A place to belong, one day at a time.
Kissa Yakata TEXT/REINA ABE, PHOTO/NAOKO TAKAHASHIAn old-fashioned game table that catches your eye without meaning to — the kind you used to see often in kissaten and snack bars toward the end of the Showa era. “Kissa Yakata,” right in front of Asabu subway station, was opened in 1978 by owner Sanada, who had just moved to Hokkaido from Chiba, hoping to build connections with people in her new community. The bright red awning is a memorable feature of the exterior. The table-style arcade game inside was installed about a decade ago at a customer’s request, and it’s still in working order today. Even though the area was already a busy spot when the shop opened, buildings and apartments have steadily multiplied since, completely transforming the surrounding neighborhood. And yet the shop itself hasn’t changed, with nearby apartment residents and longtime regulars still stopping by like clockwork.
Someone catching a late lunch. Someone camped out in the back seats, absorbed in a mahjong game. Someone spreading out a sports newspaper beside a cup of blended coffee. Everyone spends their hour or so here in their own way, like catching their breath.
The menu ranges widely — blended coffee, cafe au lait, parfaits, and other drinks and desserts, of course, but also Western dishes like pizza toast, Napolitan, shrimp pilaf, and curry rice, all the way to soba teishoku, katsudon, and nabeyaki udon. "After running this place so long, I end up making all kinds of things," Sanada says happily. Even items not on the menu, she'll make if she has the ingredients on hand. The most popular item, the daily set meal, lets you choose your main from tempura, mixed fry, katsu, or grilled meat — a generously portioned option. A customer digging into that day's set chimes in, "Mama's home-cooked love is really the draw here."
The name "Yakata" (hall/mansion) was chosen with the hope of creating a place where everyone could gather. Thirty-seven years since opening, Sanada says she's never really felt it was hard work, and she still looks forward to old faces stopping by. There's a bus stop nearby heading to Hokuryo High School, and former students who used to drop in after school, now grown, sometimes wander back in. The well-worn red awning and entrance are kept exactly as they are, so those old customers can immediately recognize the place. A regular, finishing an unhurried meal, smiled our way and said, "take your time," before heading out the door.
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