One of the longest running businesses in Ningyōchō as well as Tokyo, Coffee Shop Ron, has closed. What until a week or two ago was a coffee shop that offered simple yōshoku dishes (Japanese takes on western recipes) served by older gentlemen dressed in matching attire that included vests and bow ties and of course well sun-bleached plastic food in the front window is gone after 240 years, not all of which was as a coffee shop. Ron’s demise was not due to the coronavirus but instead to fates of real estate development (it was located in part of a triangle shaped building on one of the main intersections of Ningyōchō; the building will soon be torn down and replaced by ?).

The original business opened in 1780 as a shop selling equestrian gear. Later it became a money exchange business, and then a shop selling imported goods. It did not become a restaurant until fairly recently, in 1965.

Although I won’t miss Ron for its food (I went only once to meet someone for tea), I will miss it for adding some character to the neighborhood, a unique throwback to the days before chain coffee shops and the like. Sayanara, Ron.