All About Japan

Starbucks Blends into Edo Japan

Cafés Greater Tokyo Saitama Kanto

Kawagoe is in Saitama Prefecture, just northwest of Tokyo. It's a short 30-minute train ride from the big city, but when you step off at the station, you feel like you’ve traveled back in time to the Edo Period (1603-1868), with old merchant stores lining the historic streets, and a stunning wooden bell tower that rings out the time across town.

“Toki no Kane” (“Bell Of Time“) is the symbol of the city, and has been telling time to the city’s residents for 350 years.

Kawagoe is known locally as Koedo (“Little Edo”), due to its many historic buildings. Japan’s capital of Tokyo was known as “Edo” during the Edo Period.

https://www.starbucks.co.jp/press_release/pr2018-2700.php

The new Starbucks outlet set to open up in Kawagoe aims to blend seamlessly into the historic townscape with a building that uses the same rooftop style as the traditional kura clay warehouses that exist in the area.

With an exterior made from locally sourced cedar, the new Starbucks aims to maintain a modern aesthetic while blending into the traditional architecture of the town. Inside the store, customers will be able to enjoy a courtyard-like feel, in keeping with the historic warehouse style, and a bar area that uses the black-and-white stucco grid pattern seen on traditional storehouses.

At the back of the store will be a lush garden and terrace seating where customers will be able to enjoy “the scenery of the changing seasons” throughout the year, and the seats and benches will be covered in Kawagoe Tozan, a locally made fabric that was first created toward the end of the Edo Period.

The 77-seater coffee house, which is due to open on March 19, will be located on the same street as Kawagoe’s historic bell tower, giving customers the chance to enjoy drinking coffee with the sound of old Edo ringing in their ears.

For more information including Kawagoe's Starbucks location, click on the full story below from SoraNews24.

Read full story: soranews24.com

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