A gallery-café tucked away in a former tobacco shop in Kyoto

Fashion reporter and photographer Kazushi Takahashi turns his gaze beyond the runway, tracing the beauty that lives in the everyday. A graduate of Meiji University and Bunka Fashion College, he began his career as an editor at Bunka Publishing Bureau (MR High Fashion, Soen). Now freelance, he travels through Japan to write, photograph and style stories where fashion meets craft, design and culture, sharing what he discovers in each issue of Pen.

 ‘This window… a former tobacco shop? And yet it looks rather cool… maybe I should open that wooden door on the side.’
As I push the door and step inside, I immediately think:

 ‘Wow, it’s huge! A beautifully renovated old house turned café.’
I feel slightly intimidated by an interior that is far more design-led than I had imagined.
I visit on a weekday morning, around 9 a.m.
The café has just opened and there is no one else inside yet.
 ‘Can I sit anywhere…? Or rather, where am I even supposed to sit?’
A little disoriented, I hesitate, when a member of staff smiles and says:
 ‘Please place your order at the counter first.’

This gallery café, itoyufu., I discovered during a day trip to Kyoto in April, coming from Tokyo.
After getting off the Shinkansen at Kyoto Station, this was the first place I went to.
A fifteen-minute walk later, in a quiet, contemporary residential neighbourhood, I arrive at the location.
I had come across it online before my trip.

In Kyoto, café-hopping is always part of my routine.
My first criterion: places housed in machiya or renovated Taishō-era townhouses.
 (To immerse myself in the atmosphere of Kyoto.)
My second: serving high-quality Japanese coffee or tea.
When both criteria are met, and the welcome is good, the place becomes one of my favourites.
The articles on my Pen blog often feature this kind of address.

The space is run by Entame, a Tokyo-based company whose main business is web production and digital services.
itoyufu. is an environment designed by their craft brand QUTOTEN.
The second floor of the building also houses Entame’s Kyoto branch.
Originally, the space was used as a storage site for original tableware pieces. In 2026, it was transformed into a gallery-café, with the ambition of becoming a cultural exchange hub.
I’m curious to see how it will evolve.

That day, the space still featured works from an exhibition held between March and April: ceramics by Takashi Miwa, second generation of the Sekisanjin workshop.
Pieces carved from igneous rock formed deep within the earth, then fired at over 1,300°C.
But I have to admit I am far from an expert in ceramics.
I don’t really have the knowledge to fully grasp their subtleties, even if connoisseurs will no doubt find something deeply compelling in them.

In the immediate surroundings of Kyoto Station, there seem to be relatively few cafés housed in renovated traditional homes.
 (At least that has been my impression while planning trips from Tokyo.)
The café is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., making it an ideal first stop to begin a day wandering through Kyoto.
You can also grab a coffee to go and stroll leisurely through the streets.
The nearest metro station is Gojō.
Next time I come to Kyoto, I think I’ll stop by again for a gentle morning pause!