutor

Forgot where I was today, and for a moment was on my way to a coffee shop no longer within reach. A month ago it had been my habit for a long time to spend an hour or so each day in a cozy shop not far from home in Kugayama, Tokyo. A favorite table up and away from the tobacco smoke, an almost attic, full of sunlight, green plants and quiet space, where I sipped coffee, read or worked on first or later drafts, where I felt sort of cloistered and at peace. I forgot for just a second this afternoon and told myself I was going for coffee and to look over a new book at Doutor in front of Kugayama Station.

I don’t mind Starbucks, and was even in one today, but it isn’t really a first choice. A different kind of place attracts me, one with a little less decor and less inflated prices. My regular for a long time was Doutor Coffee. There are probably more Doutor shops in Tokyo than Starbucks, and that’s saying something, because Starbucks has a huge presence in most sizable cities of Japan. Tea is the traditional drink, but Japanese also like their coffee, and there’s no shortage of places to get it.

The absence of a local coffee shop is something I’m now learning to live with. Oh, sure, I could drive up the street and have coffee in a diner, or chain bakery, but merely a place that serves coffee is not the point. I want a place that offers a quiet corner with good light and the invitation to sit for awhile over coffee, book or conversation. I want a place where I know before going in that coffee and sandwiches are good, and the staff friendly, but unobtrusive. Basically, I want a regular place not far from home that offers the all-around comfort I enjoyed at Doutor.

Times are, when working away from home, away from the iMac and the books at hand, that the work gets a boost and the pages come fast. Nothing in, or at hand but pen and paper and the flow unencumbered. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to achieve that in Starbucks. What I have to do now is hunt down that un-Starbucks type of small coffee shop, hidden somewhere along a sandy backstreet, or maybe over the five and dime.

••••••••

A curious news flash from London…

A British woman has suddenly started speaking with a Chinese accent after suffering a severe migraine. Sarah Colwill believes she has FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME, which has caused her distinctive West Country drawl to be replaced with a Chinese twang, even though she has never set foot in China. The 35 year-old from Plymouth, southwest England is now undergoing speech therapy following an acute form of migraine last month that left her with a form of brain damage. There are thought to be only a couple of dozen sufferers of foreign accent syndrome around the world.

Tale of a Pen Case

Common sight in these parts to see students studying in coffee shops, especially in the more popular chain places like Starbucks, Tully’s and Doutor. There is no time limit for using a table, and one cup of coffee is enough to allow the use of a table for several hours, even in the busier shops, like Starbucks. On Sundays and holidays especially, students seem to prefer doing their studying out of the house. But it is often a battle on those small tables to find space for all the books, notebooks, study aids, the jam-packed pen case, and the ubiquitous cell phone and iPod.

There is a Doutor coffee shop near my house which I enjoy going to several times a week, sometimes for a bite of lunch, sometimes to enjoy a book with a glass of iced coffee, to jot some notes or lines in my journal, and sometimes just to be in a familiar and cozy atmosphere with others, reading, talking, fiddling with a laptop, or studying.

One student I see in Doutor has become a familiar face, and I learned the other day that he is a high school senior, and now in the most grueling stage of preparation for university entrance exams. We had seen each other enough times to at least offer a nod of the head, if not an actual greeting, but on the last occasion I initiated a conversation, wanting to know a little about the contents of his tightly packed pen case, which sometimes lay on the floor for lack of table space. I don't carry a zippered pen case myself, but usually just a simple three-slot fountain pen case (Pelikan), and an eyeglass case from Levenger which includes a pocket for my pencil. The bulging pen cases I often see students carrying had me curious. So, I asked the young man in Doutor if I could take a snapshot of his pen case and its contents. He didn’t mind at all, and went a step farther helping me to catalog each of the items in the case. Here’s what I found:

Contents of a typical high school student’s pen case:

1. Five Mitsubishi HB pencils

2. Eight mechanical pencils (4 Zebra, 2 Pilot and 2 with the name worn off)

3. Three Zebra hi-lite pens in pink, green & yellow

4. One multi-colored Pilot ballpoint pen

5. One erasable Pilot ballpoint pen

6. One combination pencil and ballpoint pen with a name seal on the top

7. Two Tombow erasers

8. One roll of Pentel white out tape

9. One small plastic pencil sharpener made by Kutsuwa.

10. Three packages of lead refills, all 0.5, one each of HB, 2B and B

11. One set of small multi-colored Post-Its.

12. Twelve ballpoint pen refills: blue, red & green

13. One ‘success with study’ good luck charm, or Omamori

Noting the assortment of mechanical pencils, I asked the student what was in his opinion the most popular brand among his classmates. He surprised me by saying he would ask that question in his class the next day and tell me the results when next we both turned up in the coffee shop at the same time. As luck would have it, that was two days later. Here are the results for the 37 students in his class:

Favorite mechanical pencils (by maker) in a typical high school class:

Pilot 20 students

Uni 9 students (Uni is made by Mitsubishi, the Kuru Toga a very popular model.)

Pentel 5 students

Zebra 2 students

Ito-ya 1 student (Ito-ya is a huge and wonderful stationery & office supply store in Japan)

As far as pencils go, I am happy with only one, and can’t imagine trading it for anything else. It is a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 167 Platinum mechanical pencil. (bottom photo) The large gauge 0.9 lead guarantees that it never breaks or snaps in mid-sentence, something of a personal pet peeve. It has a comfortable heaviness that I like, and is 110% dependable. I use 2B lead made by Pentel. This pencil is never far from my reach at any time of day, and is a true workhorse for me.