Just a 3-minute walk away from the east exit of Ageo Station in a narrow side street is a new coffee shop, GOAT Coffee, that roasts its own beans. Its stylish interior feels like a British tailor's shop, and jazz plays over the speakers. Its owner is Kohei Arai, 28, an Ageo native and former long-distance athlete who ran in both the Hakone Ekiden and New Year Ekiden. Serial injuries forced him to retire 4 years ago, but in April he achieved another of his dreams with the opening of the cafe.
Arai graduated from Urawa Jitsugyo Gakuen H.S. in 2015 and entered Daito Bunka University. His coach and teammates found him to be an important part of the team, and he ran the Hakone Ekiden as a 1st-year. All 3 times he ran Hakone during college he was put on the 21.3 km First Stage, but when he looks back on it now all he remembers is "causing problems for everyone else." During his 2nd year he had a stress fracture in his left leg that took almost a year to work through. As a 4th-year he collided with another athlete right after the start and fell. Limping his way through the entire distance with an injured left ankle, he finished 22nd on the opening stage.
After graduating Arai joined the Sunbelx corporate team. He ran there for 2 years, but the lasting effects of the previous injury prevented him from ever getting back to where he had been, and he gave up on his dream of being an athlete. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any regrets about my athletic career," he admits. Retiring at age 24, he set out to achieve another dream: running his own coffee shop.
Living in the college dorms he had always enjoyed making coffee, and to perfect his skills he spent his free time post-retirement traveling around the country to study different coffee shops while working at his parents' interior design firm. Through this he met the Abes, owners of the popular Alley Coffee in Saitama. Arai came to see them as mentors and asked them to let him learn from them. After 3 years of hard work he decided it was time to start his own shop. He was nervous about making the jump to running a business for the first time, but his wife Yukina telling him, "That's a great idea," gave him the courage to risk it. "I really appreciate her giving him that gentle push," he says.
Arai found a nice 2-story building available near Ageo Station. The street had the right vibe too. Arai took out a loan to get started, asking his father Shingo, 65, to help with the interior design, a friend to do the air conditioning work, and doing as much of the rest of the work as he could himself to save money. He named if GOAT Coffee, slang in the sports world for Greatest Of All Time. "I want everyone who comes in to feel like it's the best coffee they've had," he says.
"Thanks to running I learned the importance of careful planning and working steadily every day," Arai smiles. "I want this to be a comfortable place where all our customers can relax." Arai is committed to producing top-quality specialty coffee and only uses beans that he personally finds delicious. He carefully selects a range of styles to suit different tastes, and offers homemade donuts and french toast. GOAT Coffee is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. except Wednesdays, and is located at 1-2-26 Kamicho in Ageo. For more information visit its Instagram.
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translated by Brett Larner
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