Little Nap Coffee Stand, Tokyo

Coffee is a song.

Within in a residential neighbourhood, beside the Odakyu Line tracks and across the road from Yoyogi Park, there is a small café. It is small enough that it calls itself a mere “coffee stand” though there are a few benches outside that smokers and lovers of the outdoors would appreciate.

Little Nap Coffee Stand is run by music lover Daisuke Hamada so there are always some good indie tunes playing when you enter his domain. The beans offered here are roasted by Hamada and a friend, and there are the usual espresso-based options as well as single origin drip coffee.

The bean of the day is a Mandheling, and we grab our cups gratefully over the custom-built wooden counters. The interior is lovely, in a bohemian-chic sort of way, but outside the air has the just the right kind of bite for us to nurse our brews gratefully.

You are playing with our DSLR cameras, switching from one to the other. It’s nice to take a break and simply chat about our day. Tempura at the Tsukiji Fish Market, macarons and other delicate pastries at the Ginza Ladurée, and a couple of cafés before this one. Can you believe that we’ve been to three cafés already? And it’s not even dark yet.

Other folks rush from one touristy spot to another, ticking off items on their checklist. We are unable to do that. We are too in love with the streets of every city we visit, the cafés that we discover, some with a map, some by chance.

Is there anything more leisurely and blessed than sitting down on a bench, sipping on good coffee on a chilly afternoon, and enjoying each other’s company?

Is this not happiness?

距離代代木公園不遠處，有著那麼一家咖啡館；
位於住宅區的小巷里，人潮不多；寧靜、美麗。
咖啡館的外頭隨意的放了一張長桌和幾張板凳，
越過店前的馬路，還可以看到粉紅色小桌，
這一抹亮眼的色彩，點綴了小巷的靜謐。

在微涼的天氣里，我們選擇坐在外頭的板凳上。
除了兩杯咖啡，還點了一杯柳橙汁；
我邊把玩著手裡的相機，邊和你聊這今天的行程，
築地魚市的天婦羅、銀座的Ladurée和之前的兩家咖啡館；
是的，這已是今天的第三家咖啡館了。
別人去旅行愛往風景名勝去，
我們卻總愛在大街小巷中尋找咖啡館。
想想，在異鄉的國度里有著彼此的陪伴，
能悠閒的坐下來喝杯咖啡，共受午後的時光；
這，就已經是一種簡單的幸福了。