Kazutaka Endoji Shopping Street is a charming streetscape. Since Ieyasu crossed Kiyosu, this area has flourished since ancient times as it was located along the Horikawa River and Minoji Road, and has developed into a temple town for shrines and temples. Today, along with long-established stores founded in the Meiji era, there are also many unique new shops. Located halfway between Nagoya Station and Nagoya Castle, in front of the gates of Nagakuyama Endoji Temple, the area has a charming, calm atmosphere that is different from the modern streets lined with skyscrapers. After a period when stores were closed, Endoji Shopping Street has recently regained its vitality, and it has continued to pass down its charm while adapting to changing times.

At Cafe Matsuba, located in a corner of the Endoji shopping arcade, customers come in one after the other, even during the daytime on weekdays. Cafe Matsuba is famous as the oldest coffee shop in Nagoya, but it is also a branch of "Mitsuba," the shop that created "Ogura Toast," one of the Nagoya dishes. Let's explore the charm of Cafe Matsuba.

A coffee shop where coffee is the main focus

The interior of Cafe Matsuba has a new and beautiful appearance, but there is a nostalgic atmosphere. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the store, and time passes slowly. The customers are of a wide age range, from working people to people who enjoy chatting.

"I wanted to make this a shop where coffee is the main focus," says owner Kazutaka Funahashi. There is no lunch menu, and instead the menu offers a carefully selected menu of food and desserts to enjoy the coffee, which is the main focus. At Cafe Matsuba, freshness is important for the coffee, so the beans are ground and brewed after an order is placed. The owner's preference is for coffee with a clean, refreshing aftertaste. Enjoying the owner's special blend of coffee with a just-right-sized dessert allows you to enjoy the flavor of the coffee even more.

Commitment to home-roasted coffee

Funahashi, the third-generation owner, worked for a company that wholesaled coffee to coffee shops and has been involved in roasting for about 10 years. When he was still working for a company, he held a coffee class and compared different types of coffee, and he was surprised to see that each person had different tastes, and he realized that it is important not to be bound by fixed ideas about what is good. At Cafe Matsuba, we stock different types of beans because we want people to experience as many different types of coffee as possible. Senba's biggest concern with coffee is freshness and roasting. He told us that there are many factors that can ruin the taste of coffee, and the taste often deteriorates during roasting, so the key to roasting is to avoid ruining the taste of the coffee.

Endoji Shopping Street and Cafe Matsuba

Endonji Shopping Street was once a lively shopping street, but at one point it was so deserted that it was called a "shuttered shopping street." Even so, Cafe Matsuba has remained close to the community and values its local customers. Funahashi says that the customers who come every day have continued to come to Cafe Matsuba through the second and third generations, with the baton being passed down. Cafe Matsuba has continued to be loved even with the deserted streets, but the situation has changed in the last 10 years or so, says owner Funahashi.

The area is still lined with row houses, and the retro atmosphere that makes you feel like you've traveled back in time has once again attracted attention, bringing vitality back to the shopping district. "More and more young people are starting businesses in this town, and they're helping to enliven the shopping district," says Funahashi with a smile. There's been no redevelopment, no sudden change, but the Endonji Shopping District has been revitalized gently, and the long-loved Matsuba Cafe continues to support the lives of the people in the town today.

Store name: Cafe Matsuba

電話番号：052-551-0669

Address: 1-35-14 Nagono, Nishi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 451-0042

Access: 4 minutes walk from Kokusai Center Station on the Sakuradori subway line

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matsuba1933

*For details on business hours and holidays, please check the link above.