A frappuccino frenzy has whipped through Japan making a narrow, two-storey coffee shop opposite Shibuya station in central Tokyo the busiest Starbucks cafe in the world.
Every day a line of young Japanese, often sweltering in midday sunshine, curves out of the shop and onto the street, while inside queues of thirsty customers clutching coffee cups wait up-to an hour for a spare seat.
PHOTO: AFP
"I thought it would be a success but I never dreamed we would be quite as successful as this," exclaimed Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd president Yuji Tsunoda.
Japan was the first foreign destination for Starbucks Corp. when it expanded from the US in 1996 to form a 50-50 joint venture with Japanese wholesaler and retailer Sazaby Inc.
"On Aug. 2, 1996 the first outlet opened in Japan, almost exactly five years ago from today," said Tsunoda who is also a Sazaby board member.
In that time Starbucks Japan has broken the world record for the number of shops opened by a directly owned operation, expanding from one to 260 outlets nationwide, he said.
Throughout Tokyo, dustbins cluttered with empty paper cups emblazoned with the famous circular green logo provide evidence of Starbucks-mania which has gripped the capital.
"We queue for 45 minutes even though we know we are not going to get a seat, it is crazy but everyone still comes here," said 16-year-old school girl Yuko Uehara as she joins a queue outside the Shibuya Starbucks.
"In the summer everyone wants a Frappuccino [iced slush in a variety of flavors such as coffee or mango]," said Tsunoda. He is leading the coffee shop's crusade across the country after befriending US Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz in 1992 and striking a deal to launch the chain in Japan.
The Japanese self-service coffee shop market is dominated by home-grown chain store Doutour Coffee Co Ltd, which has been serving cheap, no-nonsense brews for over 30 years.
But when Starbucks arrived, it brought a new flavor of coffee to Japan, Tsunoda said.
A slump in the Japanese economy has had no impact on profits. "I don't think about it and sales haven't really changed," Tsunoda said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite