Kyoto Work Diaries: Espresso, Tatami & a 100-Year-Old Machiya Love Affair

Tuesday, 8:07 AM local time. Somewhere on a stone slope in Higashiyama, Kyoto — trading my hiking boots for a pencil skirt, and my mountain air for freshly ground espresso.

Some people climb mountains for the view. I climb stone staircases in heels (briefly — the heels were surrendered at the door, obviously) for the smell of coffee drifting out of a 108-year-old townhouse.

Welcome to the Ninenzaka Tatami Starbucks — quite possibly the most beautiful place on Earth to pretend you're getting work done.

The Office With Tatami Floors

Picture this: a two-story machiya — a traditional Kyoto wooden townhouse — that has been standing on this slope since before your grandmother's grandmother was choosing her favorite tea. Restored with obsessive care by skilled craftsmen, it reopened in 2017 as a Starbucks where you sit on tatami mats, behind shoji paper screens, with a courtyard garden doing its best impression of a temple moss garden.

There's a toro stone lantern in the courtyard that has literally watched centuries pass. This morning it watched me answer emails with my shoes off, which felt like the correct spiritual balance.

My "desk" today: a low wooden table, a cushion that makes posture feel optional, and a window looking down the most photographed street in Kyoto. Deadlines hit different when lanterns are involved.

The Work-Outfit Experiment

Here's my confession: I packed a whole "officegirl" alter ego for this trip. Crisp blouse. Pencil skirt. Those black-rimmed glasses that make me look dangerously employable. And I have to say — there is something deliciously transgressive about business casual on tatami flooring. Power suit energy, floor-sitting comfort. I may never work at a standing desk again.

Three looks from today's shift:

The Seated Executive — low table, legs crossed, latte in hand, giving the camera my very best "yes, this meeting could have been an email" stare. The heels are off. They're under the table where they belong.
The Window Strategist — laptop open on the wooden lattice windowsill, matcha steaming, watching the morning crowds float up the slope below like koi in a river of souvenir bags.
The Blue-Hour Closer — dusk, to-go cup in hand, lantern light on old wood. This is the "email sent at 5:58 PM" energy shot. You're welcome.

Practical Stuff (Because You're Actually Going to Copy Me)

Location: Ninenzaka (二年坂), Higashiyama ward, Kyoto — a 5–10 minute walk up from Kiyomizu-zaka, on the approach to Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Timing is everything. This slope gets hammered by tour groups from mid-morning. I'm talking shoulder-to-shoulder by 10 AM. Arrive at opening (8 AM) and you get the quiet, misty, lantern-lit version — and the window seat.
Shoes off at tatami seating. Yes, even yours. Yes, even with the cute socks.
Order the obvious: hot latte upstairs, or lean local with a matcha drink. Balance, darling.
Pair it: the temple opens early too, so do Kiyomizu-dera's wooden stage at 7 AM, then reward yourself with this exact coffee. Best 90 minutes in Kyoto, no contest.
Etiquette: it's a small space and a quiet one. Keep voices low, cameras discreet. Let the grandparents in kimono win at window-seat jostling. They've earned it.

The Verdict

Every city has a Starbucks. Almost none of them have one where the building is older than the entire concept of the company by roughly a century. Working here doesn't feel like remote work — it feels like time travel with Wi-Fi.

Now if you'll excuse me, my matcha is empty, my inbox is defeated, and the slope up to the temple is glowing.

Next Tuesday, another city, another impossible office. Bring your own pencil skirt. ☕🎋

— Cindy ✨