Tokyo: Harajuku

Tokyo, like any other major metropolis, is divided up into administrative units, which in Tokyo are called wards. We started off our exploration by heading to Harajuku.

One of the things about social media is that certain spots become “known”, and so we found ourselves at a new shopping centre with an angular mirrored ceiling that has become of those places, Tokyu Plaza Omotesando.

I mean, it was ok, but not the thing I had travelled 8,500 miles for. However it allowed me to re-live the experience of a kaleidoscope I once had as a kid without having to do all the rotating by hand.

You cannot go far anywhere in Japan without passing vending machines. These sell a myriad of things, including hot tea of a sort, and keeping them stocked and working is taken very seriously.

But coffee was the focus of our visit to this area, and we were aiming to go somewhere where they take it to a whole different level: Koffee Mameya. It has been described as an “artisanal bean gallery” which is a set of words that would never have occurred to me to put together.

Think wine tasting rather than wine bar. The queue was fairly long and I think it took about 20 minutes before we finally arrived at the counter to watch the skill and care that went into making our coffee.

Behind the baristas, or artisanal bean gallerists, if you will, was displayed the packets of all the different types of coffee they have selected from around the world, as well as those grown in Japan itself. They will ask you for your preferences (dark, light roast etc) and make a recommendation.

At some point, they had worked out how to prepare each individual variety to achieve the best result. It is but one example of the dedication and care that runs throughout Japanese culture..