Cafe Kyoto

By Ineko Sata

Bryce
Smith
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Ineko Sata (1904-1998)

● Nagasaki, Japan
● Proletarian Literature Movement
● Japanese Communist Party
● Women's Democratic Club
● An advocate of women's rights
○ Linked to Feminist Movement

● 1929: Café Kyoto (Resutoran Rakuyō)

● 1931: Tears of a Factory Girl in the Union Leadership
(Kanbu joko no namida)
● 1961: The Colorless Paintings (Iro no nai e)
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Settin
g
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Setting
Economic Struggle and Depression (1920s)

● Post World War I ● The Japanese economy of the 1920s

● From April to July 1920, operations suffered from a retrenchment after the
were suspended at 21 banks boom of the First World War
● Low economic growth, mild deflation,
and an unsettled financial system
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Setting
Great Earthquake of 1923

● September 1, 1923 ● 105,385–142,800 deaths

● Kantō Plain on the main Japanese ● Duration of the earthquake was between
island of Honshū four and ten minutes
● Extensive firestorms added to the death
toll
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Plot
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Plot
Cafe Kyoto
● Follows the daily antics of the employees of the Cafe
● Glimpses into the waitresses’ and customers’ private lives
● Lots of hardships present (financial, romantic, health)
○ Death
○ Alcohol Abuse and Child Neglect
○ Unfair and cruel working conditions
● Undertones of superstition
● Push for “modernization” (Western influence on culture)
● Highlights the harsh reality of the financial situation in Japan during the
time
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Plot
Major Events
● Introductions to the Waitresses and Regulars
○ O-Chie, O-Yo, O-Yoshi, O-Tsuyu, Natsue
● “Whiskey Tanaka”
○ Tanaka, Dressmaker, Metal Engraver
● O-Chie Burns Her Wedding Chest
● Cherry Blossom Season
○ Cafe Orion
● Natsue’s Husband’s Note
○ Natsue’s decline to alcoholism
● Lover’s Suicide Agreement
● O-Yoshi’s Sickness Worsening
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Quote
s
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Imagery
“Café Kyoto had windows with white- painted sashes, fitted with rattling panes of
thin glass. The heavy, nondescript doors, which led to the entry way, were glassed
only in the upper panels, so even during daylight hours the building was
exceedingly dark inside, making it seem like a cellar. Just below the front windows,
hanging along the dirty grey exterior wall, were the thick, golden letters that spelled
out ‘K- Y- O- T- O,’ the final ‘O’ dangling upside down, just below the others.”
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Mistreatment
“Each night the café took in twenty yen, with all twenty women working. But who knew
what sort of expenses this six hundred yen a month was used to pay for. Even the cooks’
salaries at the Kyoto amounted to little more than a pittance”

“‘It’s horrible, isn’t it, when they take out one whole yen just when you think you’ve
saved three?’ cried O- Ryū, plaintively”
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What helps
you
persevere?
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“But still, somehow, the

Kyoto managed to hang on,
and kept its doors open to its
depressing restaurant and
bar.”
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References
Nakamura, Takafusa, and Jacqueline Kaminsky. “Depression, Recovery, and War, 1920–1945 (Chapter 9) - the
Cambridge History of Japan.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press,
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-japan/depression-recovery-and-war-
19201945/5FEE14DF9FE2C6B9E684226DDE29EF22.

Sata, Ineko, and Samuel Perry. Five Faces of Japanese Feminism: Crimson and Other Works. University of
Hawai'i Press, 2016.

“Shōwa Financial Crisis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh

%C5%8Dwa_financial_crisis.

“Tokyo-Yokohama Earthquake of 1923.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokyo-Yokohama-earthquake-of-1923.

政策研究大学院大学 (Grips), https://www.grips.ac.jp/teacher/oono/hp/lecture_J/lec08.htm.