Blue bottle coffeeLast night's ghost story live performance by Junji Inagawa was the scariest I've ever seen. Returning to the old tenement house left me with a lingering feeling. Before going to bed, I asked my wife to accompany me to the bathroom.
Well, it's been a while since I first heard the term "third wave," so I'm starting to get a bit bored of it. That said, I still don't really understand what the term means... People tend to focus on expressing taste and fashion, but personally, I think the real meaning lies in environmental conservation and contributing to society.
Blue Bottle Coffee, a representative of the third wave and known as the Apple of the coffee world, is coming to Japan. It's scheduled to open in October (probably). It's been featured heavily in magazines and on TV since the beginning of this year, so it feels like it's almost here. Founder James Freeman has also been so well-received that I've even started to recognize his face.
It's sometimes likened to the Black Ships, and it may indeed be that big of a threat... For a store that is conscious of the third wave fashion, it must have been as shocking as if someone with real tattoos had come in after they were happy to put on a tattoo sticker.
As the couple was having this conversation, the topic of conversation came up: Will future coffee shop trends be increasingly influenced by Western companies?
And then I thought, it must be tough for a store to follow trends... I'm conscious of the trends of those companies and think about my own actions in line with them. I guess it's okay for big companies to copy, but... It seems like it would just be exhausting for a small store. I feel like if you get caught up in other stores and trends, you lose sight of your own customers...
Also, the more stores that adopt the trend, the more commonplace things like Mason jars (glass bottles) and waist-shaped mugs that are trademarks of the third wave are becoming, and they are losing their originality. The more you chase trends, the shorter their lifespan and the more individuality they lose.
Just thinking about it makes me feel like throwing up because it seems so difficult...
It's best to watch the waves from a distance. I think it's easier and more like us to do what we want to do and think about getting our customers to empathize with us.
One of our golden rules is to stay away from trendy things, and I was reminded of that once again.
