Chiduru is a small Japanese snack bar in Kirishima, Kagoshima.
We have drinks.
We have karaoke.
And yes, we wear kimono when we welcome our guests.
If we were simply trying to advertise our bar, perhaps that would be enough.
“Come and have fun.”
“Enjoy karaoke.”
“Have a drink with us.”
But somehow, we have never been very good at saying those things.
It is not because we are unsure about our bar.
We believe you can have a very pleasant evening at Chiduru.
The difficulty is that the things we value most are not easy to photograph or put on a menu.
A bottle of whisky can be photographed.
A karaoke machine can be photographed.
Our kimono can be photographed.
But how do you photograph the feeling of being remembered?
How do you photograph a conversation that makes you feel a little lighter?
How do you show the comfortable silence between people who no longer need to fill every moment with words?
Perhaps these are the things we have been offering at Chiduru all along.
Some guests tell us,
“I don’t really know why, but I like it here.”
We are always happy to hear that.
Because perhaps they have found the part of Chiduru that we have never been able to explain very well.
People sometimes choose a bar because they want excitement.
They may want to sing loudly, drink a lot, or spend an energetic night surrounded by people.
There is nothing wrong with that.
But what we want from an evening can change as our lives change.
One day, we may begin to value a good conversation more than a noisy room.
We may want to spend time with people who remember us.
We may prefer somewhere we can relax without having to perform or pretend.
And perhaps, at that particular time in someone’s life, Chiduru and that person find each other.
We have been writing about Chiduru online for many years.
Strangely, many of those stories have very little to do with alcohol or karaoke.
They are stories about people.
About everyday life.
About getting older.
About friendship, loneliness, kindness, cleaning the bar, sharing meals, and the small things that happen between one evening and the next.
For a long time, we wondered whether we should be writing more conventional advertisements instead.
Perhaps we should.
But those ordinary stories may actually be the closest thing we have to an honest advertisement.
Because we would like the Chiduru you read about to be the same Chiduru you find when you open the door.
We do not want the outside to be beautiful while the inside is something different.
The same is true of people, we think.
So, what makes Chiduru special?
We still cannot give you a very good answer.
It may not be something you can see before you visit.
And Chiduru may not be the right place for everyone, or for every moment in someone’s life.
But sometimes, what a person is looking for and what Chiduru quietly offers happen to meet.
When that happens, perhaps they understand why some of our guests simply say:
“I don’t really know why, but I like it here.”
What we offer at Chiduru may be difficult to show you.
Perhaps it is something you have to feel.
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