What is Kayaba Coffee in Yanaka, Tokyo?

Kayaba Coffee is a café founded by Kayaba Inosuke in 1938 in a Taishō-era townhouse on Kototoi-dōri. It closed in 2006 and reopened in autumn 2009 after a local NPO found someone to run it. It is known for its warm egg sandwich and a coffee-and-cocoa drink, and it opens daily 08:00–18:00 at 6-1-29 Yanaka.

What is HAGISO in Yanaka, Tokyo?

HAGISO is a café and gallery in Hagisō, a wooden apartment building of 1955 that was due to be demolished until its art-student residents held an exhibition there. It reopened in 2013 as what it calls the smallest cultural complex in Tokyo. Its team also runs hanare, a five-room inn opened nearby in 2015.

Cafés in Ueno & Yanaka, Tokyo: Hours and Map

Q: Which museums are in Ueno Park, Tokyo?

Ueno Park, established in 1873, holds the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, the National Museum of Nature and Science and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Shinobazu Pond, about 16 hectares of lotus beds and marsh, lies on the southwest side, and Ueno Station opened beside the park in 1883.

Ueno Park was established on 19 October 1873 on land that had belonged to the temple Kan'ei-ji, and it holds the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, the National Museum of Nature and Science and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.¹ Shinobazu Pond, about 16 hectares of lotus beds and marsh, lies on its southwest side, and Ueno Station opened beside the park in 1883.¹

North and west of the park lie Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi. Yanaka's temple district took relatively little damage in the 1923 earthquake and the Second World War, so many old streets and buildings survive.⁴ Its cafés reuse them, from a Taishō-era townhouse to a 1950s wooden apartment block. Toward Hongō and the University of Tokyo, the cafés shift to students and house roasting.

Local tip: Have breakfast at Kayaba Coffee when it opens at 08:00, then walk down the Yūyake Dandan steps into Yanaka Ginza and its 60 or so shops.⁴

At a glance

317Cafés listed

29With opening hours

07:00Earliest opening

01:00Latest closing

Opens earliest: New Bamboo, from 07:00 (Mon–Fri 07:00–16:00).

Closes latest: NaCaSa, until 01:00 (Mon–Sat 18:00–01:00).

Most common features: partial wheelchair access (3%), wheelchair access (3%), wi-fi (2%).

Kayaba Coffee in its Taishō townhouse

Kayaba Inosuke opened Kayaba Coffee in 1938 in a Taishō-era townhouse built in the dashigeta-zukuri (出桁造, projecting-beam) style, on Kototoi-dōri.² It closed in 2006, after his wife died and no one was left to run it. The NPO Taitō Historic City Research Group looked for someone to take on the building, and the café reopened in autumn 2009.²

Its egg sandwich is a thick, warm omelet with mustard, and its ルシアン (rushian) mixes coffee with cocoa, served in the white cups of the earlier café.² Time Out describes it as blending kissaten tradition with craft coffee.⁵ Kayaba Coffee is at 6-1-29 Yanaka and opens daily 08:00–18:00.

HAGISO and the reused buildings of Yanaka

HAGISO began as Hagisō, a two-story wooden apartment building of 1955 that was due to be demolished. Its residents, art-university students and graduates, staged an art event there; the response saved the building, and it reopened in 2013 with a café and gallery, calling itself Tokyo's smallest cultural complex.³

In 2015 the same team opened hanare, a five-room inn in a vacant apartment nearby, on the idea that the whole town is the hotel: guests are sent to local bathhouses and restaurants.³ HAGISO is at 3-10-25 Yanaka and opens daily 12:00–21:00.

Yanaka Ginza and the Sendagi side

Yanaka Ginza is a shopping street about 170 m long with around 60 shops, mostly old independent stores. It is reached by the steps called 夕やけだんだん (Yūyake Dandan, "sunset steps"), named for the view at dusk.⁴

Kissa NITO at 3-42-13 Sendagi opens daily 11:00–18:00, and Ringoya, a kissaten with a gallery, runs Tuesday to Sunday 12:00–19:00. For coffee with a meal, Yasai Cafe KuKuri serves vegetable dishes at lunch and in the evening. In Hongō, 珈琲庵 at 4-25-10 Hongō roasts its own beans, and Newbury Tea & Coffee is open 10:30–17:30 Monday to Saturday.

Ueno's kissaten, early and late

Around Ueno Station the old style survives in the names. Kissa Hirokawa is at 6-2 Ueno and Charmant at 16-15 Ueno, and Fujun Kissa Dope (不純喫茶, "impure kissa") at 8-3 Ueno takes its name as a joke on 純喫茶 (jun-kissa, "pure kissa").

For an early start, New Bamboo at 13-3 Ueno opens at 07:00 on weekdays, and Awakening Café in Kita-Ueno at 08:00 Tuesday to Saturday. Late at night, NaCaSa runs 18:00–01:00 Monday to Saturday, and Board game cafe Amayadori, at 5-25-17 Ueno, stays open until 23:00 on six days a week.

Cafés in Ueno & Yanaka

At a glance

Awakening Café

Board game cafe あまやどり

Cafe ASAN

Egg Baby Café

Everyone's Cafe

HAGISO

ignis

Iriya Plus Café

Newbury Tea & Coffee

rebon Kaisaiyu

アンモナイト コーヒーマーケット

カヤバ珈琲

プティコフレ

喫茶 ニト

喫茶・ギャラリー りんごや

猫衛門

ELLA & LOUIS

New Bamboo

5 クロスティーズ コーヒー エキュート日暮里店

Aeténor

Az Cafe

Be green by KIELO COFFEE

Beat Cafe

Bock

Bon Fire

Bousingot

BUGTIME バグタイム

Bus Stop Cafe Ol'66

C Tea Salon and Bar

Cababre

CAFE and BAR 1-Point

Cafe Bell

Café Ça Là

Cafe COLO

Cafe Createa

Cafe de RaMo

Coffee chains in Ueno & Yanaka

Doutor Coffee

Starbucks

Tully's Coffee

Caffè Veloce

PRONTO

Saint Marc Café

Excelsior Caffé

Café Renoir

Café de Crié

Kohikan

Komeda's Coffee

Ueshima Coffee

Hoshino Coffee

BECK'S COFFEE SHOP

Tsubakiya Coffee

Yanaka Coffee

Coffee Colorado

WIRED CAFE

5 CROSSTIES COFFEE

Kayaba Coffee in its Taishō townhouse

HAGISO and the reused buildings of Yanaka

Yanaka Ginza and the Sendagi side

Ueno's kissaten, early and late

Sources

More of Tokyo

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Harajuku & Omotesandō

Shibuya

Shinjuku

Ginza & Yūrakuchō

Nihonbashi & Tokyo Station

Kanda & Jimbōchō

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa

Asakusa & Kuramae

Ueno & Yanaka cafés: questions

What is Kayaba Coffee in Yanaka, Tokyo?

What is HAGISO in Yanaka, Tokyo?

Which museums are in Ueno Park, Tokyo?

Own a café in Ueno & Yanaka?

アンモナイトコーヒーマーケット

喫茶ニト

喫茶・ギャラリーりんごや

5 クロスティーズコーヒーエキュート日暮里店