Noriko Okazoe×Chisako Takashima

2012.03.07

A talk series with the violinist Chisako Takashima and the Ginza people. Ginza holds many personal and professional memories for Takashima. In this talk series, she thoroughly explores various aspects of the Ginza culture with her guests. Today’s guest is Noriko Okazoe, proprietress-to-be of Kanetanaka, a long-standing ryotei (Japanese-style) restaurant that has been around since the Taisho era (the 1920’s).

I had no idea what to do my first 5 years after getting married.

Takashima: I once visited the restaurant right around the time I was making my debut.
But I did not know the name of the restaurant well and thought it was Kintanaka (laughs).
Okazoe: Yes, people tend to give the restaurant name more complicated readings, like Kindenchu (laughs).
Takashima: Where did the name Kanetanaka come from?
Okazoe: There was a big restaurant called Tanakaya. Kanetanaka was the name of the shop that its head waitress, Kaneko, opened under a different name.
Takashima: I understand that Kanetanaka has opened other restaurants as well.
Okazoe: My husband’s grandfather is from Mie prefecture. Okahan is a restaurant along Namiki-dori that uses Matsuzaka beef.
Takashima: I’m very interested in going there. I’m a big meat-eater (laughs). Do they serve lunch as well?
Okazoe: Yes, and it’s very reasonably priced. In the same building there is also the counter style restaurant, Kanetanaka An, and there is Sukiya Kanetanaka in Cerulean Tower in Shibuya.
Takashima: Do you offer catering services?
Okazoe: Yes, we do. We often receive requests to cater parties for people working for foreign brands, and they are always very happy with what we offer. All these new ideas were conceived by my husband.
Takashima: He is the ‘idea man.’
Okazoe: He says that he wants to try opening up all different kinds of shops in keeping with the changing times.
Takashima: Did you learn how to work as an Okami-san (manageress) after you got married?
Okazoe: Yes. I got married without knowing anything at all about the job, so I was often bewildered.
Takashima: Did you have any difficulties?
Okazoe: It was not so much that it was difficult, but more that I just did not know what to do.
At first I just stood behind my mother-in-law and greeted guests, but all the guests were very important people, so I did not know what to say to them. There is no manual, so I just had to watch and learn. I don’t think I did anything for the first 5 years.
Takashima: Then you became more and more used to it….
Okazoe: Exactly. I felt a good response running Kanetanaka An, the restaurant my husband and I opened together. I’ve come to feel that it is a difficult job, but one that is very rewarding.

36-mat tea-ceremony pavilion with a view of a bamboo garden

Sea bream sashimi, a dish served at Kanetanaka

Geisha quarters are made up of ryotei restaurants, teahouses and geisha houses.

Takashima: The area around this restaurant is probably not very familiar to regular people.
Okazoe: That may be true. That was the case for me before getting married.
This area is called the geisha quarters in Shimbashi and was supposedly developed in 1858, over 150 years ago.
Takashima: What are geisha quarters like?
Okazoe: Geisha quarters are made up of ryotei restaurants, teahouses and geisha houses. The restaurants would call the geisha houses to request geisha to come to entertain.
Takashima: Is the system still the same today?
Okazoe: Most of the teahouses are gone now and have given way to large ryotei restaurants. Teahouses are more laid back than ryotei restaurants. They are not places where you eat a meal, but where you have snacks and sake and can call geisha.
Takashima: Do fewer people call geisha these days?
Okazoe: You may get that impression because many patrons are companies entertaining clients, but some sophisticated patrons do ask us to bring over a geisha to sing a kouta (short songs accompanied by the shamisen, a Japanese string instrument).

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