Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe

Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe, commonly abbreviated TYC, was an experimental café in Jingūmae, Shibuya, Tokyo, operated by the advertising and planning company Kakeru. It opened in April 2023 and closed at the end of September 2024. Rather than using conventional hospitality language, its staff greeted visitors as though they had known them for years, using casual remarks such as asking why a customer had not visited recently or reacting with surprise at their arrival. The concept depended on a shared performance: employees improvised as friends of the visitors, while customers accepted the premise and responded in kind. The idea was developed by Kakeru representative director Suguru Myoen. The name came from a conversation in which an employee mentioned visiting a café run by a friend. Myoen found the phrase appealing because it suggested a warm, enviable social connection and imagined a place that anyone could describe in the same way. He also wanted to test an alternative to Japan’s highly deferential service culture, in which the customer is often treated as unquestionably superior and employees are expected to deliver polished, consistently upbeat service. TYC instead aimed for the relaxed, slightly untidy atmosphere of visiting a friend at work. The café recruited actors, models, entertainers, social-media creators and other people with performance experience. More than 300 people applied for front-of-house roles. New staff practiced improvisation for approximately a month and used role-playing exercises rather than relying on a rigid customer-service manual. Employees gave one another feedback after business hours, developing ways to adjust their tone and conversational distance to each visitor. A guiding principle was to maintain a relaxed level of energy rather than the heightened enthusiasm associated with theme parks or conventional promotional venues. TYC occupied a compact approximately 40-square-meter space with 18 seats. Its deep-green-and-white interior, flowers and ordinary café furnishings were intentionally accessible and visually uncomplicated. Customers were allowed to photograph and record inside, including interactions with staff, which made the venue especially suitable for short-form social-media content. The café’s design also helped viewers capture the staff as they entered, while the improvised nature of each encounter meant that visitors could produce distinctive stories rather than repeating a standard menu or interior shot. The menu reinforced the fiction of an established friendship. Instead of conventional product names, drinks and snacks were presented as conversational prompts, such as asking which beverage was popular with the staff or recalling that a particular latte had once been good. The menu contained roughly 30 drinks, and a request for “the one I always drink” could result in a staff-selected soft drink. In the evening, the same concept operated as Tomodachiga Yatteru Bar, or TYB, with alcoholic beverages. The café became a prominent Japanese social-media trend in 2023, particularly among Generation Z. Its opening announcement and pre-opening video attracted substantial attention, and user-generated videos accumulated tens of millions of views within months. TYC appeared in several trend rankings and awards, including lists associated with TikTok, CyberAgent, SHIBUYA109 and Trepo. Its popularity extended beyond Tokyo, with customers visiting from other parts of Japan and occasionally from overseas. TYC also developed a commercial collaboration with Suntory. After Suntory employees visited the café and bar while exploring ways to engage younger consumers with alcoholic beverages, the companies jointly developed a canned alcoholic drink. The product launched in February 2024, was promoted through a web commercial featuring actor Ryota Katayose, and received a wider limited-time national release in April. The collaboration was notable because Suntory worked directly with a single concept venue rather than treating it only as a conventional retail outlet. Although TYC was temporary, its significance lay in demonstrating how hospitality, improvisational performance and social-media participation could be combined into a consumer experience. The café closed in September 2024, with Kakeru planning another project for the site. TYC remains an example of an experience-led food-and-beverage concept rather than a conventional restaurant chain.

Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe was conceived by Suguru Myoen, representative director of Kakeru, an advertising and planning production company. Myoen began his career at Dentsu in 2014 as a commercial planner and copywriter, left the agency in 2020, and established Kakeru. The company’s projects included JANAI COFFEE, a coffee speakeasy that presented itself as something other than a conventional café, and the Yadana exhibition. These projects reflected Myoen’s interest in creating unusual cultural and commercial experiences alongside advertising work. The name Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe means approximately “Cafe Run by My Friend.” Myoen recalled an employee referring to a café operated by a friend and considered the idea appealing because it conveyed a special sense of belonging. He developed TYC as an experiment in what would happen if the relationship between customer and staff were defined as friendship from the outset. The purpose was not to abolish conventional Japanese hospitality, but to suggest that a more equal and informal relationship could also produce a satisfying service experience. The venue was planned for Harajuku’s Jingūmae district, which Myoen regarded as a place where new ideas emerge and where Kakeru’s office was nearby. The location was selected within roughly two weeks of the concept being formed. The interior used deep green and white as its main colors, with flowers placed around the counters and tables. It occupied approximately 40 square meters and had 18 seats. The restrained design avoided elaborate themed decoration so that visitors of different ages and genders could feel comfortable. Recruitment began publicly on 20 February 2023. Kakeru sought people with experience as actors, models, entertainers, social-media creators or other performers. More than 300 people applied. Because the pre-opening response was larger than expected, the operation also recruited experienced baristas, bartenders and related staff. Employees practiced improvisation and conducted role-playing sessions for about a month. Instead of a detailed script, they explored how a person might behave when visiting a friend’s workplace and provided feedback to one another after each day’s service. This training was intended to create flexible interactions rather than identical performances. TYC opened on 22 April 2023, following reservation-only service on 22 and 23 April. Its pre-opening introduction video received approximately 1.5 million combined views on Twitter and TikTok. The café’s service began with familiar greetings rather than formal welcomes, and staff adjusted the level of directness to each customer. Myoen described the desired energy as somewhat relaxed, comparable to ordinary conversation with a friend rather than the maximum enthusiasm of a theme-park employee. Customers were also part of the performance: they were expected to suspend embarrassment and answer as though they were visiting a friend’s café. The menu supported this interaction through conversational names and prompts. Customers could order by recalling a drink supposedly associated with the staff or by asking for something that was quick and easy to prepare. The selection included around 30 drinks and light food items. In the evening, the venue operated as Tomodachiga Yatteru Bar, extending the same premise into an alcohol-focused setting. Social-media sharing was central to the business model. Photography and recording were permitted, including the staff, and the café was arranged to make interactions easy to film. Each visit could generate different content because the staff improvised and customers responded differently. Within several months, videos connected with the venue had accumulated more than 30 million views and approximately 1.5 million likes according to the cited reference material. TYC was subsequently recognized in multiple 2023 trend surveys and awards, including TikTok’s first-half trend awards, CyberAgent’s Generation Z hit-trend ranking, SHIBUYA109’s trend awards and Trepo’s Generation Z ranking. In February 2024, Suntory released a canned alcoholic beverage developed with input from TYC and TYB. The collaboration followed a Suntory team’s visit and its interest in the communication style and younger audience associated with the venue. The product was promoted in a web commercial featuring Ryota Katayose. Following a positive response, distribution was expanded nationwide for a limited period in April 2024. TYC closed at the end of September 2024. Kakeru indicated that a different project would use the site afterward. The café’s historical importance lies less in a long operating history than in its concise demonstration of experience-based branding: hospitality became a performance, customers became participants, and every visit supplied material for social distribution.

• 2024

  Suntory collaboration launches

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Suntory released a canned alcoholic drink jointly developed with TYC and TYB in February.

• 2024

  Operations end

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe closed at the end of September.

• 2023

  Kakeru announces recruitment

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  On 20 February, Kakeru sought actors, models, entertainers, social-media creators and other performers for the new café concept.

• 2023

  Pre-opening generates viral attention

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  The pre-opening introduction video reached approximately 1.5 million combined views on Twitter and TikTok.

• 2023

  TYC opens

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  The café opened in Jingūmae on 22 April after a reservation-only opening period.

• 2023

  Recognition in Japanese trend rankings

  [1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  TYC was selected for or placed in several 2023 trend rankings aimed at younger consumers.

An experience-led concept café combining improvisational performance, casual hospitality and highly shareable social-media interactions.

• Coffee beverages · 2023

  Coffee and espresso drinks

  TYC served ordinary café beverages within its unusual hospitality format. Coffee and latte orders were framed as conversational recollections or requests, allowing the product choice itself to begin or reinforce the imagined friendship between staff and customer.

• Soft drinks and specialty beverages · 2023

  Dialogue-style drinks menu

  The menu used conversational phrases instead of standard item descriptions. Cream soda, apple juice, tropical drinks and other beverages were presented as questions or memories associated with the staff, while a request for the customer’s usual drink could result in a staff-selected soft drink.

• Bar beverages · 2023

  Tomodachiga Yatteru Bar

  The evening operation, abbreviated TYB, extended the café’s friend-run premise to alcoholic beverages. It provided the setting and conceptual basis for TYC’s later alcoholic-drink collaboration with Suntory.

• Alcoholic beverage · 2024

  Suntory TYC collaborative canned alcoholic beverage

  Suntory developed a canned alcoholic beverage with input from Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe and its bar operation. It launched in February 2024, was supported by a web commercial featuring Ryota Katayose, and later received a limited-time nationwide distribution expansion.

• 2024Suntory collaborative beverage campaign

  Japan

  Suntory and TYC jointly developed an alcoholic beverage connected to the Tomodachiga Yatteru Bar worldview. The launch included a web commercial featuring actor Ryota Katayose.

  Outcome. Following the initial response, the product’s sales channel was expanded nationwide for a limited period in April 2024.

  Source
• 2023Social-media-first café launch

  Japan

  TYC encouraged customers to photograph and record the venue and its staff, making each improvised interaction potential short-form social content. The approach helped the café gain rapid visibility among younger Japanese audiences.

  Outcome. The venue accumulated tens of millions of video views within several months and appeared in multiple 2023 trend rankings.

  Source

• 2024

  Develop an alcoholic beverage with SuntoryProduct launch

  Background

  Suntory was exploring ways to appeal to younger consumers and became interested in the communication and community surrounding TYC and TYB.

  Action taken

  The companies jointly developed and launched a canned alcoholic beverage associated with the café concept.

  Aftermath

  The product received a limited-time nationwide distribution expansion and was promoted through a web commercial.

  Source

• 2024

  Close the temporary caféStrategy

  Background

  TYC was designed as an experimental project rather than a permanent chain.

  Action taken

  Kakeru ended the café’s operations at the close of September 2024 and planned another project for the site.

  Aftermath

  The original TYC venue ceased operating under the brand.

  Source

• 2023

  Adopt friend-style customer serviceStrategy

  Background

  Myoen wanted to test an alternative to highly formal, customer-supreme service conventions and establish staff and visitors as social equals from the beginning.

  Action taken

  TYC trained performers to greet strangers as longtime friends, improvise conversations and maintain a relaxed rather than maximally energetic service style.

  Aftermath

  The unusual format became the café’s defining attraction and helped generate distinctive user-created social-media content.

  Source

• 2024

  Suntory launches alcoholic drink developed with TYC[1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch

  Suntory introduced a canned alcoholic beverage jointly developed with the café and later expanded distribution nationwide for a limited period.

• 2024

  Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe closes[1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The café ended operations at the close of September 2024. Kakeru announced that another project would subsequently occupy the location.

• 2023

  Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe opens in Jingūmae[1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch

  The concept café opened on 22 April 2023 after a reservation-only pre-opening period and initial viral attention on social media.

• 2023

  Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe becomes a major Japanese social-media trend[1]Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org

  Campaign · Other

  Videos of the café and its friend-style customer service spread widely on TikTok and other platforms, leading to recognition in several Generation Z and trend rankings.

1. 1Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafeen.wikipedia.org