Public eye #1

Hiroshi Kamayatsu, Musician

What are you up to here today?
HK: I live close by and come here often. I’m friends with the staff here and thought I’d stop by before work today.

What kind of work do you do?
HK: I’m a musician.

You’re drinking red wine before work?
HK: When I come here, I always order either red wine or champagne. [Laughs] I often come here for supper.

Do you have any favourites from the menu?
HK: Chicory salad, terrine of foie gras, and the fish soup. Other than that, the sole is pretty good.

What made you decide to live in this particular area?
HK: I can’t recall of any particular reason. My wife found this house more than 40 years ago. Ah, I remember now, it was because the water by the Imperial Palace looked good enough to drink... just kidding.

Wow, I’ve worked around there and have never once thought that.
HK: Really? Well, I could be wrong! [Laughs]

Comparing Tokyo to cities overseas such as London or Paris, what do you find particularly interesting about this city?
HK: Well, first off, the sheer number of hills in this city— the area around my place is full of them. Mind you, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. In fact, I happen to rather like hills. Also, there are all kinds of people in Tokyo, people from different areas of Japan and from all over the world. There are so many cultures to be experienced here; it’s a multicultural hot spot. Recently, Tokyo seems to have an air similar to that of London, Paris and Milan in their heydays. Just the other day I came here for a bite to eat and saw Giorgio Armani. I’ve also seen conductor Seiji Ozawa in here with his family. Isn’t that fun? A lot of people work in the music scene...

Is there anything you’d like to change about Tokyo?
HK: High-rise buildings seem to go up here one after the other. I’d rather they didn’t. I can’t say I’m keen on buildings that are too tall— it’s these buildings that are responsible for the decline of the good old streets of Tokyo. Whether it's a restaurant, or whatever, I try to make a point of staying on the second floor or below. If I hear of a really great restaurant on a higher floor then I might go once, and only once, just to check it out— not exactly what you’d call a regular customer.

Luckily this café is only on the first floor then.
HK: Exactly. Plus there’s also a park right in front of us. If you drop any crumbs the sparrows come right over and eat them. There can’t be many other places where that would happen.

Lastly, this being the very first Public eye, is there anything you’d like to share with Time Out Tokyo to commemorate the occasion?
HK: Just one. By all means, let’s make Tokyo more exciting than ever. ...Wow, that wasn’t bad for a final comment right?

More from Kamayatsu:

‘For me, the name Time Out brings back memories of the 60s, like meeting an old friend again— something to be really excited about.’

‘Many different types of music and genres exist in Tokyo, so many that it’s easy to get lost and not know where to begin. Part of the fun is in choosing what works for you.’

‘Me, I chose to play the blues. The blues was my choice.’

Aux Bacchanales Kioicho (Full details & map)