Kawagoe, Part 2 (The Cafe)

After our sumptuous eel-on-rice lunch, we took a little walk around Koedo but then decided it was time for some coffee. A short search revealed a nice little cafe called Aburi Coffee on a side street.

One thing that I've loved about Japan is that whether it's the big city or the small town, individualistic coffee shops can pop up like mushrooms. Of course, there are the big chains such as Starbucks, Tully's and Excelsior Coffee, and they're all fine, but I love the mom-and-pop shop in that small part of town. The coffee might not exactly be inexpensive but customers can settle in for some nice relaxing atmosphere and a choice of different brands of the brew. Incidentally, we went for the usual cake set so I had cheesecake.

I realize that there are plenty of cafe-friendly kayo/J-Pop that I could have chosen from, and in fact, I've come across compilations at places like Tower Records which focus on such music, but I always seem to come back to Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）"Nemuri no Mori"（眠りの森）featuring Hanaregumi（ハナレグミ）. The song has that right blend of sunniness and relaxation, a couple of ingredients that would be good for a spate of coffee and conversation at a cafe.