Drains of Osaka

My Go-To in Osaka: Standard Bookstore and Cafe

Every writer has to have a go-to place to write, read, sip coffee. In my case, I need one in each city I travel, and in every country I live. After chronicling the writer-paradises of Astoria and Ashland in Oregon, this post will be my first in a series detailing the lovely cafes of rural and urban Japan.

First, it is important to mention that the word “café” has a slightly different meaning in Japan than the image I took with me from the states. True to definition, a café in Japan is any place that serves light meals and drinks. Seriously, they don’t even have to necessarily serve coffee, which I thought was a requisite of a café.

Being from Portland, my definition of a café requires the following criteria:

-       Coffee and espresso in the form of frothy and sweetened lattes

-       Wifi

-       Ordering at the counter, and not having a waiter check up on you

-       Seating for single people

-       The ability to bring your laptop and sit there uninterrupted for at least two hours without  feeling pressured to order something else or leave

I know some people are going to tell me, “you’re just thinking of Starbucks,” to which my answer is yes, I am thinking of Starbucks…and Coffeehouse Northwest, and Barista, and Peets, and Stumptown, and Insomnia, and Ava, and World Cup, and Sisters, and….

…I am obviously way too spoiled being from Portland.

Such cafes are much harder to find in Japan, where almost every place hands you a menu and assigns you a seat, wifi is rare, coffee only comes in one form: black, no one knows what a latte is, you are expected to order a food item with your drink, and you better hurry up and leave because the place only has 10 seats and you are taking up a table for 4 while 15 people wait in line outside.

Alright, I am exaggerating a bit, but this is pretty characteristic of my experience in Japan.

So when I moved here, armed with a MacBook Air and insatiable desire for lattes, I set out on a quest to find true cafes in this country.

Let’s start in Osaka.

I have to admit that I didn’t find the Standard Bookstore and Café by my own wits or intuition, it was introduced to me by a friend and local designer who has long been frequenting this café.

The Standard is an edgy bookstore selling an array of hard-to-find magazines, and boasting a hefty collection of art and fashion books. The rest of the merchandise consists of mostly quirky novelties, canvas totes, and anything that might be worn by creative people who read hard-to-find magazines.

The Standard also has one of the largest and most laid back cafes in the city.

In a place as dense as Osaka, it’s not easy to find a place with seating for more than 15 people. For that reason, spending all day at any one place is a bit tricky. The Standard Café however, has such an excess of space and seating, that it is often the used for hosting lectures and public readings. Some days the whole café is devoted to an event  (the one down side of relaying on the Standard) and other days the café is partitioned into an event space, and café space.

So let’s revisit the list of criteria:

1.    Coffee and Espresso in the form of frothy and sweetened lattes

Ø  Yes…but no on the lattes, they are sweetened but not frothy. The drinks are good though.

2.    Wifi

Ø  No, but I have not had a pressing need for it

3.    Ordering at the counter, and not having a waiter check up on you

Ø  Yes, its great

4.    Seating for singles

Ø  Yes, there are long counters and one large banquet table that can comfortable seat 20 single people

5.    The ability to bring your laptop and sit there uninterrupted for at least two hours without  feeling pressured to order something else or leave

Ø  Yes, it is a bookstore so they expect you to be reading for hours. This is probably the best thing about the Standard. 

Starbuck's Japan Autumn Special

Starbucks Japan has officially shifted gears into autumn and they're changing drinks faster than I can keep up this blog. 

By the time I went to Osaka at the end of September, the Roasted Almond latte had debuted. I was initially disappointed that the Autumn Lineup only included one special drink. In the U.S. friends were already blogging about the first Pumpkin Spice latte (which really should be released in pumpkin-obsessed Japan), the Salted Caramel Mocha (which I don't miss at all) and the Chocolate Chai,  (which I never tried). 

Amazingly the Roasted Almond latte almost makes up for all three. As a frappuccino it is  amazing. Rich coffee flavor, caramel sauce swimmiing at the bottom of the cup, whip cream with delicious almond shavings on top. 
Every cup is like a work of art. 

Another fall favorite would be the Honey Creme cake. Honey is a popular flavor this fall in Japan. At two other cafes I saw honey-flavored donuts, and a honey cream-cheese muffin. I was impressed with the Honey Creme cake at Starbucks, because it had a very rich honey flavor. Usually honey desserts just taste extra sweet, but this cake had the distinct flavor of honey. 

Sometimes I like being treated like a tourist in Japan. 

Osaka Street Style: Fashion's Night Out

Of course no coverage of fashion in Osaka in complete without some style guidance from Osaka's own Emma.

 


 Emma is wearing all vintage, as usual.

From Pakistan to Osaka

On a weekend trip to Osaka, I finally had the chance to wear this Nishat Linen dress I bought in Pakistan. It was so light and comfortable, perfect for Japan's humid summers. 

It also  happened to be Fashion's Night Out in Osaka. Although everyone was more fashionably dressed than the author of this blog, I believe I deserved the award for comfort and practical dressing. 
Seriously Japan, leather and heels in heat of summer?

I think Pakistan has the upper hand on this one. 

Dress: Nishat Linen 

 Leggings: Churidar from a street market in Pakistan

Shoes: Target

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Reliving Halloween in Japan

The cultural phenomenon of Japan x Halloween

Check out that ho's sour face on the right. She can't handle me.

I blogged this Halloween costume on my fashion blog, but I believe the entire legend needs re-telling here.

While possessed by an unknown force, I decided that I wanted to be a unicorn for Halloween: this year, next year, and every year after that, so I set about making my own costume to wear to  Halloween parties in Japan.

This is a guide on how, and why, you should experience Halloween in Japan. 

Unicorn loose in the city!

Step 1: Look fabulous

Materials for the costume:

- about 1 yard of faux white fur

-  1 ball of yarn (for the mane and tail)

- cardboard, paper towel roll (for the horn)

- gold ribbon (to wrap around the horn)

I made a pattern for the body from a vest, and the hood from a hooded sweatshirt.  I cut the paper towel roll and shaped it into a horn, then affixed it to the body with a glue gun. I also put cardboard under the horn on the opposite side of the fabric to hold it in place so it would not droop. Nothing worse than a droopy horn.

Accessories:

- white gloves from a vintage store

- white body suit and white leggings from American Apparel

- Flute (to seduce the ladies)

Unicorn on a lonely bridge

Step 2: Fly your ass to Japan 

Japan has the most outrageous Halloween parties in the world. It was not always this way. A few years ago the country had never even heard of Halloween, so the event was only celebrated by English teachers and other expats. Slowly, the trend started catching on.

In 2008, I was in Tokyo for Halloween, and happened to be present for the Yamanote line hijacking. This occurs when a group of drunk foreigners crowd onto one car of the Yamanote train line in Tokyo, and make a huge mess.

I was not present for the actual party, just for the fall out when the authorities broke it up. After someone overheard me speak Japanese, I was approached and interviewed (briefly) by a reporter for NHK. Here is how the interview went:

NHK: What is your costume?

Me: Unicorn
(didn't know how to say this word in Japanese. I basically just sounded it out and added "desu." Real eloquent, my Japanese).

NHK: So, where will you go for Halloween?

Me: Shinjuku ni-chome! (ehem, that's the Gay district, ya'll)

NHK: Oh, why there?

Me: Because gays know how to party~!!!

Alright, I don't think that part made it on the air, but it was a good show for the people standing around watching. Well, in the U.S. the gay neighborhood is always THE place to be for Halloween, (hello, West Hollywood?), but not so in Japan. When I hit up Shinjuku ni-chome  it was dead. Dead. Not one person in a costume. God I hope that has changed, but I bounced from that scene so fast and I was back in Shibuya partying it up. No wonder NHK was confused by my answer.
You gotta trust Japanese people sometimes.

Well, the next year I spent Halloween in Japan, and I did it right: I went to Osaka.

Step 3: Make some friends!

Fortunately for me, I already had some. So I met up with my home-girl (Japanese) in Osaka, and two travel buddies (Australia). Together, we were one extreme foursome.

4 people,  3 countries, 2 languages, one hell of a good time.

Step 4: Get wasted 

Alright, I don't usually advocate bad behavior.
Wait.
Yes I do.
Yes I most certainly do. 

So if you are going to get  drunk on Halloween in Osaka, and my friend, you are going to get drunk on Halloween in Osaka, then the only place to go is the Absinthe Bar. This was once a tiny hole-in-the-wall that was pretty much only frequented by my friends and five other people, but now it is a sprawling bar/lounge/restaurant/nightclub with flame-lite cocktails and yes, absinthe.
I will post again on this legendary absinthe bar....

Here I am, drunk as silly

Step 5: Hijack a stranger's ride

Wait.
Don't do this.
You'll get arrested.
I don't want to be responsible for that.

But do pretend to hijack a bike and take silly photographs on it before the owners realize what you're doing. 

Step 6: Be as nasty as you wanna be

It's Japan.

You can get away with anything. 

Trust me on this one. 

Look at this lewd gesture I'm making. I don't even know what it means.
But it feels like exactly the right thing to do.
At exactly the right time. In exactly the right place.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy some photos of my good times~!

Osaka: 2010

Tokyo: 2008