Japan And My Coffee

Jackie has just left for a Hanami party. I did not feel like going so here I sit at the computer.
Japan is not really a coffee country. You have to know where to look for the coffee shops. As I had mentioned there are Starbucks but they are usually in the bigger cities. I have not seen many people walk around with coffee. Coffee is offered at most restaraunts, but not all of them. A dedicated coffee shop is a rare find and a treat for me. As you know, I love my coffee and I love to journal with a coffee in a shop with ambience. Jackie has scoped out several great coffee shops for me in Onomichi where I feel comfortable ordering my coffee in English and have myself understood.
It is also very rare to see people walking around with coffee. Jackie tells me that having coffee is done when you are seated and relaxed and able to enjoy it to it's fullest. And I can understand that when it costs you approximately $4.80 for each cup.
However to order a coffee "to go" seems to put the staff in quite a tizzy. It is not without presidence. First, I have to explain how the Japanese retailers love to wrap up their customer's purchases. An example is from the other day when I went to the bakery shop and bought several different types of pastries. I was alone. First they wrap up each baked good individually and then put it in another bag and then carefully tape it closed. Another example is when I bought some postcards, pens, paper and envelopes. They took each group of items and packaged them together. Taped that bag closed. They put all the bags into a bigger bag and tape that closed. If it is raining they then put it in plastic and tape it closed so not to get wet. It can be a real challenge to take them out when you get home.
Okay, about the coffee to go and I think you know where I am going with this. They pour the coffee into the cups and carefully place their lids on. They then bring out a tray and place the coffees in there and then put it in a paper bag and tape it closed. My simple cup of coffee has become a bag. All this and I go outside and take out my coffee and get rid of the paper. At least I hope I get rid of the paper because garbage is not a simple thing in Japan. God knows I am still trying to get that right. There is flamable, non-flamable, bottles, plastic and tins and the list goes on. The first trick is actually finding the garbage receptacles as they do not have them frequently located. Jackie tells me everyone just takes it home and disposes of it there.
An alternative to a coffee in a restaraunt or at the coffee shop is found in their unique vending machines. When I first arrived in Japan, I was intrigued by the multiple vending machines that they have at least every block or more often. They are the coolest things. They sell every type of drink imaginable including beer and alcohol. During my first day or two here, I was complaining about my lack of caffeine. Jackie then stopped at the vending machines and bought me a coffee. I was absolutely blown away that right along side the cold drinks in the same vending machine they sell hot coffee, cafe au laits, and more. I was sure that I would not like vending machine coffee. It brought back memories of night shifts in the hospital and getting vending machine mud, called coffee. First of all the cans are so hot that it is difficult to hold them, but when you open them up they are at a comfortable drinking temperature. How do they do that? More importantly they are not that bad when you need a coffee.
What got me thinking of this tonight was that after supper Jackie was going out and didn't really want a coffee at home. I felt way too lazy to set up her esspresso pot on her gas hotplate just for myself. She convinced me to go for a walk to 7-Eleven so she could pay for her new computer that she is buying. Yes one can pay all their bills at the "combenni" store while buying their Sake and heavenly treats.(Jackie might explain that name to you.) Thus I went to buy my can of coffee for $1.20. I had a nice walk and got a warm coffee in a very hot tin.
As Jackie and I were heading back to her house, I began to count steps up to her place. She told me that she didn't want to know the count. The count went something like this. From street level to the overpass over the road and rail tracks, it is 34 steps up. We walk over the road and tracks and again that distance on flat pavement. Then you come to the first set of stairs which count 33 steps. Then walk approximately 15 paces and ascend the second set of 22 steps. The is the last of the stairs, but then you gradually ascend ramps that would equal the height of two, two story homes. Then walk up her dozen front steps to get to her front door. Once in the house I then ascended another 14 or so stairs that are steep or steeper than any Amsterdam stairs I have stepped on.
Thinking back on it, it probably would have been easier to make the coffee on the hotplate. However all kidding aside, the walk to Jackie's home is wonderful. We pass by one of many temples and shrines in Onomichi. I also step lively past the graveyard.(It creeps me out), but they are everywhere. The walk ways are sidewalk narrow and meander between houses at times just armlengths apart. It is history that I walk by every day while getting my coffee from the vending machines. It is beautiful trimmed trees and gardens. It is Cherry blossom trees. It is flowers. It is homes that are so paper thin that you can hear what is happening on the other side of the wall just a few inches away. It is hundred of years of eeking out every square inch of land for the people who live on it. It is nothing I have ever seen or experienced on my walks at home in Calgary. And I love it.
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