One day while walking through the rain with my friends, we stumbled across a coffee shop about ten minutes away from our University. We were freezing cold and hungry, and we decided to stop in for a warm drink to keep us going. We chatted in broken Japanese with the two young baristas, Ryo-kun and Miho-san, and drank what felt like the best coffee of our lives. Soon, I began meeting my friends for coffee in between classes at Sophia University, and we became closer to Ryo-kun and his friends as a result.
Meeting Ryo-kun was the first time that coffee brought me new friends in Japan, but it wasn’t the last. After a few months of living in Tokyo, my savings had been slowly whittled away by my newly discovered interest in film cameras, and Kazuko-san informed me of a new job opportunity. Kazuko-san’s hairstylist, Yabe-san, wanted to open a coffee shop in my neighborhood, and he was looking for any help he could get. I had my first-ever job interview in Japanese, and Yabe-san told me that he would be thrilled to hire me! And so, I began working at SILO Coffee Stand near Nakano Station.
I soon befriended my three coworkers, Ako-chan, Ri-chan and Yuri-chan, and we would often go out for coffee or a meal together. While I loved my pottery friends, it was refreshing to meet some people my own age as well! I also became incredibly close with Yabe-san and his wife Misato-san, as well as their three young children. Before I knew it, I had managed to befriend a handful of regulars at my job, and SILO became a daily stop for me to connect with my new social circle.
My experience with community in Tokyo defied all of my expectations, and it all started with the incredible connection I formed with my host family.
