If only the owner’s dad had been able to see into the future…

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.

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アマゾンのエビカツ・ヘレカツ・玉子サンド(全てハーフ)🥪 色んな種類を食べたいので、ハーフで3種類をいただきました♪ どのサンドイッチも美味しかった😆 他にも和風サンドやハムトースト、チーズサンドなどのサンドイッチやカレーやドリヤもあってメニューが豊富✨ また行きたいです！ . #サンドイッチ #カフェごはん #カフェ巡り #カフェ好きな人と繋がりたい #カフェ好き #京都カフェ #喫茶店 #京都ランチ #ランチ #人気店 #レトロ喫茶 #グルメ #京都グルメ #グルメ好きな人と繋がりたい #グルメな人と繋がりたい #おすすめ #美味しい #美味しいもの #京都 #アマゾン #京都観光 #そうだ京都行こう #kyoto #cafeamazon #sandwich #cafe #lunch #f4f #fff #lfl

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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.

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📍七条 【喫茶アマゾン】🍳 〜京都編⑧〜 チロル→アマゾン チロルを食べてからアマゾンへ移動。片仮名だけの名前だと意味わからん。笑 ありがたいことにハーフもあるからボリュームは抑えれるからラッキー🤞 やはり"Amazon"お世話になってるからココは行かないと。笑 * #coffee #cafe #retro #voyage #trip #travel #kyoto #アマゾン #タマゴサンド #喫茶店 #純喫茶 #レトロ #モダン #コーヒー #珈琲 #おいしい #写真 #写真好き #空間 #シンプル #デザイン #グルメ #デブ活 #デリスタグラマー #京都 #旅行 #京都旅行 #食べ歩き #viviennehatboy

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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
Website

Source: Maidona News via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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