episode-17

Ha Noi, Lockdown, Cafe, Subscription…
Thinking a bout 2021 – a year in captivity

In Japan, in the end of every year, “Kanji of the year” which representing that whole year will be annouced. The Kanji of 2021 is “Kin 金” – Gold, but for me there is no other word than “Lou 籠” – Cage.
In more than half of century of life, I have never experienced a year of being constrained and confined like this.

The “cage” kanji in cursive script style which was used in Japan about 150 years ago.

I temporarily returned to Japan at the beginning of 2021, so as soon as I returned to Hanoi in February and did a 2-week quarantine in a hotel, my life becamed similar to hikikomori, a lifestyle that isolating from the world in one room.
However, the quarantine was in a hotel, so I expected it wouldn't be too unpleasant for me at all. But in reality, every day was scary.
At that time, the Covid 19 epidemic had not broken out in Vietnam, so I thought that only entry from abroad was strictly considered.
Athough I don’t think the staff of hotel was intentional, but when he needed to annouce something to me who was the isolation room, he would usually stand in a position 3 meters away from the room and then shout in a loud voice toward the door.
I'm not very fluent in Vietnamese, so no matter how loudly he shouted, I could only be bewildered. So soon the same things were shouted over and over again.
It was like Jack Bauer from the American TV series “24” pointed a gun at me and kept shouting “Put your gun forward and put your hands behind your head!”.
This kind conversations were repeated every day, so even though I entered the country with a negative certificate, the feeling of being a cruel terrorist lingered for two weeks.

Then, when the 2-week home quarantine was completed, the store was able to reopen in May. Just when I thought that the kakigori season was finally coming, the People's Committee issued an announcement about the ban of eating and drinking in the restaurant.
For Arigato Cafe whose main menu is kakigori, banning eating in the store is the same as banning business.
It was our first inevitable “holiday.”
We were finally able to get back to business at the end of June. But then, in a time like the blink of an eye, the cafe had to close for a second time in early July.
Just like that, Hanoi has moved into lockdown.

The first lockdown experience in my life.
At first, I could still freely listen to the music of the Hanoi Rocks band, which I was not very interested in when I was young. But as the lockdown prolonged, I wasn't able to relax.
At that time, going out to buy groceries was the only acceptable reason to leave the house. Unfortunately, the shopping vouchers that was distributed to me had a time limit from 6am to 8am. Although in Vietnam, they usually go to the market early in the morning, but I think this time zone is too early. And then I survived with the instant food sent from Japan.
“Even if I cough, I’m still alone”.
In Japan, there is a culture called haiku – poetry which written with just a few words. This is a famous haiku that almost every Japanese knows.
Ozaki Hosai, who wrote this verse, died a few months later.
Now, thinking back to myself once talking to a lizard in my room "Hey, we're not alone, right?!", I think I must have been sickly lonely.
In the meantime, I'm really grateful for the regular calls from customers to the cafe to confirm I'm doing well, even though I also feel guilty for worrying everyone. However, maybe this was just a simulation of the lonely life when we bacome older, and because of this thinking, I tried to get through it without giving up.

October. The sun was shining and the lockdown was finally over, and we were back in business in the second half of the month.
Once again I realized how nice it was to see the faces of all the staffs and people who frequent the cafe.
The kakigori season was over.
We started preparing for our 2nd Anniversary event that we were unable to do during the lockdown, in conjunction with the Christmas event.
Apparently, the Government announced they would change the policy to “the New Normal”, and I thought it would be fine.
Then in December, on the day we announced the event on Facebook, we had to close for the third time this year.
Moreover, this time restriction measure was only in place in Dong Da district, where Arigato Cafe is located.
As a result, I spent Christmas alone with a feeling like I was shot. And then 2021 ended just like that.

"Hey, why don't you do the subscription?" – I am often asked by a Youtuber.
It would be great if guests could use the 2nd floor of Arigato Cafe as a studio, like a year-round Disney Land ticket.
At that time, I often replied, “Let me think for a moment.” But if I had done it, 2021 would have definitely been a pretty bad year for our customers. Try to calculate the number of days that Arigato Cafe was in business in 2021, it will be 137 days. It should have been 300 days, so we can see that we closed the shop for more than half a year.
In this day, we can not deny that the subscription business model bring a lot of benefit to the seller.
It can be said that, although the cafe has to close, we can still do business through the server management and membership registration system of the Internet department of Sennensha - the company that runs the cafe.
However, I once again realized that the subscription business model should only be done when it is of value to both the buyer and the seller.

If there is a lockdown again...
Then I will continue to operate Arigato Cafe online.
A genuine store is a place where people can gather even if the store is closed. Arigato Cafe online.
Since the original purpose of Arigato Cafe is to exchange Japanese and Vietnamese culture, there will be many Japanese language lessons, Vietnamese language lessons as well as Japanese song lessons held periodically.

Vietnamese pronunciation is really difficult, so I practice pronunciation with everyone every Sunday.

I think this is one of the factors that make customers happy even when they can't go to the cafe.
If Vietnamese people learning Japanese and Japanese people learning Vietnamese gather there, at least it will be a great source of encouragement for me during the blockade.
So, of course, here's the subscription mode with no joining fees.
If you wish, we can deliver hot coffee to your door. Sorry, but it will cost you 30,000 VND.

ARIGATOU Cafe has a Japanese employee residing in Hanoi. He works for Sennensha Vietnam in the IT and design fields and also manages the cafe. Here is the report from the employee in Hanoi.