Here is Hanami Web's Japanese Coffee shop evaluation:
http://hanami.ath.cx/coffeeshops_in_japan.html
Japan has probably world's widest variety of coffee shops. These pleasant 
places known as kissaten in Japanese offer a nice chance to chill out in hot 
summertime, have a break midst busy day. There are sure as many tastes as 
there are people in Japan - there supply meets demand.

As you must have known coffee is hardly traditional drink of Japan. There 
are still lot of people who really prefer tea, especially in green flavor. 
Coffee was first brought to Japan 1987. First coffee shop in Japan was 
opened 1988 in Tokyo Ueno. First coffee shops followed European trends 
pretty much, especially late Paris designs.

Today coffee shops in Japan keep evolving, following the trends to satisfy 
their customers. Putting aside chains such as Star Bucks, BECK's, Doutor, 
Veloce and Excelsior, there are also private coffee shops. These coffee 
shops can often beat the chains by having better tasting coffee, sandwiches 
or interior decoration. I recommend not to stick with Star Bucks too much 
although it has a nice coffee and crew.

There are many ways to evaluate coffee shops. Myself I put emphasis whether 
person can choose whether to smoke or not and also to interior decoration 
and coffee and available cakes and bagel.




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Hanami Web - Special Knowledge about Japan
http://hanami.ath.cx