Drive Through

A new drive through restaurant opened in Tsukuba last month. Not a McDonalds or Mos Burger, but Starbucks Coffee! It's on Route 354 (Noda Sen) between Nishi Odori and the Cineplex/Yamada Denki shopping mall.

I know Starbucks drive throughs are popular in America, especially in California where many people drive. I wonder how many Starbucks drive throughs are in Japan? Is Tsukuba the first?

I really like Starbucks - 99% of the time I buy the same drink, a hot Cafe Latte in a tall size. I guess I only go about once or twice a month. Sometimes I go to Tullys in Lala Garden because the Starbucks there is too small and too noisy. Actually, the cafe in Q't Mall is also too small and noisy. The new shop on R354 seems to be bigger inside but I guess on the weekends it will be crowded too. But if you are an early bird or a late owl, why not try the R354 branch at 7am or 1am? (Open from 7am to 2am).

My favorite Starbucks in Japan is the one in the Yaesu underground shopping mall of Tokyo Station. Getting one of the comfy (comfortable) sofa chairs is like winning the lottery! I've seen businessmen sleeping in those chairs for hours but the staff never tell them to go away. Oh, and another newer shop that is really good and extremely spacious is one on the second floor of Tokyo Station's Nihonbashi Exit. (Sorry if I made a mistake, but the exit where the highway bus from Tsukuba arrives.) I think that shop is the biggest I've ever been to.

The counter only Starbucks in stations like Otemachi are also interesting. When I lived in Tokyo I often carried a small Starbucks thermal cup in my handbag and in the mornings I got a cup of hot milk! Yes, not coffee but steamed milk :)

The BEST thing about Starbucks (Tullys too) is that all branches all over the world are non-smoking. Yay!

By the way, if you'd like to read a good book, try 'Pour Your Heart Into It - How Starbucks Was Built One Cup at a Time'. It was written by the CEO of Starbucks and is very interesting. Sorry, I don't know if it has been translated into Japanese.

Finally, some trivia. I wrote 'shop' but in the Starbuck's book, they are called 'stores'. I guess the meaning is the same. They are not really restaurants because the original Starbucks in Seattle was a store ONLY selling coffee beans. The cafe part came much later.