Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
Hironori Tateishi is the owner of a cafe in Kyoto, and he’s good at his job. A quick look at the restaurant’s Instagram account turns up photo after photo of beautifully prepared and arranged sandwiches, salads, desserts, and cups of coffee.
Tateishi can’t take all the credit for the success, though. He’s actually the cafe’s second owner – his dad opened the place in 1972, and when he did, he snagged a great location. Located in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward, famous for its temples and just over the Kamogawa river from the city center, his clientele is a mix of travelers, local residents, and students from nearby Kyoto Women’s University. The presence of the Shichijo train station just a block away is also no doubt an attractive point for people looking for a bite to eat or a refreshing drink.
And yet, there’s another decision Tateishi’s father made that’s made work more difficult for his son: he decided to give the humble neighborhood cafe a name it shares with one of the largest, busiest companies on the planet.
See, when choosing a name for the cafe he was going to open, the elder Tateishi felt, for some reason, that having an “n” in the name would bring good luck. He also hoped that his business would continue to be successful for years to come, like a smoothly flowing river. So what did he pick?
Amazon.
So now whenever the phone in the cafe rings, and son Tateishi picks it up and says “This is Amazon,” he knows there’s a chance that whoever’s calling doesn’t really want to talk with his Amazon. Rather than asking about reserving a table or what sort of cake they’re serving that day, Tateishi gets people launching into inquiries about delayed shipments, unreceived tracking emails, and other issues related to shopping with Amazon the e-commerce giant. Especially frustrating are the callers who get confused when Tateishi tells them “This is a cafe,” only to press on with “Oh, you’re Amazon’s cafe department? Then can you transfer me to the customer service department instead?”
Tateishi isn’t sure how people are finding his cafe’s phone number without realizing it’s not the online marketplace’s contact number, but says that it’s been going on for the past two or three years, with him getting one or two calls a week from someone looking for the other Amazon. While it’s not a lot, he says it’s a pain on the weekends, when the cafe is at its busiest.
Still, the 58-year-old restaurateur is able to see changes he could make to alleviate the problem. “When I answer the phone with just ‘This is Amazon,’ it’s probably not helping,” he concedes. “So I’m going to start saying ‘This is Amazon, the coffee shop’ instead.” It’s probably a good idea, even if Amazon the cafe was founded 22 years before Amazon the e-commerce site sold its first book.
Restaurant information
Amazon / アマゾン
Address: Kyoto-fu, Kyoto-shi, Higshiyama-ku, Sayamachidori Shichijo Agaru Shimohoritzumecho 235
京都府京都市東山区鞘町通七条上る下堀詰町235
Open 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays
Source: Maidona News via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- What’s the price of coffee in Japan? Twitter user investigates
-- Coffee in an ice cream cone, the perfect treat we never knew we wanted available at Tokyo cafe
-- Japanese restaurant serves up noodles in stunning ice cube bowls
© SoraNews24
8 Comments
Login to comment
obladi
heh heh. Now I want to go there!
DenTok2009
Perhaps he can use an automated phone system. "Hello, you have reached Amazon. Amazon Coffee Shop opened in 1972. Decades later an American decided to call his company Amazon. I don't know the guy so don't ask me what's going on with your dealings with his company. Have a great day! If you still want to talk to me and it's about coming here or our menu then press 123456789."
KnowBetter
If he doesn't deliver, why not answer the phone as "Hi you have reached Amazon, we don't deliver so if you want to enjoy a delicious lunch, coffee and cake, please press 1, otherwise... you have probably dialed the wrong company.
Pukey2
I remember the good old days when Amazon referred to a region in Brazil and the river that runs through it.
englisc aspyrgend
Perhaps he should sue Amazon and require them to change their name? :)
albaleo
And there was me dreaming of some rather tough women from Asia Minor.
starpunk
When I was in HS that's all 'Amazon' meant. That and the word's use as slang for any 'tough' or mean woman.
In San Francisco there was a burlesque performer and a restauranteur who served desserts designed to look 'erotic'. There's now a record/CD store with that name in the Ohio state University area - 'Magnolia Thunderpussy'.
albaleo
That reminded me of a bar/restaurant in Shinjuku back in the 80s called Swan Lake. Most of the waiting staff were female wrestlers, but dressed in cutesy ballet costumes. At certain times they would perform ballet on a small stage above the bar. It was bizarre. The owner of the establishment was also a tough-looking woman.