Vol.16

President of the FLYING CIRCUS Inc. and Organizer of the Gin Festival Tokyo
Takeaki Miura（part 1）

The place we visited was a part of a maze-like building located about a 10-minute walk from Shibuya Station. Upon entering the place, we were welcomed by over 1,000 bottles of gin and today’s guest, Takeaki Miura. Known as one of the pioneers of craft gin in Japan, Miura wears many hats, including restaurant owner and distiller. OSAJI brand founder Masakazu Shigeta first met him at the end of 2022 in a craft gin project called “YOHAKHU,” and the two now call each other “best friends.” The two, who share deep interests in music, culture, and scent, and also embody the 90s with fascinating street culture, talked about a wide range of topics, including romantic mindset, Shinto, and Islam.

“He is a precious existence that allows me to share the mood of the time and atmosphere that only those who physically experienced the place at the time can understand.” (Miura)

——First of all, we would like to know how you met each other.

Masakazu Shigeta: I think it was 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were assigned to a craft gin project by Fuyou Sake Brewery in Saku City, Nagano. Take-san (Nickname for Mr. Miura) is the organizer of the Tokyo Gin Festival and the pioneer of the craft gin in Japan, so it was only natural that he was approached. As for me, although I had less to do with gin except for sometimes drinking it at nightclubs, they offered to me as an expert in fragrance.

——What was the first impression?

Shigeta: We got along really well shortly. Take-san runs a restaurant called the TOKYO FAMILY RESTAURANT, which serves cuisines from all over the world, and I am also involved in the food-related business while mainly working in the cosmetics industry. We also share music as a keyword, so it didn’t take long for us to hit it off. However, there is a slight difference in how we approach to scent, or rather, the metaphors we use to describe our thoughts on it. He often refers to “music” to describe his thoughts on the scent. The other day, I asked him to join a workshop on blending perfumes as an advisor, and the opportunity made us much closer. Since then, we have always invited each other to events we host or introduced and connected people around us.

——Are you two almost the same age?

Shigeta: He is four years older than me. But at this age, you can be friends with senior people who were out of your league when you were young. Taking advantage of it, we have become best friends after turning 40.

——Are your daughters also around the same age?

Shigeta: My daughter is 16.

Takeaki Miura: My daughter turned 12.

Shigeta: Whenever we meet, we talk about how bad fathers we are.

Miura: Oh, I am not a bad father! (laughs)

Shigeta: But your daughter once said, “Are you by any chance my father?”

Miura: Maybe we should start from that story… Until my daughter grew up to around three, I was in a period of trying to expand my business. Of course, I went home every day, but the daily rhythm was so different from hers that one day, she suddenly asked me, “Are you my father?” It was shocking but, at the same time, interesting to me. So, our relationship is something like that of friends now.

——Since you started making craft gin together, what is Mr. Shigeta to you?

Miura: Music is a particular keyword for us here. He is a precious existence that allows me to share the mood of the time and atmosphere that only those who physically experienced the place at the time can understand. We first met in 2020, but it feels like we have been friends much longer. I rarely decline when Mr. Shigeta asks me to hang out or go out for a meal. He is the person I want to see anytime, and he gives me many insights whenever we meet.

“Looking back, I always think things were romantic in the 90s in many ways.” (Shigeta)

——Mr. Shigeta earlier said you two have different approaches and metaphors you use to describe your idea on scent. Do you feel the same way, Mr. Miura?

Miura: Rather than having different thoughts on scent, the difference between us is more about whether the approach is more intuitive or logical. Invited by Mr. Shigeta, I joined a workshop called KAKO to introduce how to blend home fragrances, and I supported the participants in designing scents. It seemed the participants thought I was a sense-based person, but I think their first impression was changed once they saw I logically made minor tunings to design the fragrances.

We now respect each other’s differences, and when Mr. Shigeta enters a romantic mode, I play the role of logically translating what he says, and when he shifts to a logical mode, I take on the romantic side. I think that is how we did in the workshop as well. However, since I study the relationship between scent and sound, I suppose there might be a sort of uniqueness in how I use words and design them.

——We just got the word “romantic.” I heard Mr. Miura is a mentor of romantic mindset for you, Mr. Shigeta.

Shigeta: We were both born in the 70s and are in the last generation who had a chance to experience the culture of the 90s. I do not like to dwell on the past, but looking back, I always think things were romantic in the 90s in many ways. The desire to admire something was also very strong. It was during that period that Take-san introduced the concept of “cafe” to Japan, redefining how restaurants should be. It is a place to eat and drink, but at the same time, where people meet. You start talking with someone sitting next to you before you know it. That thrilling and pounding experience is what makes the place fascinating. I think Take-san is the one who told it to me, and I feel it is really romantic.

As a matter of fact, TOKYO FAMILY RESTAURANT is superb in every way, including customer service. Their way is slightly different from that of typical hospitality, but you can get along with the staff members by the time you finish your order with a drink. When you leave, you feel like you have made a new meeting and got another place to return. Talking with him, who created such a place, I always get new inspirations. We talk about things like, “It would be more fun if I did it this way,” or “I have been thinking about something interesting these days.” Not only does he make other people happy, but he also adds some elements of surprise, which I believe to be very romantic. That is why I call him my mentor of a romantic mindset.

“Running a restaurant might be a business that is suitable for connecting your romanticist aspect to society as being a realist.” (Miura)

——In today’s world, where economic rationality is valued in various aspects, I feel romantic mindsets are marginalized from society.

Shigeta: After the dot-com bubble’s collapse, people started thinking about everything rationally. As a result, a romantic mindset is considered something embarrassing. However, it is wrong to think this is due to the economic situation. The 90s culture in Tokyo was vibrant because the chaotic situation after the bubble burst was fun. People and the city were full of an atmosphere like, “Let’s have fun although the economic situation is terrible!” The current economic situation remains similar, but there are many things that we don’t have to be pessimistic about if we can regain the romantic mindset.

The other day, I said during a product meeting, “The theme this time is love.” But one of the members said, “There are people who do not fall in love.” I immediately responded that I could not accept the idea. Our job is for people to fall in love, and it is fundamentally at odds with our business to target those who do not fall in love. So, I hope society will go in a little more romantic direction through our business. Take-san is one of the few mates who can share the idea that the world should be overflowed with romantic thoughts.

——Mr. Miura, what are your thoughts on his idea that people are losing the sense of enjoying a romantic mindset?

Miura: People sometimes say to me, “You have not sold your soul yet,” or “You are still passionate, as always.” What they want to say is that I am a romanticist, but to be honest, I don’t know if I am. In my mind, I might be a romanticist, but at the same time, I am a realist. In that sense, running a restaurant might be a business that is suitable for connecting your romanticist aspect to society as being a realist.

Shigeta: That mindset itself is very romantic.

Miura: Throughout my business career from a young age, I have valued being true to myself, such as liking something because I think it is beautiful or not wanting to do something because I believe it is unreasonable. I do not want to get involved in anything that I can not recommend to my close friends and family. On the other hand, I want to share everything that moves me emotionally with everybody. This expression might not sound cool, but my attitude has not changed since I was a teenager when I handed over mixtapes to girls who didn’t seem interested in rock music, saying, “This is good, isn’t it?”

However, in an information-saturated modern society, people focus on “what others think” before “I like this.” There is a strong tendency to evaluate themselves based on the evaluations of others. I think that is one factor that weakens romantic feelings in people and erases the power to believe in something from them.

“The moments that really move your heart don’t come from necessity but from coincidence.”(Shigeta)

——Mr. Miura, what made you start cafes in the 90s?

Miura: It just happened that way. When I was 18 or 19, I was absorbed in playing music while selling bouncy balls at street vendors or working part-time at a restaurant owned by Chinese immigrants in Ikebukuro.
Everybody at the time talked about the so-called “employment ice age,” but it was like somebody else’s business for me. Then, the manager of the cafe I frequently visited asked me to work there. They even said I could choose the background music, so I rushed to a telephone booth and told the workplace that I was quitting that day and started working at the cafe. Later, I left the food-related business for a while because I wanted to pursue my music career. However, the people I met through music started a food business, and they tasked me to open a place. It felt like I was pulled back, and to be honest, I never imagined I would continue the business this long.

I thought I had always made decisions with thorough consideration, but looking back, there were many “accidental “turning points. The reason I started making gin was because of a meeting with a fragrance blender, which made me realize that “scent is music!” It completely captivated my heart, and my emotion was shaken even on my way home. In situations like that, I always tell myself that I will probably do it even though it must be tough. I can not help trying it because my heart tells me to do so. That sort of emotion is the top priority in my decision-making, and the other reasons are just far-fetched (laughs).

——So, trends or marketing perspectives do not affect your decision-making.

Miura: Right. The reason I started TOKYO FAMILY RESTAURANT at this location is that I simply liked the property, and my heart told me that this is the place I want to do business. In 2006, there was no large building next door, and the area was deserted. Everyone told me, “You can not do business here,” or, “I think it is going to be difficult,” but there was no other way because my heart was moved. If you can not believe something that moved your heart, you can not do this business.

Once I happened to succeed, people started saying, “You had a vision,” or “How did you get that information?” But I have never done anything with the idea of doing things quicker than others, or I have never sought information consciously. I do something once it moves my heart, and that’s it. When it happens to work out, people start saying, “You had a vision.”

——Were there any decisions you made that way but didn’t work out well?

Miura: It is not like whether I did it well or not, but it is like whether I could turn them into the business. Once it becomes business, I have an excuse to do it and can spend time on it. That is how I have done business, and it might be childlike. But that is probably why people say I have a romantic mindset.

——“Childlike” means the state where you are absorbed in something with curiosity. Isn’t it happy to approach the business like that?

Shigeta: I agree. Now, what concerns me is how the children these days receive the information. I don’t know if the word “inevitable” is correct or not…But for our generation, the encounter with cool music was most of the cases through seniors we met by chance or when we listened to them in a shop we happened to visit. Those random encounters shaped the tastes. However, children these days do not learn things from others and get a big part of their information from social media. Moreover, since most of the information they obtain is based on interest-matching algorithms, it does not go beyond their interests.

I also use social media, but I am careful about how to use it. Also, when younger people tell me something, I always follow it. Otherwise, my timeline is filled with content for older men (laughs). However, when it comes to whether the information I stocked moves me, that is usually not the case. After all, the moments that really move your heart don’t come from necessity but from coincidence.

My encounter with Take-san was also by chance, and the reason I joined the craft gin project, even though I knew nothing about it, was that I was looking for something that I could get only from coincidence. But I feel that it is very romantic. Probably, the moment your heart is accidentally moved is the most romantic moment.

(to be continued to the second half)