Photo/Illutration Yoriko Kukita, seen here in Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, on June 25, owns The Velvet House, a queer feminist cafe. (Momoe Harano)

KAWANISHI, Hyogo Prefecture—The Velvet House, a unique cafe here, is drawing visitors from all over Japan with its slogan “a queer feminist cafe for all.”

The cafe has gained fame as a place where gay people and feminists can gather, relax and exchange ideas in a comfortable environment. 

‘NO HARASSMENT’

The Velvet House is in the Obana 1-chome district of Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, within walking distance of Hankyu Kawanishi-Noseguchi Station.

The two-story cafe, renovated out of a former ramen shop, has the following message at the entrance: “No violence or harassment is allowed here. Please enjoy a comfortable time with coffee and cake in our safe space.”

The cafe has four counter seats on the ground floor and a parlor upstairs with low tables and a shelf of books about feminism and queer studies.

“I want to create a society here in Kawanishi where people can discuss things with mutual respect,” said Yoriko Kukita, the owner.

FROM FASHION TO FOODIE

Kukita, 32, was born in Fukuoka Prefecture and spent her early childhood in Bangladesh and the United States.

In her university days, she studied fashion design at the Parsons School of Design in New York, one of the top three schools in the world for that field.

For her graduation project, Kukita was inspired by her ambition to connect people through fashion—but she hit a snag.

Cheap, mass-produced fast fashion is not at all eco-friendly, but clothes that use sustainable local materials are expensive to make, so only the wealthy can afford them.

“Oh, this is not what I want to do,” she realized.

Kukita returned to Japan after graduating from Parsons and distanced herself from the fashion industry.

It occurred to Kukita that food could provide a way for her to interact with people with more diverse values.

She began working at a restaurant in Osaka Prefecture in 2018.

The experience opened her eyes to the charms of the industry, which gave her opportunities to chat with customers and listen to their conversations.

About two years into working there, she married her husband, who also works in the restaurant industry. They had a daughter during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

After giving birth, Kukita suffered from postpartum depression for about three years.

Kukita’s husband opened a restaurant in his home city of Kawanishi around that time. As she watched him work up close, she felt a growing desire to open a restaurant herself.

Kukita landed on the concept of a “queer feminist cafe” right away.

At her university, Kukita began to identify her gender as nonbinary, (meaning that she doesn’t fit into the male-female dichotomy) and identify her sexual orientation as pansexual (meaning that she can feel love and attraction to people regardless of their genders).

Kukita also became interested in feminism after the birth of her daughter. Becoming a parent forced Kukita to reflect on how being a “girl” had dictated how she dressed and behaved her entire life.

SO FEW ‘SAFE PLACES’

Kukita opened the cafe next door to her husband’s restaurant in April 2023.

The cafe is open only two days a week, on Fridays and Saturdays, but its reputation quickly spread on social media, drawing customers from all over Japan.

While most customers are from around Osaka, it’s not unusual for people from Tokyo, Nagoya or elsewhere to drop in while visiting Kansai, Kukita said.

Every time she meets a customer from afar, she is reminded of how few other similar places there are in Japan, where gays and feminists can engage in normal conversations with a sense of security, she said.

“My goal is to create a society where I wouldn’t have to even label my place as a queer feminist cafe (because that would be the default),” Kukita said.

The Velvet House is open from 11 a.m. through 4 p.m.

Visit the cafe’s Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/the_velvet_house/, mostly in Japanese) for more details.

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