00:02
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
Hello.
I turned it on, right?
Yes, I turned it on.
Yeah.
All right. It's rolling.
Okay.
All right.
One more thing about the Kyoto Live.
Yeah.
The next day from the Kyoto Live,
I strolled around the Kyoto city,
the places where I was living,
and the cafes that I used to go.
And one of the cafes that I used to go, I visited again.
And that cafe shop,
I guess she's like an owner or employee. I'm not sure.
But after I finished my coffee,
the moment I paid and left,
she came to me.
Outside of the store?
Yeah. I just closed the door and she came to me.
Came outside.
Okay.
And she said,
she listened to this podcast.
Oh, shit.
Every morning when she does the shikomi things.
Oh, shit. Like in store?
Yeah, in store.
While she's shikomi,
she listened to this podcast.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah. And she said,
I was listening to the podcast this morning.
Oh, shit.
And last night I saw your guys' video on YouTube.
And then you came today.
And I was like, wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
And she gave me a little shuto-ren to me.
That's where I got a shuto-ren.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah. Because you were talking about you got a shuto-ren, right?
Yeah.
That's the cafe in Kyoto.
And she gave me a little looking delicious shuto-ren.
Oh, shit.
Please enjoy it.
Oh, that's so cool.
Yeah.
That's so cool.
So that's something I have to mention in this podcast.
Thank you for the shuto-ren and for the word.
How big was the shuto-ren?
Like this big.
Oh, okay. Like a classic.
It's relatively, yeah.
Yeah, it's small.
It's relatively small, yeah.
But yeah, okay.
It's an okay size, yeah.
How big is your shuto-ren you've got?
Okay. Mine is like that.
Oh, just like that?
There's a lot more bigger shuto-rens out there.
Yeah.
It's good that you got a relatively smaller shuto-ren, right?
Why?
Because you're not good at sugar.
Oh, yeah. True. True.
Yeah.
That's right.
If I got like this big shuto-ren, yeah, I have to like cut and distribute to people.
Shuto-ren is good, right?
Yes.
It's tasty.
Yes, yes, yes.
It is.
Better than like snacks sweetness.
It's more like, yeah.
Yeah.
I can eat them.
Right, right, right, right.
Easier for me.
Right.
How big is the cafe?
About like this room plus that room.
03:03
Yeah, I think so.
Plus the chubo, chubo.
Yeah.
What do you look for in a cafe when you like stroll and like find a good place?
Before I get inside?
Well, like, yeah, sure.
Like when you go in and it's going to be, oh, this is a good cafe that I want to go for over and over again.
Like what elements do you need?
So first, obviously, coffee.
The taste.
The taste of the coffee and the quality.
Yes.
And also types.
Oh, like light or dark roasted or...
Right, right, right.
So first of all, you got to like quality differences.
Yeah.
Like good quality coffee versus just random, just coffee, coffee shop.
Okay.
That's first step.
That's like the x-axis or the y-axis, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right, right, right.
And in the good qualities coffee shop, you got like deeper ones versus light ones.
Okay.
And that's like preference world.
Yeah.
And I kind of like the lighter ones.
Okay.
So, yeah, it's like...
You want a good quality, lightly roasted.
Yes.
Middle light.
Yes, yes.
So that's one, first of all.
Okay.
The quality.
The coffee itself.
And the second one, people.
People?
Like the employees?
Employees.
Or the customers?
Not customers.
The employees.
Yeah, mainly employees.
Yeah.
They're like good, friendly.
Good human beings?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, okay.
Yeah.
I'm not saying like talkative people would be good because in some cafe, like one kind
of ojisan.
Okay.
Just saying nothing.
Just making coffee.
Uh-huh.
Talk nothing.
Even I talk to that guy.
That doesn't mean he's like a bad guy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If he has the vibe.
Yes, yes, yes.
Then I would love to come again.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
I see.
Yeah, yeah.
I see.
And also, yeah, like chair.
Furniture?
Furniture, like including the greens.
Like the interior.
Yeah.
That's big.
Wow.
Yeah.
Including like if they have greens, plants, or if they have like windows.
Wow.
Or not.
I mean, if they don't have windows, that doesn't mean it's bad.
Okay.
But if it's totally well-made, that's good.
Yeah.
Even if they don't have any window.
Okay.
But I tend to love those like, you know, bright, you know, place.
More open.
Yeah.
More sunlight in there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
So that's the third element.
And fourth, like hopefully not crowded.
Yeah.
That's definitely, yeah.
Yeah.
And fifth, I guess that's the last one.
06:01
Okay.
If they have good books.
Wow.
And good music.
That's great.
Oh.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny because I love cafes too.
Okay.
And that's 100% different from what I look for in a cafe.
Really?
How is it?
So every one of what you said, except for the crowdedness.
Okay.
I don't care.
Oh, you don't care about it?
I honestly don't care.
What do you care about?
So what I look for in a cafe.
Oh, that's interesting.
I want plugs, first of all.
Plugs.
I need plugs.
Yeah, I see.
Second, how comfortable is it to sit down?
Do you have like the back supporter?
Oh, I see.
Or not.
So you're not talking about like furnitures, but like a function.
I'm talking about functions.
I don't care what, I don't care how cheap it looks.
I don't care the color.
Does it have, does it support my back or not?
I see.
All that matters.
And kind of opposite from what you said, maybe, but crowdedness, I want a certain level of
crowdedness, actually.
I see.
I don't want it to be like, I don't want me the only one.
I see.
I want several people around me.
I see.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I understand it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I put my headphones on, so I don't care about the music.
Oh, true.
True.
True.
I don't care about the interior.
I've never looked at the interior ever.
Like I've never, I've never recognized any plants in a cafe, even if they have one.
I've never hit my radar at all.
So that was interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you don't care obviously about books, right?
I never care about the books.
I didn't even know cafes had books.
Yeah.
It's rare.
Oh, is it rare?
It's very rare.
Okay.
Okay.
Coffee?
Obviously, I don't know shit about coffee.
You know, you know it.
Well, yeah, I do.
Yeah.
You've got a certain level.
More often than not, I go for the teas.
Oh.
I don't really.
Yeah, I don't go so much for the caffeines.
Okay.
Yeah.
True.
So you go to like a cafe and drink teas.
I do.
Well, yeah.
I mean, they have teas.
They have teas.
Yeah.
They have teas.
Like the lemonade or like the teas.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like frappuccinos and those ones you're talking about.
No, I'm talking about like the authentic teas.
Like teas.
Oh.
Yeah.
Like straight Earl Grey.
Oh.
Yeah.
Oh, you have those?
Yeah.
Okay.
And I care about how much space I can get in this one personal like area.
Okay.
You know, if it's like am I too close to the other guy or not?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Can I get some privacy?
Yeah.
Or not?
Yeah.
Can the customer next to me look into my computer screen?
Like side eye peek into my screen or not?
That's important.
Right.
Because you're working on something.
09:00
Yeah.
Because I'm working on shit.
Your personal.
Right.
Yeah.
I don't want other people to see what's on my screen.
Yeah.
Can I get, is there a seat where I can sort of like not facing the entire room?
What do you mean?
Sort of like, do I have to put my hat on or not?
Oh, I see.
I see.
Do I have to sort of like put a mask on or not?
I see.
This was another issue.
So for example, in this room, if you have like seat like this.
I would love that seat.
I would love the window seat.
Not like that one.
No, I would not want to face the entire room.
I see.
I would want to face the wall, the window.
Mm-hmm.
That's important.
Okay.
That's kind of it.
That's really all I really care about.
Oh, that's interesting.
It was so different from what you said.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very interesting.
What about this?
I got one more element.
Okay.
Yeah.
The view of the cafe.
The view?
I really don't care.
You really don't care about the view?
I really don't care about the views.
Okay.
Okay.
If it's a good view, it's a plus, but definitely not sort of what I look for when I first walk
into a cafe.
If it's a bad view, really doesn't bring a negative side to it.
Okay.
Okay.
It's only if it's good, it's a plus, but if it's bad, not really much of a negative.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
And you need, of course, Wi-Fi, right?
No, I use my phone.
Oh, so you don't need.
Because I'm English, so I don't need Wi-Fi.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Right.
Wow.
It's so different.
That is very, very, very different.
What was the one we shared?
Crowdedness.
Oh, crowdedness.
But sort of, yeah.
But you need somebody.
I want some level of crowdedness to it.
I don't want to be completely alone.
True.
That one, I get it, actually.
Yeah.
I don't want to be completely, in some cases, yes, but I would rather have people having
chats, moving and conversation, and it's just, I love that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
True.
Right, right, right.
So I guess Starbucks is never an option for you?
I mean, it's kind of crowded, so not bad.
I can see people.
Okay.
They don't have books.
They don't have books, no.
Interior, not bad.
Oh, not bad?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Coffee's too dark, right?
Yeah, too dark for me.
Yeah.
But latte, yes.
Latte, yes?
Yeah, always latte.
View sometimes not bad.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of locations, right?
A lot of good locations.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The one in park.
Oh, yeah.
The one that sits like a regular size.
Right, right, right.
Well, music, not bad.
Music, not bad?
Yeah.
Okay.
So not bad.
Yeah.
What do you do at a cafe?
What do you go to cafes for?
What do you go there for?
I go there for like sagyo-ing, but what do you do there for?
I drink coffee.
Oh, shit.
And I read.
Oh.
Yeah.
That's what I do in cafe, so that's why.
12:01
So, right, what we're looking for is different.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If I need to work, then obviously I have to, you know, I need plugs and Wi-Fi for me, and
it's true.
Oh, I see.
But, yeah, so I just want to go there and like look good view with good music, with
good coffee, and just want to, you know, inside you.
Just be comfortable.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In that environment.
Yeah, and want to see people.
I see.
Enjoying.
Ah.
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Oh, okay.
That's why so different.
I mean, going to the cafes to enjoy coffee was new for me.
That was new.
Right, right, right.
That was an eye-opener.
Oh, shit.
That was something that you can enjoy.
Because you drink tea.
Yeah, I don't do black coffees.
I don't like it.
Because actually, in cafe, they have coffee.
See, that's an eye-opener.
That never crossed my mind.
Oh, yeah.
To like start enjoying black coffee.
Yeah, it's a coffee shop.
Ah.
I thought that was just like a fancy name you put on a location to sort of like attract people.
Yeah, it's actually, they actually have a coffee.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, they have hot ones, cold ones.
Ah, okay.
Yeah.
Like in summer, you want to get like an iced coffee.
Yes, yes, yes.
Oh, I see.
Never crossed my mind.
So, yeah.
Yeah, so I mean, thank you for the story.
Oh, yeah.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
Thank you for listening to the show.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
