Pot Belly Diner

Friday night I went to the Pot Belly Diner to meet some friends for a drink. This is a cozy little cafe/restaurant tucked away in a back ally of the Shin-sakae district in Nagoya.

It's run by a Japanese couple that define the word 'hippy'. Chan-san (pictured above talking on the phone) and Keiko-san (the lady standing in front of me) are two of the most genuinely kind people I've ever met, and the cafe is an extension of their altruism. It's dimly lit and decked out with antique tables and chairs, an entire wall is covered with framed Rockwell-esque pictures and Grateful Dead tour posters, and there's usually some Jerry Garcia Band bootleg playing softly on the stereo that makes time seem nonexistent. Not to mention they have two floppy eared, Bassett hounds that lounge around the foot of an actual pot belly stove during the winter, or sit next to you waiting for some love, attention, or food scraps.

The gathering Friday night was a kind of welcome home party for our friend Mina Ando. She's originally from Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture, but she's been living in New York for the past couple years with her boyfriend Mitch "Moose" Stein, the rhythm guitar player for the Steve Kimock Band.

Kimock and crew did a short Japanese tour the end of last month, so Mina and Mitch were sight seeing around Japan catching up with friends like us.

The funny thing about this picture is that Mina and Mitch, the guests of honor, are sitting down in the back with only the tops of their heads showing.