Nagoya City

While stereotype would have it that the Japanese are all nothing but green tea fiends, if you look around, there can be no doubt that the nation is, in fact, run on coffee, with everyone from salarymen to schoolgirls (there go those stereotypes again) chugging down the stuff throughout the day. In the past, coffee in Japan was considered a medicinal pick me up rather than something to be enjoyed, but in recent years, chains such as Starbucks, Pronto, and Doutour found on every high street. With convenience stores and even vending machines dispensing it on every corner, coffee culture has exploded in Japan, and there is no shortage of joe to go around. However, for those of you who think that you can’t call canned coffee ‘coffee,’ or if you have a Kleinian aversion to large multi-national chains, then it’s been pretty difficult to get a decent cup. Fortunately, the tide is changing as the last few years have seen something of a coffee revolution in Japan. And even in Nagoya, where Komeda has been king for so long, there are some excellent coffee shops to choose from. Below are a few of our favorites. Q.O.L Coffee Nagoya-born Shima-san…