Retro Japan: Kyoto cafe that protected free speech during WWII retains cruise ship interior

KYOTO -- A cafe in this western Japan city that protected freedom of speech during World War II still maintains its 1941 interior design reminiscent of a luxury cruise ship.

The old Francois Kissashitsu cafe building that looks like a structure in a Western city is located in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward near the Shijo Kawaramachi intersection, which is often crowded with tourists. Shoichi Tateno (1907-1995), a then socialist and a former aspiring painter, opened the cafe in 1934 by renovating a wooden two-storied house as a place for activists to live independently and to cultivate socialism.

Tateno bought a house on the north side and relocated the cafe there in 1941. In 1950, he renovated the original building on the south side again and put the two together. Alexsandro Bencivenni, an Italian student at Kyoto University, designed the north side of the structure, and painter Shiro Takagi designed the stained glass at Francois. Both of them were Tateno's friends through art. The interior, such as the domed ceiling, pillars that are swollen in the middle and arched windows with a pointy top, was designed to look like a hall in a luxury cruise ship. Furniture, including tables, chairs and lighting equipment, and paintings have mostly retained their original appearance.

The cafe is named after French painter Jean-Francois Millet. During the war, it was renamed "Junkissa Miyako Sabo" (lit. ordinary city tearoom), due to the general atmosphere to exclude enemy languages, and was protected as a place for free speech. Since the end of the war, the cafe has been adored as a venue where intellectuals and students can gather.

(Japanese original by Ai Kawahira, Osaka Photo Department)

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The Japanese version of this article was originally published on Oct. 2, 2022.

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