As noted in Monocle Magazine’s liveable city index, Tokyo does indeed have 247 Starbucks. While it might be cliche to say there is one on every corner, there are a few real examples: the Roppongi Hills shopping complex has no less than 3 branches of the coffee shop. Still, in defense of the mega-chain, Starbucks Japan does test some pretty neat ideas here. There is the Starbucks Discoveries series that shook up the chilled cup coffee market and ushered in an era of destination themed products. They make some pretty “innovative” in-store flavors too, like this summer’s Coffee Jelly Frapuccino.
In an effort to disprove the “seen one Starbucks seen them all theory” the chain also has a few surprising concept shops. Earlier this year, the eponymous coffee shop took up residence in the Kobe Kitano Monogatarikan, a historic house built in 1907.
The western style clapboard building was damaged in the 1995 Hanshin earthquake and was later adopted as a ward of the city to protect it from destruction. Private clients eventually turned the structure into a café and, this March, Starbucks Japan took over the helm. Becoming a Starbucks turned out to be a boon for the old Kitano Monogatarikan, which got some publicity over the summer months.
There is another concept shop in Kamakura, in a wooden structure resembling a Japanese style house, built on the spot of manga artist Ryuichi Yokoyama’s former residence. In Kyoto, there is a Starbucks on the strip overlooking the famous Sanjo Ohashi bridge and another one shaped like a hexagon, in homage to the traditional shape of a temple’s main building.
With attention-grabbing structures in popular tourist destinations, Starbucks seems to be hoping that customers will want to make some domestic “discoveries” as well.
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