Recently, one excellent book that has become a hot topic on social media is the "Coderan Guide." This booklet is a gourmet guide created by Professor Kodera of Nagoya University Hospital and the doctors in the Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology Surgery that he leads, to be distributed at academic conferences. Otake also assisted in the editing.
It features over 170 restaurants that were personally interviewed by doctors at Nagoya University Hospital, and has been highly praised for giving readers a glimpse into the restaurants that locals frequent. For a free publication, the quality is surprisingly high, and even the locals are impressed by the content.
(By the way, Bokumo was also featured. The professors came all the way to the restaurant to enjoy lamb chops and New Zealand wine to cover the event. I am very grateful.)
However, when it comes to "stores popular with young people," it's a different story.
I feel like I need to keep up with the state of the restaurants in the world, but I'm usually behind the counter at night, and when I'm not there I'm writing. The reality is that I don't have the time to keep up with the latest trends.
In this situation, the only source of information that can be relied upon is the young customers gathered behind the counter. They love eating out, so when you ask them "Have you been anywhere good recently?" they'll give you lots of information.
With that in mind, the other day I decided to take the plunge and go to a trendy store.
It all started when an importer who was visiting Nagoya invited us to have a meeting to discuss future developments between Bokumo Wine and other importers.
Since it was such a special occasion, I decided to have a meeting over dinner at a trendy restaurant, so I finished my manuscript earlier than usual (if I did this all the time, wouldn't I be able to go out to restaurants more often? ←So true).
The restaurant we booked was, as expected, full of young people. It was so stylish that it took my breath away, and I could tell that a ridiculous amount of money had been spent on the interior.
But what surprised me most was how dark the inside of the store was.
It's now overwhelmingly dark.
First of all, I can't read the menu. I can barely read it even with the light on the table. Please write it in bigger letters.
It was so dark that we couldn't see the color of the food or wine that was being served, and we had no idea what we were eating.
While eating, I thought, "What is this?" and tried to check the menu for the dish I ordered, but it was too much trouble to bring the light closer to see the small letters, so I ended up not looking. I really didn't know what I was eating. The color of the wine was also not important.
I should have brought a camping headlamp!
...And I'm not saying anything bad about it.
Because this is actually popular, and I think that's really great.
The world is not based on just one's own values. Even if you think something is okay, it can still work if there is demand from customers. What one person finds not so good is another person's great. The world is full of things like that.
And experiences like this give me courage.
Even if you feel like you have nothing to do this week, if you come up with some ideas and make improvements, you may be able to reach the "zone of customer demand" next week. There are probably still customers in areas you have not yet reached.
Whether it's food, drink, or mail order, a little ingenuity can change the future. That's what's fun.
