Coffee shop blues

We have to adapt if we want to get along as cities change.

Transcript

Yesterday I discovered that my favorite coffee shop in downtown Kyoto no longer exists. The building is still there, but now it's a yakiniku, or grilled meat, restaurant. I went to that old coffee shop for 28 or 29 years, so I felt shock and disappointment as I stood in front of the door yesterday.

I know quite a few other places that serve good coffee, so it's not such a big deal. But already I miss the comfortable chairs, the classical music, and the relaxed atmosphere of that old shop. Actually, I never went there more often than about once a month, but I guess it was a kind of refuge for me. I'd been going there to get away from the noise and the crowds for so many years that I just assumed it would always be there. Now I need to accept the fact that it's gone.

I think Kyoto changes a lot less than many other cities, and yet even here people have to adjust. Businesses come and go as we all get older. Sometimes we look back on the good old days with nostalgia, but in the end we have to adapt if we want to get along.

Changes bring opportunities, too. Now instead of just going to the same old coffee shop every time, I can try new places as I look for the best cup of coffee in downtown Kyoto.