On Nagoya's coffee culture

Good morning. This is Kato. To be honest, I was born in Osaka and have been living in Nagoya for about 10 years now. When I came to Nagoya, it might sound cliché, but what surprised me was the "morning culture." In Osaka, "free" often means "suspicious," "dangerous," or "something to avoid," categorizing such establishments as shady. However, in Nagoya, there's a strong culture of competing for volume and quality, offering incredible value for money. It was truly surprising when I first moved here. I still remember the time I ordered pizza toast at Komeda in the morning and got a strange look... I truly love that cafe culture, and having morning coffee with my family on weekends is the best. After deciding to open a coffee bean shop, while still holding onto the calm feelings of a consumer as mentioned above, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about how the excessive "morning culture" led to coffee being neglected, becoming just an incidental part of a set menu. So, when I decided to open my shop in Ichinomiya, a place where the morning culture originated (though there are various theories), I hoped that by opening without offering a morning set, I could encourage people to focus more on coffee itself and appreciate its diversity. When I first opened, I remember about half of my customers asked if I had a morning set (I might be exaggerating a bit), And even now, I sometimes get asked this question. When I say no, they sometimes respond with, "Oh, so it's not a coffee shop after all." But that's perfectly fine. It's to draw attention to the coffee. Looking back now, I feel like I took on a reckless challenge, But I hope it can be an opportunity for people to learn about the story behind how coffee is made. So far, I've taken quite a roundabout path to get to this point, but little by little, I plan to put more effort into "telling this story." All in all, I love Nagoya's coffee culture. The "good morning" greetings exchanged in coffee shops, They always remind me how wonderful local, community-focused cafes are, and they always cheer me up.