This bar is quickly becoming my favorite in our area, KAC's Cafe Beer & Kiyono Arms. It is about 1 block west of Issha Station, or a 5 minute walk from our house. The combination of American novelty items in the window plus the name of the place were enough to draw us in. Once inside, however, you'll find an amazing array of US Marine paraphernalia from World War II - model hand guns, model rifles, Marine fatigues, old bullet shells, US Marine shot glasses. Literally anything USMC-related, you name it, chances are Kiyono-san has it. There's also a small bar serving Budweiser on tap. In all honesty, there is literally, no space in this bar, and the amount of marine paraphernalia is overwhelming, but that that adds to the experience. Apparently, the owner runs the bar by night, while maintaining a website for collecting and selling USMC novelty items. It is a site to behold. Here is the website if you have that sudden urge for say, I don't know, a gold-plated US Marine toilet paper dispenser (Yes, they exist, no kidding; there's even one in the bar's bathroom).
http://www2.odn.ne.jp/k_arms/index.html
My visits there have included some great conversations with the owner, the bartender, and some salary men getting their Budweiser fix after work. I love history, especially World War II, so many of my conversations inevitably stumbled into this subject given the setting. The owner, Japanese of course, obviously loves the subject as well. When I told him that my grandfather fought in the Pacific, he immediately brought out some fatigues to show me what he might have worn.
There's no doubt of the brutalities of war. I don't necessarily like the history of World War II because I'm a war buff. I like it because it was an incredible time when political and cultural philosophies clashed - the entire world was engaged, and as a result, millions of ordinary people lived incredible, heroic tales of survival. Everywhere life as it was typically known was suddenly turned upside down. It's these stories that I enjoy.
Kiyono-san is an extension of these stories. Decades have past since the war ended, yet he is obsessed with US Marine paraphernalia from the era. He doesn't look at the war with hostility. Instead, like Hiroshima's memorial, he likes to use it as a reminder of what to avoid.
My visits there have included some great conversations with the owner, the bartender, and some salary men getting their Budweiser fix after work. I love history, especially World War II, so many of my conversations inevitably stumbled into this subject given the setting. The owner, Japanese of course, obviously loves the subject as well. When I told him that my grandfather fought in the Pacific, he immediately brought out some fatigues to show me what he might have worn.
There's no doubt of the brutalities of war. I don't necessarily like the history of World War II because I'm a war buff. I like it because it was an incredible time when political and cultural philosophies clashed - the entire world was engaged, and as a result, millions of ordinary people lived incredible, heroic tales of survival. Everywhere life as it was typically known was suddenly turned upside down. It's these stories that I enjoy.
Kiyono-san is an extension of these stories. Decades have past since the war ended, yet he is obsessed with US Marine paraphernalia from the era. He doesn't look at the war with hostility. Instead, like Hiroshima's memorial, he likes to use it as a reminder of what to avoid.
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