Utako Matsushima -- Kissaten no Katasumi de（喫茶店の片隅で）

 

I was in my fair share of coffee shops while I was living in Japan. Along with my regular jobs, I did have my side gigs of teaching students there. The kissaten that I frequented (although even in my past age, I don't know whether that term had already been rendered extinct) were pretty much the same classy places with masters of coffee-making manning the fort, although the one that was just around the corner from my second major school of employment in the Ichigaya area was known for its waitresses decked out in maid costumes...this was years before the Akihabara concept of maid café was formed.

Certainly, decades before I ever darkened many a wooden décor in the Tokyo area, there were coffee shops that offered gramophones playing classical music or jazz stuff (I think a few still do). And it's one such establishment playing the former genre that is the setting for "Kissaten no Katsumi de" (In a Corner of the Coffee Shop). An April 1955 single by the Yamaguchi Prefecture-born Utako Matsushima（松島詩子）, it's a kayo kyoku with a feeling as reassuring and calming as that wisp of steam emanating from a cup of java as a young couple gets together in a more intimate area of their favourite kissaten while Chopin is playing. Ryo Yano（矢野亮）was behind the lyrics while Tadaharu Nakano（中野忠晴）took care of the melody.

You can also have a listen to Matsushima's duet with Isao Hayashi（林伊佐緒）, "Ginza Yakyoku"（銀座夜曲）.