The day of a kissaten starts early. Early birds come in for a morning set menu called simply, the "Morning." Toast, salad, hardboiled egg, and coffee or tea is the typical combination. There must be many people throughout the country that stop by at a kissatn for their "Morning" on their way to work.
"Wako" is located in Kojima, Kurashiki-city. It opens at the extraordinarily early hour of 6:00 a.m. It used to open at 8:00 a.m. like other kissatens. As years passed by, and the regular customers aged, its opening hour became earlier. One July day, we arrived ten minutes before 6:00 a.m. to await the customers.
Only several minutes had passed when two male customers (who appeared to be in their late sixties) showed up. There was still five minutes before the shop opened. The two walked straight to a table right in front of the counter and ordered coffee. Both wore caps and were clad in pale colored sport shirts and shorts, appearing as if they had just come in from playing tennis. They engaged in a round of talks with the owners, a nice couple standing behind the counter. They seemed to be very old customers.
The two were neighbors; Mr. Setsuyoshi Miyake (age 77) and Mr. Takashi Ono (age 69). They met during their early morning walks and began walking together, always stopping by at Wako afterwards. It is five years since they began coming to Wako. "There’s another fellow who walks with us, but he only joins us here once in a while. The two of us are here almost every day except on Sundays." (Mr. Ono) "Our walk begins from 5:00 a.m. and we show up here at 10 minutes to 6:00 a.m. We put off the walk on rainy days, but always drop by here." (Mr. Miyake)
Mr. Miyake and Mr. Ono make themselves at home for an hour until 7:00 a.m. The caff apparently is set into their daily routine.