INDEX
Japan’s first canned chu-hai factory newly opened
Celeina: I’ve heard a lot about the OPEN BOOK, and I was wondering about your roots. What kind of culture were you exposed to when you were a student? What kind of movies, hobbies, etc. do you like?
Takano: I have the image that you know a lot about it.
Tanaka: I’m a very athletic person.
Takano: Athletic? What did you do?
Tanaka: I played badminton for a long time.
Takano: Badminton! That doesn’t sound like badminton.
Tanaka: Yes, it is.
Takano: Like basketball. I was very tall.
Celeina: Do you plan to return to your roots in badminton?
Tanaka: I play just for fun once in a while. At the time, the university team was very strong. I was on the bench of the runner-up team in the intercollegiate tournament.
Takano: The bench, right? I don’t know if that’s great or not (laughs).
Tanaka: It’s a bench that doesn’t play in games at all. I don’t even bring my shoes.
Takano: But, since you were a student, were you exposed to a lot of music and movies?
Tanaka: I kind of liked it. I was also a member of a philosophy circle.
Takano: Philosophy circle? What do you do?
Tanaka: I spent four years reading “An Introduction to Psychoanalysis.
Takano: Sounds interesting, but I wonder. There is badminton and psychoanalysis in the philosophy circle.
Celeina: Then you grew up and became a lemon sour.
Takano: It’s chaotic in many ways, but I’m curious about the new restaurant you recently opened.
Tanaka: We opened a shop in Shinjuku Gyoen. Actually, I brought it with me today, and we built Japan’s first canned chu-hai factory.
Celeina: Inside a store?
Tanaka: It’s like having a store inside a factory. You see this with craft beer, too. You can drink it right next to where it is being made. We created a lemon sour factory and a store where you can drink it, just like that.
Celeina: The “OPENBOOK Break” in Shinjuku Gyoen.
Tanaka: That’s right. People tell me that I like Evangelion, but I told them otherwise. I told them that I am a Zeami fan. I told them not to say “Eva-inspired” or anything like that. I like both Eva and Zeami.
Celeina: (laughs). How did you come up with the idea of making that?
Tanaka: When I was working on Corona, I couldn’t run the store anymore, and I was just thinking that I wanted to make a product from now on. Japanese canned chu-hi is not very tasty, and even at convenience stores, it has the image of cheap sake. Craft beers are nowadays usually taking up all the shelves. I thought it would be nice to have a canned chu-hi that uses Japanese shochu and other Japanese ingredients. So I looked around for a factory that could make small-lot production, but there were no factories in the first place, so I decided to make it myself.
Celeina: Have you already opened?
Tanaka: We are open.
Celeina: What are your business hours?
Tanaka: I don’t remember. As I recall, we are open from noon on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Takano: We are open from noon (laughs).
Celeina: Where should I look?
Tanaka: SNS. We have an Instagram account called “OPENBOOKBreak.
Takano: Everyone, please search for it.
Celeina: So, let’s play a song here. I asked Mr. Kairaki to choose a song that everyone would like to listen to at this time.
Tanaka: We must be the same age, but of course we don’t know each other. I’ve always liked him, and I’ve always wondered if I would like to meet him someday. He is a very electronic type of musician. I chose him because I really like the image of him zipping through channels on TV, changing them all the time.
Celeina: That’s a good choice. Please introduce the song.
Tanaka: “Park with a Pond” by in the blue shirt.
