INDEX
The counter is a tool for communicating with people in a safe environment.
Takano：You are originally from Oita, so you had a bar in your hometown, didn’t you?
Ono：I trained as a bartender in Oita for almost 10 years, and when I was about 30 years old, I came to Yokohama to start.
Celeina：What was it that brought you to Tokyo?
Ono：I happened to be from Oita, and a mama who runs a club in Yokohama invited me and said, “If you come, I’ll make a bar for you”.
Celeina：That is an amazing coincidence.
Ono：I didn’t know them before they invited me, but I happened to meet them and they asked me if I wanted to try it, so I came out.
Takano：I think bartenders need a variety of skills. Of course, making drinks and communication skills are important, but what kind of training did you have?
Ono：A surprisingly large number of bartenders are shy.
Takano: Is that so?
Ono：I think so. At least I think so. I have the impression that a bar is like a tree that stops, a place where customers can feel at ease, and for bartenders, the counter is a place where they can communicate with people in peace.
Takano: In a space called a bar, the roles of the bartender and customers are sort of fixed, aren’t they?
Ono：I find it difficult to talk to people without a counter.
Takano: That’s interesting.
Celeina：You were a wandering bartender, so did you give yourself the name “wandering bartender”?
Ono：I started calling myself a “wandering bartender,” but actually there was a senior bartender who was more wandering than me, and after meeting him, I thought I was no match for him, so I dropped that name.
Celeina：Does that mean that your senior was more active?
Ono：That senior member was always there, no matter where we went. We were on the same team at Fuji Rock, but he was more active than me, so I thought I couldn’t win.
