Friday, February 15, 2008

Cafe-B Sale

Dear sisters, I'll interrupt my Gosireh post and write briefly about my cafe-B trip today. As you know from IMX's announcement and bb's blog, cafe-B is having a sale till it closes its location by end of this month. I didn't really expect much as I find cafe-B is a very plain shop by Japanese standards. You see, the decor in Japanese stores or restaurants usually have a lot of characters, even for the most simplistic or minimalistic design ones. Maybe IMX wanted to present BYJ as a theme in cafe-B, that would explain the very ordinary decor and menu. Of course to us fans, as long as we see HRH's face, does the surroundings really matter?

black & white pictures from posoku


Speaking about surroundings, this logo really had me fooled last time. You see, cafe-B is actually to the right of this sign, but the red arrow logo is pointing to the left? :)


Maybe there were a lot of customers yesterday, so 2 big signs were hung pointing to separate Entrance and Exit. I looked in through the glass windows, there were less than 20 people inside. Of course being a 'sign-abiding' person, I still followed the Entrance sign, but it led me around the building and back to the front! So I made a big round and still ended up entering through the Exit door!


Inside, you can see long tables are lined along the 3 walls displaying some Korean drama DVD sets, BYJ's Image Album, some photo books, Brokore magazines and posters. There are not too many varieties but a lot of quantity on each. A few sisters were strolling and perusing casually, chatting to each other. A few kind ones even stopped to tell me what some items are :)


Hehe, this is really a 'sign' day. As they have posted a 'no camera' sign, I was kind of nervous if I should take any picture. But then I noticed the other sisters had their cell phones out clicking away! So I followed suit and started clicking too, but you see, I was very nervous so please forgive my shakey hands. bb has posted all the large and clear pictures LL took yesterday. (BTW princess, I really want to know how you always manage to take pictures of shops, restaurants or public so freely? I always miss so many nice Kodak moments because I worry that someone will come up and break my camera!)


I quickly glanced through the items and the prices. These are mostly old BYJ merchandise that we already bought, of course the prices are amazingly good now. Cloudnine came later, so we met up and had coffee in the nearby Shibuya Mark City Terminal.


Regardless of whether you love cafe-B or not, whether you are a frequent patron of it or not, it is an end of one memorable BYJ landmark. Sayoonara cafe-B, thank you for serving the BYJ fans in the last 2 years. We do hope that there will be a 'new and improved' you coming soon :)

2 comments:

bbmag said...

hee... how i manage to take pics? well, it depends on the situation and the place. usually if i'm alone, i just ask (beg?) for permission nicely, and they usually say 'ok'.

and flattery can get you almost anywhere... just comment on how nice the decor is and what great taste the owner has or whatever nice things you can think of, and then ask for permission to take a few pics. promise to be real quick and discreet... usually they will say 'yes' :p

and if i'm in a group, i just click quickly. hehe, i'm not a pro, so i don't know much about forming a story with my photo or picking the right angle or lighting or whatever, so i tend to be really quick. most of the time, i just raise my camera and snap, all single-handedly. and of course, i shut off the shutter sound, so everything's done quietly.

hee, in fact, i'm terribly lazy. most of the times, if i can help it, i won't even move from wherever i am. even if i know there's a better angle from, say, five steps away or across the street, but if i can still get the whole thing in wherever i happen to be standing or sitting, i don't move an inch and just take. this also means i tend to be quite unobtrusive and can take my pics fairly quickly. (of course, exceptions are made when it's a famous, famous landmark or so beautiful a scenery... then it's worth the while to walk to the best possible spot to take the picture... otherwise, lazy me just takes over...)

actually, when you're a tourist, (or pretending to be a tourist), you can get away with alot of things :p

another trick... if, say, you want to take a picture of a shop or restaurant, just get a friend to go stand at one side of the establishment, then you take the picture without your friend inside at all. i've done this countless times when i need to take pics of a competitor's shop :p

jaime said...

hehe, thanks princess for the tips. I particular love the one that you have an accomplice standing there but you actually don't focus on him! How come I can't think of it, such a genius!

actually, most of the time, I love the products and the decor inside a store. but if I ask for a picture, they'll think I am a commercial spy :(

hehe, I guess common sense really dictates how this art of picture snapping should be carried out. and practise makes perfect, right? I hope one day I can do it like you and LL, quick and focus :)

thanks ... jaime