In this edition of The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone, I visited Cafe Ace in Kanda.   Being a cafe specialising in coffee it's no surprise they have 40 different varieties of coffee! They even have 15 kinds of tea. Being able to pick out your favourite coffee before the morning rush every morning is really wonderful. Cafe Ace is one of the places I've wanted to cover for a long time in this series. I was excited to get inside!   Its striped roof gives it quite a retro atmosphere. The warm colour scheme of the decor inside is that from old times - it's very relaxed. It hasn't changed since it opened way back when. It has continued to maintain its ways in spite of times changing. I think that's wonderful.   The cafe carries all kinds of magazines that have been published over the years. They range from 3 to 40 years old. The owner showed me his collection as we spoke about the cafe and conveyed his sentiment for Ace. I feel I have learnt much about its history! The menu plaques attached to the wall are all handwritten by the owner (he even wrote on the camel artwork above!)   Simply amazing. His handwritten work spreads across the entire wall of Ace. I have come here on my before but I had no idea he had written all of this out so in learning more about it I have come to love Cafe Ace even more. His love and warmth can be felt throughout the whole room. And this―this is Cafe Ace's famous seaweed toast! It's made with seaweed, butter and soy sauce. The ingredients are simple but the flavour of the seaweed complements the butter perfectly. It's super delicious, I want to eat it everyday! And it only costs ¥170.   In the morning you can have it with blend coffee for ¥500 (+¥20 for iced coffee). You even get free refills on the blend coffee up until noon! American doughnuts, too. You can enjoy these at the small price of ¥230. They are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and serve with a knob of butter in the ring. The heat of the doughnuts helps the butter to melt so you can lather it all over. Finally, a photo of the owner himself. Even in the photo I feel like his smile gives his customers strength. Seeing his lively energy gave me energy too.   He holds his valuable feelings close, doing what he loves in the place he loves. I want to keep on seeing his radiating smile.

Ginza is a district in the heart of Tokyo famed for its extravagant streets lined with upmarket shops, luscious restaurants and fantastic entertainment. But it's not only worthy of note for its flamboyance – it's also rooted in rich culture and history.   Today, I visited Ginza West, a café that has been continuously loved in Ginza ever since it opened in 1947. Before entering I saw lots of delicious confections lined up on display. You can order takeout too. Your mind will wander off as you ponder on which to take away for snack time. The entire café is clean and tidy throughout and you can feel the decor has grace. It's different from other cafés in that it has a dignified atmosphere to it. It has an air of tension to it, the kind that makes you straighten up your back. It's a place that's nice if someone wants to enjoy a luxurious experience once in a while. I ordered cake and tea set! The tea cost ¥1,048. A cake set is the price of the drink plus ¥324. You can actually have them bring you samples of cakes being served on that day. There’s so many cake varieties it’s hard to choose. The most popular is this one – the Mosaic Cake! Its appearance is cute. I ended up wanting to take a lot of photos. The Mosaic Cake is made of cocoa sponge and butter sponge which is arranged to look like a mosaic piece. You can really taste the different flavours of each sponge. It’s only moderately sweet so it’s not too heavy. I wolfed it down! And then, and then! I got the white cream soda which I’d been wanting to try. It cost ¥1,188.   When you think of cream soda it’s generally green coloured melon soda with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. But this one uses no colouring. The soda is clear and also served with vanilla ice cream. Try drinking it yourself after adding a syrup of your choice. It looks like a very elegant beverage. In terms of taste, if you eat the vanilla ice cream after drinking some of the soda (which is subtly sweet) it makes for an exquisite balance. It’s a flavour I’ve never had before – it’s a novel sensation. Delicious. The chairs in the café have something about them too! They feel extremely comfortable, I felt exhausted. The staff kindly told me the secret behind them.   The back legs of the chairs are a little wider than the ones at the front allowing you to lean back much easier and making it feel much more comfortable. The chair legs are also cut to a certain length to allow easier sitting. So that’s why. That’s why I felt so relaxed simply sitting on them. I felt I could be sat there no matter the hour.   t’s a kind of consideration you’d only find at a café. Hearing about those chairs made me think that cafes really are such wonderful places. The more you learn about them, the more you come to love their charms.   I wonder where I’ll visit next? Look forward to it!

The place I am showcasing today is ‘Urara,’ a garden café and bar located in Daikanyama. Their shaved ice is super popular in summer. It’s somewhere I love and often go to in my private time. It’s an old Japanese-style house so it has a much different atmosphere to that of stylish Daikanyama. The outside of it has a warm and welcoming feel to it that will have you wanting to see what kind of place it is. Upon entering through the shop sign curtain, you arrive in the courtyard which is surrounded by trees. You can hear the sounds of birds from somewhere, and when the wind blows you also hear the rustling of tree leaves. You completely forget you’re in Tokyo as you feel like you’ve come to a grandma’s house in the countryside. It’s very relaxing. Hm? What’s this odd looking thing? These unique ornaments were scattered all around the courtyard ready to greet us! This sign makes for a great photo spot. It says ‘Urara’ just like the name of the café. Its nostalgic design is so cute! When you really look, it says tissue paper on it! There’s lots to be discovered on the posters and signs that make up the interior, it’s a lot of fun! I ordered the Uji adzuki bean shaved ice topped with condensed milk! It cost ¥600 for the shaved ice and ¥100 for the topping. The matcha used is from Uji in Kyoto. Such a big portion of shaved ice is enough to cool you down by just looking at it. Let’s eat! Where have I tasted this before…   The matcha seeped all the way to the middle of the shaved ice. The refreshing sweetness was so tasty. The adzuki beans are from Tokachi in Hokkaido. They were a perfect combination with the condensed milk. The ice used is natural ice from Nikko. It’s fluffy, tastes great, and doesn’t give you brain freeze!   Natural ice is different from regular ice. It’s frozen slowly so the crystals have high density, and it takes longer for it to melt. The cool part was how it didn’t crumple instantly when I poured the syrup on it! This is blueberry syrup (¥600). The blueberries used are from Nagano. They make it from jam in the café. Isn’t the colour just beautiful? It has that sour flavour that blueberries have and a refreshing, lip-smacking sweetness. I normally don’t drink alcohol, but since Urara is a café and a bar I will show you a mojito (¥600). The mint is so refreshing! On a hot summer’s day it seems like there are people who order both shaved ice and beer together. They’re seasonal items so will satisfy and cool you down. I also got to meet Tama-chan, the cat who comes to play at Urara. One time when I came before Tama was out walking so I didn’t get to meet him. Lastly, I snapped a photo with Arai who’s in charge of promoting Urara! We’re roughly the same height and have a similar interest in clothes so I grew an affinity with her. Coffee shops and cafés in old style Japanese houses tell you something about the people associated with them. Urara feels natural thanks to SELIN & Co., an apparel maker who make things that feel one with nature. The staff at Urara all love living things, so the big hearted atmosphere there was really wonderful. If I was to set up a shop I wonder what it would be like… I think I’d want to put out something warm like Urara.     Photographer：Haruka Yamamoto Editor：Ai Watanabe Design：Yuko Abe（ASOBISYSTEM) Translater：Joshua Kitosi-Isanga