The Japanese Mystery Cafe

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

20091001-ogori

In Kashiwa, Japan, the mysterious Ogori Cafe had a unique way of filling your order. According to Cabel Maxfield Sasser:

At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered. The next person gets what you ordered.

The point of the cafe seems to have been to introduce surprise into an ordinary day and to encourage strangers to interact with one another. And I love what Sasser's friend ordered for the customer after him:

Mike went up to the cafe, slapped down a couple thousand yen (~$25), and ordered a little bit of everything: some ice cream, some snacks, some candy, some drinks, a Japanese horn-of-mysterious-plenty intentionally set up as a shocking surprise for the next lucky customer.

After making his order, Mike received single iced coffee.

Unfortunately, the Ogori Cafe seems to have been short-lived. Sasser reports that it's now gone.