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Chances are, youโ€™ll find Iron Coffee on your way to or from Gotokuji Temple. But donโ€™t feel bad about it; thatโ€™s how it works for most anyone who isnโ€™t a local.

And for owner Yuki Isono, thatโ€™s the point.

โ€œThereโ€™s no specialty coffee here,โ€ he says. โ€œThatโ€™s the whole reason I chose this place. I mean, thereโ€™s a strong sense of local community, and the people are friendly, and this location happened to be available. I wanted to bring something new to that.โ€

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Itโ€™s cold the day I visit Gotokuji. Freezing. In the wind is a steady mix of snow and rain. At the station sits a statue of a cat, and past it roads lined with the basic elements of everyday Japan: supermarkets, dentists, restaurants, bakeries, bathhouses, and book stores.

Iron Coffee sits where the shops meet the suburbs on the first floor of what was once a kimono shop. Itโ€™s black iron facade is interrupted by a simple door and a to-go window, and written on the wall above it are the faded letters of the name Todorokiโ€”all thatโ€™s left of the buildingโ€™s past self.


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โ€œIron feels like a symbol of strength,โ€ Isono says. โ€œAnd thereโ€™s also the sense that as it ages and rusts, you see its personality. Thatโ€™s the kind of feel I want for this place, too.โ€

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Inside, Iron Coffee is simple, spartan. While Isono brews a coffee (with beans from Single O Japan), I watch a few locals drop by. One is a regular, who enters to hang out. The others get their coffees to-go, chatting idly while they wait on lattes and pour-overs. Isono says this has become what he most enjoys about running a coffee shop.

โ€œWhen I started, I just liked brewing good coffee and making latte art,โ€ he says. โ€œBut since opening here, itโ€™s talking to people and turning customers into friends that makes the job rewarding.โ€iron coffee gotokuji tokyo japan single o cafe sprudge

Isono tells me he gets a lot of foreign customers because of the local temple, so I wander over to check it out. After circling through the winding neighborhood streets of Setagaya, I find a giant wooden gate, and inside of it, a world different to the one I came from: temple buildings, grave stones, statues, trees, bushes.

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Itโ€™s here, around a small corner of a simple building, that I find a collection of catsโ€”hundreds of themโ€”on the stone floor. They surround a small stone statue, and fill a nearby shelf.

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These are maneki-neko, a charm known to bring good luck, and thought by some to have originated here in Gotokuji, when a feudal lord followed a cat to shelter at the start of a thunderstorm. Itโ€™s an impressive sight, and one that feels both decidedly out of place, and completely at home.

That particular aspect of it reminds me of Iron Coffee.

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When I head back to the station, Isono is still brewing. His shop is not bustling, and itโ€™s not busy; itโ€™s constant. Isono says thatโ€™s a good sign.

โ€œWhen we started, people thought the coffee was sour,โ€ he says, โ€œbut thatโ€™s just how it goes opening somewhere new in Japan. People traditionally like their coffee bitter. But itโ€™s changing with time. People are surprised. The coffee is sweet.โ€

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The whole thing makes me think of beckoning cats and good luck on rainy days. I think of how they long ago brought a feudal lord to shelter, and how now they might bring wandering tourists to quality coffee.

Itโ€™s surprises like these that I like best about Tokyo, and Japan, and its coffee scene.

Iron Coffee is located at Gotokuji 1 Chome-18-9 , Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Hengtee Lim is a Sprudge staff writer based in Tokyo. Read more Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.

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