Abstract

〈A Book Tracing the Genealogy of Kyoto’s Cafés Through “History”〉
〈Discover the Unknown Coffee History of Kyoto Through the Key Figures of Each Era!〉

Two years have passed since the publication of "Tanko Mook KYOTO COFFEE STANDARDS," which introduced essential cafés and figures in Kyoto, both old and new, through the lens of “coffee.” In this volume, the author—who has long reported on coffee shops throughout the Kansai region—traces the genealogy of Kyoto’s cafés with a focus on “history.”
Kyoto, which has cultivated its own unique café culture, is home to many notable establishments and individuals: shops offering specialty coffee that cannot be replicated, entrepreneurs reviving long-established cafés forced to close due to a lack of successors, and more. This book presents a comprehensive account of Kyoto’s café culture, encompassing inherited spaces and techniques, the passion and effort worth recording, and even the memories of beloved cafés that have sadly closed.

Author’s Information

Born in Shiga Prefecture in 1975. Graduated from the College of Social Sciences at Ritsumeikan University. After working at an editorial production company in Kobe, he became a freelance editor, writer, and proofreader. His love for coffee, nurtured since his student days, led him in 2001 to independently publish the coffee and café booklet "Amakuro Itteki" (“A Bitter-Sweet Drop”), which he distributed across Japan, mainly in Kansai coffeehouses (20 issues in total). Since then, he has specialized in covering café culture and the contemporary coffee scene, contributing widely to magazines and other media. He has visited over 1,000 cafés, both long-standing and new. In 2017, he was fully in charge of producing "Kobe and Coffee: Stories Beginning at the Port" (Kobe Shimbun General Publishing Center). In 2019, he supervised and co-authored "Tanko Mook KYOTO COFFEE STANDARDS" (Tankosha). He is currently focused on researching the history of coffee and cafés in Kansai.