A short 15-minute walk from Ihara Station brings you to Koiya Coffee, a cafe that radiates a distinctive atmosphere right from its entrance. I was just looking for a place to quench my thirst in the sweltering heat and never imagined finding such an atmospheric cafe. I asked the owner, and he mentioned he's originally from Hiroshima and a fan of the Hiroshima Carp. He said he chose the name without any deeper meaning, just for fun. But then, a friend who loved the shop gifted him a beautiful painting of a carp, and gradually, the carp theme grew, he laughed. The owner's warm personality, the gentle, soothing Japanese-style space – it's truly a wonderful place. In the back, they regularly host gallery exhibitions. This time, it was a show by Ms. Ayaka Matsushima, a local actress from the San'in region of Hiroshima. I highly recommend this cafe.
