Worldbuilding and real life collide for inspo
Part of the fun of worldbuilding is creating locations that fit your story and genre, but also a place that you want to spend time in since your brain is going to be spending a lot of time there. It’s a combination of imagination and real-world inspiration.
I’ve lived in Tokyo for a long time, but since the pandemic, I haven’t been out so much. A lot of my friends moved away (common experience in Tokyo), and I have a dog now. I prefer hanging out with her and she’s not a fan of crowds, and she’s too big to fit in a purse and ride the train. But lately I’ve been feeling… restless. I miss my Tokyo rambles.
I was thinking about the inspiration for places behind Unity Falls and thought, “Hey! Why don’t I go and photograph some of the kinds of places that inspired me when I wrote Riley and the Love Jinx?”
So down the rabbit hole of deep-dive research I went. I looked for places I remembered and new locations. One thing about Tokyo, it’s always changing. If you’re going to go someplace, you really need to double-check when it’s open or if it’s still operating. Sometimes the most up-to-date information is on the location’s Instagram account. To prevent sadness, look it up! I keep experiencing hard reminders of this lesson.
I ended up with a list. A massive list. A list of places all over Tokyo that would be impossible to visit all in one day without magic or a Star Trek transporter. I organized my list by neighborhoods: Shibuya, Ginza, Shimokitazawa, Asakusa, and Shinjuku. Then I flavored the list with stationery stores, yarn stores and donut shops. I ended up with lists for several days of adventuring. Choices had to be made, so I chose Shibuya first since I remembered some places that inspired Unity Falls but had no photos. But, I vowed that if the lines were long, I would move on.
The Shibuya list:
- The Pizza Tokyo – New York style pizza by the slice
- Hachiya (Sendagaya) – stylish Japanese tea café, calm aesthetic, weekdays only
- The Matcha Tokyo (Omotesando / Cat Street) – organic matcha, modern vibe
- Number Sugar (Omotesando)– soft caramel candies and caramel sauce in a jar. Takeout only
- Walnut – yarn store focusing on natural fibers and stunning colors
- Nanaya Aoyama Store (Shibuya) – strongest matcha gelato in the world!
- Café Kitsune: when fashion becomes a café
- Kagurazaka Saryo (Shibuya Scramble Square 14F) – tea sweets with a view
- Hands – small version of the large shop in Shinjuku
- Loft Shibuya– a chain famous for home goods, health and beauty, and stationery
- Kyoto Uji Fujii Meien (Shibuya Fukuras 6F aka Tokyu Plaza) – centuries of tea production, more formal setting (but not a tea ceremony), matcha pancakes
The plan
Start off at Kita-sando station after having a slice of pizza at The Pizza in Hiroo. Make my way (by train or walk through) to Meiji Jingu Park to Harajuku. Walk through Omotesando and Aoyama areas, and then take the train to Shibuya to see the other locations.
The Pizza Tokyo
Address: 5-3-16 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku
Website: (only Instagram)
Instagram: thepizza_tokyo
Travel notes: Exit 1 or 2. Head to Starbucks and keep going, 2-3 minutes from station
Thoughts:
I like this shop. Food is good. Fast. Seating for about 6 people, takeout available.
Unity Falls connection:
I imagine the lone pizza shop in Unity Falls, Bill the Pizza Guy’s Pizza, to be even smaller. The front of his place is super tiny, with one table, two chairs and a drinks cooler. Bill only takes cash and wants you to take your pizza home. He will deliver if he feels like it (so if he thinks you are able, he expects you to pick it up). Hockey plays all the time in the background as he makes the pizza. He has one employee hired by his mom.
Hachiya
Address: 3-2-10 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku
Website: http://www.8ya.jp
Instagram: hachiya_teastand
Travel notes: Hibiya Line to Nakameguro, transfer to Toyoko line. Stay on the train to Kita-sando. 3 minutes from Kita-sando station Exit 2
Thoughts:
CLOSED!
According to their website, it was within operating hours, but Google said it was closed. I took a chance… and… closed. The Instagram account has more up-to-date information about hours. Hence the reminder of the hard lesson.
Looked through the window: cute, but small shop for ten people or less. I will go back someday.
Unity Falls connection:
I like the brightness of this shop, but I imagined Unity Falls Matcha to be cozier and displaying more art.
The Matcha
Address: 5-11-13 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Website: The Matcha Tokyo
Instagram: the_matcha_tokyo
Travel notes: Back to Kita-sando station. Take the Fukutoshin line one stop to Meiji Jingu Mae/Harajuku. Use Exit 7, cross Meiji-dori. Turn right on Cat Street. 5 minute walk.
Thoughts:
CROWDED! Nope. No tea for me here today. Website says seating for 25 people. I peeked inside and it was full. At least thirty people milled about outside waiting to get in. It opens at 11 and I got there around 12:30 on a Thursday. I might try again on a rainy, mid-week day.
Unity Falls connection:
The outside of this building reminded me so much of what I imagined the outside of the matcha café would be like. A big white building that reminded me of a converted barn. I thought it would look right at home in Canada.
Number Sugar
Address: 5-11-11 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Website: Number Sugar
Instagram: NumberSugar_Official
Travel notes: Keep walking past The Matcha and take the second left. It’s a white building on the left corner, maybe 2 minutes away.
Thoughts:
This is a chain, but this location has been around for a while. It kind of feels like a friendly face. Delicious caramels. Soft and lovely. Minimalist design. Like your antique store turned minimalist. I love it. Not crowded. Bought some caramels, ate them without dental issues.
Unity Falls connection:
This store has a retro feel that I really like. It’s maybe a bit too minimalist for the casual style I imagine for Unity Falls. And selling one thing in a tiny tourist town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies seems like a tough sell.
Walnut
Address: Jingumae 5-39-3, Shibuya-ku (Omotesando Osaki Square Building, 1F)
Website: Walnut
Instagram: Walnut Kyoto
Travel notes: After turning left to get to Number Sugar, the road continues uphill. Follow the road. I recommend using navigation to get to Walnut. The back streets are so much more relaxing than walking on crowded Omotesando-dori.
Thoughts:
I haven’t been to Walnut since it moved to this location. It has lots of natural fiber yarn. Great colors. Some places like Okadaya or Yuzawaya tend to have more muted palettes. I really wanted to buy some neon pink yarn, but I have no plan or inspo (yet!). The yarn I bought? Someday it will become a fox. Staff was friendly and helped me figure out what needles I needed for my someday fox.
Unity Falls connection:
Walnut also offers classes on location and I used to be in a Stitch and Bitch group which was so much fun. Walnut gives me the community vibes. A collection of specialty shops like Walnut and Number Sugar in a small community is basically my dream scenario. It’s not super practical for a really small town, but I think it can work if it’s possible to do day trips from Calgary.
Nanaya Aoyama
Address: 2-7-12 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku
Website: Nanaya
Instagram: Nanaya Kyoto (the flagship store in Kyoto)
Travel notes: 5–10-minute walk from Walnut. I used the backstreets because I needed a people break. You will need some sort of navigation if you do this. But it was pleasant and not busy for most of it. Otherwise, you can head back to Omotesando-dori and turn right on Aoyama-dori. You will need to cross to the other side and head for the back streets.
Itinerary option: From Nanaya, it’s almost the same distance to Shibuya or Omotesando station, so if you want to skip Café Kitsune you can walk to Shibuya.
Thoughts:
This store advertises itself as selling the “strongest matcha gelato in the world.” This isn’t a place to drink matcha. The shop focuses on selling different flavors of matcha ice-cream, but you can buy tea leaves and matcha powder as well as bottled green tea. They sell bottled green tea. Like PRICEY bottled green tea. I almost wanted to buy one to try, but curiosity did not win that day.
I got matcha ice cream number 7 (the strongest). The ice cream was good. It was busy but not too crowded. There were eight seats outside for customers. Japan doesn’t really have an eat as you walk culture. And there aren’t many public trash cans, so eating there and disposing of the trash is a smart move.
Unity Falls connection:
This location is small and local and doesn’t have the same aesthetic as the Kyoto flagship. Located on a backstreet, Nanaya Aoyama has this cool retro vibe. Things look a little bit worn, but in the way of a beloved local shop that’s been a neighborhood favorite since your grandma moved to the area. It’s traditional, neat, organized and cozy. I’d describe more of that darker wood and interior Showa (1926-1989) aesthetic. This would be a haven on a hot summer day.
Café Kitsune
Address: 3-15-9 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0062
Website: Cafe Kitsune Aoyama
Instagram: maisonkitsune
Travel notes: This is a 10–15-minute walk from Nanaya Aoyama. Head back to Aoyama-dori. Once you pass Aoyama Gakuin, you can use backstreets again. It feels like backtracking because it’s heading away from Shibuya. It’s closer to Omotesando station so you can easily take the subway to Shibuya after. TAKE THE GINZA LINE TO THE NEXT STOP (Shibuya).
Thoughts:
This was a last-minute addition. It’s not specifially a green tea place, but when I went here with a good friend of mine in 2013, it had the classic, rustic Japanese house style. I thought I’d take a picture.
Color me so shocked (lol sarcasm!) that this café has been completely restyled. I needed a break, so I bought an iced green tea and green tea sable in the shape of a fox.
Unity Falls connection:
Far too fancy for how I envisioned the matcha cafe in Riley and the Love Jinx. The male main character, Ben Nichols, ends up using the simple name “Matcha” for his new cafe but think Japandi meets Canadian log cabin. This new style and layout of Cafe Kitsune is impeccable. Very sleek and elegant. It’s just not what I remembered. But the second photo above, shows their very satisfying and gorgeous display of their matcha set for sale.
The photos below are from my friend’s blog post about Cafe Kitsune in 2013. The style was so much more Japanese garden house compared to Cafe Kitsune now. When she lived in Tokyo, she had a blog called Universotokyo that reviewed lots of cool places to visit. I miss her all the time, and the blog is such a snapshot of those days.
Kagurazaka Saryo
Address: Shibuya 2-24-12, Shibuya-ku, Shibuya Scramble Square 14F
Website: Saryo
Instagram: kagurazaka_saryo
Travel notes: From Omotesando Station take the Ginza Line (yellow) to Shibuya (1 stop). Use the Shibuya JR exit. This is on the second floor and connects directly to Shibuya Scramble Square. The Hanzomon Line (purple) also goes to Shibuya, but this station is underground and farther from Scramble Square.
If you are able, take the escalator to the 14th floor instead of the elevator. The elevator is crowded and can take longer to actually get on.
Thoughts:
Time limit of 70 minutes. I recommend the window seat. This place can get very busy. When I went, an hour before sunset, I only had to wait a couple minutes. When I left, there was a substantial line. But it was sunset, so they probably got a good show. The matcha was really good. The view was amazing. If there’s a huge line, there is another green tea cafe on the 10th floor, but no view.
Unity Falls connection:
The vibe was a bit more set for high traffic which makes sense. The floral arrangement (ikebana) was lovely. They have a Shinjuku location. From the website photos, I think the Shinjuku location is the closest to what I imagine Ben’s Matcha café to be like. But Shinjuku adventures will have to be another day.
Hands
Address: Shibuya Scramble Square 10th floor
Website: Hands (Shibuya Scramble Square)
Instagram (for the whole chain): handsinc.official
Thoughts:
Great for a stationery fix if you’re in a hurry. A smaller version of the famous Hand (used to be Tokuy Hands) which has big stores in Shibuya and Shinjuku. Decent notebook and planner selection. There is a huge one taking up a whole building further past Loft if you are adventurous.
Unity Falls connection:
Riley the FMC of Riley and the Love Jinx makes printables and planners, so I think she would be in heaven to see all the notebooks and stationery items.
Loft
Address: 21-1 Udagawacho, Shibuya
Website: Loft Shibuya
Instagram: loft_shibuya
Travel notes: To get to Loft from here, you can’t really avoid Shibuya intersection, so enjoy it for the chaos it is. It’s about a 5-minute walk depending on how many people are there.
Thoughts:
I forget how much I like Loft as a chain, but the Shibuya location in particular. The Shibuya location’s planner selection is extensive, and I think it was better than Ito-ya in Ginza. The art supplies selection is not super extensive, but it has the basics. Muji store connects through the basement. You can knock off two Japanese icons in one visit.
Kyoto Uji Fujii Meien
Address: 1-2-3 Dogenzaka Shibuya Fukuras 6F (aka Tokyu Plaza)
Website: Fujii Meien
Travel notes: This is on the opposite side of Shibuya Station. Cross Shibuya intersection again and head for the corner with the L’Occitane shop and go past Mark City. It’s on the right before crossing the very busy road, Route 246.
Thoughts:
I was super tired by this time, and it was tempting to just go home, but I was determined to finish my adventure. The matcha was good, but a bit more bitter, which pairs perfectly with desserts. There are a few seats outside. Matcha pancakes on the menu! I really wanted to order these, but my husband texted me that he’d prepped my favorite salad, so I resisted the pancakes.
Unity Falls connection:
This place was all about the tea for me. The atmosphere felt a lot more formal than what would work for Unity Falls. I like the idea of matcha pancakes or matcha waffles.
The tea cup is now empty
I never did find the real-world version of Unity Falls’ Matcha. But even though the book’s already written, today’s Mega Matcha Adventure confirmed that I nailed the vibe I was going for. Traveling around Tokyo was this interesting mix of nostalgia, places I used to go with friends, and noticing how much the city has changed. I love how the world is embracing green tea and matcha these days. When I wrote Riley and the Love Jinx, green tea was more niche. Maybe Ben’s matcha café was just ahead of its time.
P.S. Curious about Riley and the Love Jinx (or my first book, Second Chance Donuts)?
Visit my Books page for blurbs and behind-the-scenes extras — or pick up a copy of the contemporary, sweet, small-town romance, Riley and the Love Jinx from your favorite book seller.
1 comment