Takemi's is dead, long live... a crepe shop??
my favourite bar in Japan has closed down. i don't know when it happened exactly. last year, it was still there and i'd been looking forward to having another one of it's famous Irish Coffees this time around. i hate whisky, and i'm not actually that fond of Irish Coffee, but that guy knew how to make the cream just right and that was completely worth the Y900 it cost. the bar itself was tiny, could only sit a maximum of 7 people, which made it nice and cosy. that, and it played old jazz. all of these things made it the best place on earth to spend the late hours of the night, or any other time, really.
i'd first set foot at Takemi's at 18. i had no idea, in those days, that the legal age for drinking alcohol in Japan was 20, but i don't think anyone would have guessed i wasn't legal. on top of that, i was obviously a foreigner on holiday, so there wasn't much harm done. we usually ended up in the bar after having been to another 3, and it was usually around 3-4am when we got there. some of the best hours of my life. i have no idea how Takemi, the owner, made a living, seen as i seriously doubt the 20 or so customers who came in every night could possibly make up for the rent of a prime spot in China Town. but he seemed content and so were we.
so it came as a huge shock when i got the the place last month and saw it was empty. for a moment, i wondered if i'd got the wrong street, the wrong corner. the wrong Takemi's? but no. the place was too small to have been anything else, and i could see the marks the removed furniture had made on the floor and walls alike. the bar had stood there, the improbable lights had hung there... and on the side of the building were the names of the other bars in the building. up on the 5th floor was bar number 3, The Tavern. it was the right place. and just in case i still doubted, the blue Takemi's & Amigos sign was still painted on the door.
so there it was, the end of an era. and this place is being replaced by a crepe shop. a crepe shop! in China Town? is it just me or is the point of China Town to cater customers with all things Chinese? how are pancakes even remotely Chinese? what a sacrilege...
i'd first set foot at Takemi's at 18. i had no idea, in those days, that the legal age for drinking alcohol in Japan was 20, but i don't think anyone would have guessed i wasn't legal. on top of that, i was obviously a foreigner on holiday, so there wasn't much harm done. we usually ended up in the bar after having been to another 3, and it was usually around 3-4am when we got there. some of the best hours of my life. i have no idea how Takemi, the owner, made a living, seen as i seriously doubt the 20 or so customers who came in every night could possibly make up for the rent of a prime spot in China Town. but he seemed content and so were we.
so it came as a huge shock when i got the the place last month and saw it was empty. for a moment, i wondered if i'd got the wrong street, the wrong corner. the wrong Takemi's? but no. the place was too small to have been anything else, and i could see the marks the removed furniture had made on the floor and walls alike. the bar had stood there, the improbable lights had hung there... and on the side of the building were the names of the other bars in the building. up on the 5th floor was bar number 3, The Tavern. it was the right place. and just in case i still doubted, the blue Takemi's & Amigos sign was still painted on the door.
so there it was, the end of an era. and this place is being replaced by a crepe shop. a crepe shop! in China Town? is it just me or is the point of China Town to cater customers with all things Chinese? how are pancakes even remotely Chinese? what a sacrilege...
posted by The Archaeologist @ 1:21 PM
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