Creativity abounds in Tokyoโitโs the cement between the bricks of the city, and fuel for its people, constantly surrounded by new concepts and bright ideas. And yet, for all the unique art, fashion, and food that jostles for attention, it can be easy to grow numb, and over-saturatedโthe color, the noise, and the creativity blur together. We start tuning it out.
I thought about this as I walked the gentle, sloping roads towards Good People & Good Coffee. I wandered by the local park, peeking in through the closed windows of hair salonsย I thought might be cafes, and soaking up the quiet suburban life of Higashiyama. In the distance I heard the quiet echo of traffic along the expressway, neighborhood dogs barking, and kids bantering on the way to school.
At the top of one of these sloping roads was an apartment building, the first floor of which opened into aโฆ garage? Indeed, it was so. Connected to this was a small white room filled with photos in black and white, and a counter at which I spied a man typing away at a laptop, hidden under a hat, occasionally checking some of the paperwork splayed out nearby.
I was looking at Good People & Good Coffee, and co-owner Makoto Ikeda. I peeked in through the garage doors, said hello, and introduced myself. I took a seat by the window, and amongst a modest collection of creative thoughts as photographed by Shota โPauloโ Shinjo, Ikeda talked coffee, art, lifestyle, and design.
He told meย the space is meant to be a blend of work and lifestyle. He met barista Tomoshi Okamoto through their love of bicycles. They met up at the repair shopโtalked bikes and music, hung out, drank coffee. They talked about opening their own place, and in late 2013, they didโcomplete with couches, gallery space, and coffee stand.
โWe want Good People & Good Coffee to be approachable,โ Ikeda said. โCoffee is an entry point to that. People have this image of art galleries as quiet spaces that are awkward to enterโwe want to lose that. We want people to get a coffee, chill out, and soak up the art.โ
I looked at the leather sofas and stools dotting the floor, and the tools hanging from the wall. I looked at the mish-mash of random paraphernaliaโbike frames, old books, timber, and plaster Roman models. It didnโt feel like Tokyo. It felt like somewhere else. It felt more like Weezerโs rehearsal space right before they dropped the Blue Albumโand there was comfort in that.
โCoffee is always around,โ Ikeda continued. โItโs for people when they want to relax. I want art to feel the same wayโI want people to have that creativity around them in a casual, everyday sense. And I want to keep surprising people with new and interesting exhibitions here in the gallery space.โ
I wandered out to the coffee counterโa small window framed in timber and coffee goods. Okamoto stood behind it, brewing a cup of the house blendโJohnny B. Goode. He said it was their take on kissaten coffeeโa French roast with a strong body and a clear aroma. He said Johnny B. Goode was a name that meant something to them; marked their generation by way of Back to the Future. It was a song with energy. It was a song about a kid who wanted to be someone. It was a style they wanted a coffee for. An expression of their concept, by way of a coffee blend. Their Tomando blend, alongside it, interprets a Third Wave experience.
Okamoto talked quickly. His thoughts bounced off the walls, jumping from flat whites and cultural brewing styles to dark roasts and Third Waves, then to blends, single origins, and brewing coffee as making musicโbecause isnโt it a little boring, listening to the same song every day?
โEach culture has a way they like to drink coffee,โ he said, โand theyโre all good. Recently, you could say itโs iced coffee. [Ikeda and I] love kissaten coffee. We wanted something you could only drink here in Japan. We like that. We like that style. We donโt want to focus on only one thingโone brewing style, one bean typeโwe want a variety of experiences. But ultimately, itโs our interpretation of these things, through our coffee, that makes it unique.โ
Ikeda and Okamoto seemed to me like entirely different people. And yet, they were linked by strong threads of commonalityโlifestyle, expression, and creativity. The two shared a passion for interpreting ideas through their own experience to achieve something new: whether it be a cup of coffee, shop design, or a particular gallery exhibition.
The more I thought about it, the more the suburban location made senseโoutside of the colorful city centers, in the monochrome desert of the suburbs, creativity bursts with that much more color, and that much more vibrancy. Itโs not oversaturated anymore; itโs refreshing. It draws in good people, andโat least here in Higashiyamaโit links them through good coffee.
Hengtee Limย (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read moreย Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.
