When I wrote about Wasara earlier this week, it immediately spread throughout the blogosphere, as evident by this google search, which is kinda cool. Unfortunately, the majority of bloggers got their source wrong, which kinda stinks…. But what can you do right? After all, this is the wild wild west aka the Internet.

Anyway, given the enthusiasm, I thought I would provide an update and more details. All we know about the launch date is that it’s planned for sometime towards about the end of the month. I’ll give another update when anything comes out. However, I did a little research and it looks like pricing has been set at 80 yen (75 cents?) per dish. Also, a bit on the designer. The dishes were designed by Shinichiro Ogata, creative director of SIMPLICITY, an interior design firm specializing in bold Japanese style interiors. His work is characterized by dramatic uses of light and shadow, as well as the incorporation of natural elements such as water and stone. Have a look! Really, quite gorgeous.

Bassin restaurant in Fukuoka prefecture

Higashi-Yama restaurant in Tokyo

Sansuikaku lodge in Tochigi prefecture

J-Period interior shop in Paris

images courtesy of SIMPLICITY and Hike-Shop

To conclude my series on Tokyo’s Café boom, I’d like to show a more recent work by Ichiro Katami and Uichi Yamamoto. SO TIRED opened in April of 2006 in the business district of Marunouchi. The concept was to create a church-like atmosphere where businessmen can relax after (or during) a hard days work. The stained glass is a nice touch that creates a unique environment, very uncommon to Japan. But what’s even more impressive are the chairs. If you look closely you’ll notice that on the rear of the chairs there is a bible holder. These are actual church chairs imported from Europe.

SO TIRED serves a blend of Cantonese and Western cuisine. And, quite contrary to what the name suggests, high-octane woks and energetic staffers characterize the general feel of the shop.
The design is comforting, but not too noisy or overpowering, something that the 2 designers emphasize in all of their work.

Since 1997 to the present, their stores have been met with enthusiastic intrigue. Is it a coffee shop? Is it a restaurant? That ambiguity was probably what was needed to interfere with the rigid structure of day-to-day Japanese lifestyle. That ambiguity was probably what was so relaxing about cafes, and what kept people coming back. Ichiro Katami and Uichi Yamamoto possessed the foresight to identify the needs of Japanese consumers, proposing solutions through elegantly designed cafes. Perhaps that, over their artistic skills, was the true genius behind the duo.

That concludes my piece on the Japanese Cafe boom. If you are interested in visiting any of these cafes I’ve created a google map that lists them.