The Story of Japan's Largest Starbucks and the Otohime Who Shouldn't Be There (Starbucks x Kirishima Shuzo)

While looking at someone's Instagram, I saw that the largest Starbucks in Japan had been built.

What's more, the location is on the grounds of Kirishima Shuzo, where I was in charge of photography when I was young. The Starbucks is in Miyakonojo City,Miyazaki PrefectureMiyazaki is my hometown.

I thought, I have to go.

The 'I have to go' feeling in times like these is usually not based on logic. Once the three elements of my hometown, my photography work from my youth, and 'the largest in Japan' all lined up, my feet were already turning toward Miyakonojo on their own.

However, I will apologize in advance.

The shop and the water tank were not that big.

Sorry. Sorry.

I am someone who has been well taken care of by both Kirishima and Starbucks. So, truthfully, I want to praise them to the skies and write something flattering. But I cannot write a lie. I have no choice but to write exactly what I felt. This is the most troublesome and most important part of what an essay is.

The water tank was about the same size as the fish tank I saw when I entered a restaurant in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, that served live sashimi.

It is impressive, to be sure. The koi are swimming leisurely, and the pure white ones, the red and white ones, and even the large black-spotted ones have quite a dignified look.

It's just that the 'expectations' were the problem.

When you stand on-site with the four characters for 'the largest in Japan' stuck in your head, the water tank in front of you inevitably looks small. This is not the fault of the water tank. It is the fault of my own head for inflating the idea too much.

After all, I had been letting my imagination run wild before I even went. I imagined a large water tank, perhaps the size of a 25-meter pool, where sea turtles, octopuses, and sea bream were dancing around like in the Dragon Palace. I even had a grown man like me imagining the ridiculous picture of a beautiful Otohime princess possibly being in the middle of it all.

There is no way she would be there.

There is no Otohime at Starbucks. All that is there are the koi, the bamboo ceiling crafted by Kengo Kuma, and the aroma of coffee.

Even so, the sandwich was delicious.

When I bit into the ham and vegetable sandwich from the toasted crust, it was genuinely good. The inside was chewy, and the edges were fragrant. The coffee was also good. I will make sure to write that good things are good.

It was raining heavily that day.

Raindrops were dripping from the tip of my umbrella, and the glass-walled botanical garden was damply wet under the gray sky. It was not a bad view in its own right, but I would still like to see that place on a sunny day. That is why I intend to go again.

Let me say just one thing.

I felt the staff were chatting a bit too much. But then again, depending on how you look at it, that might just be the flip side of the friendliness and openness of the people of Miyazaki. It's much better than being standoffish. Well, that's just how it was.

On the soil of my hometown, there is a bamboo roof, koi fish, and coffee.

Otohime wasn't there, but even so, it was not a bad day at all.

I end this story hoping that if you ever travel to Miyazaki, you will make sure to stop by.