Today I spent an hour chatting with Bruno Danese, the owner/barista at Hoccino Coffees here in Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan.
Bruno has barista & shop experience from Australia. He's from Brazil, and now lives with his wife in her hometown of Obihiro.
http://www.hoccino.com/

They've gone all out on espresso equipment with a pair of Roburs, one with their custom house blend, the other with a single origin on rotation. Today was an SO Timor coffee in the second grinder. A local roaster is handling their custom roasting, and so far it looks like he's got a great handle on the beans. (Actually, I think this roaster is the one in Otofuke Japan that shows on HG-1's map of grinders sold throughout the world. I'll have to look into connecting with him someday.)
A Synesso MVP Hydra, the only one in Hokkaido, graces the bar and puts out pure espresso nectar. Lovely shots, and we had 4, one of them a true macchiato just marked with a spoon of steamed milk. Great to have SO espresso that really shines. I haven't had espresso I enjoyed straight this much in such a long time.

Cupware is all from a Japanese source K-ai Co, their Origami line.
http://k-aijp.com/origami/origami_story.html
The pourover ceramics are also from the same company.

They're opening on July 2, so we're catching them just before official opening days.
They have ice coffee, slow drip and eventually a mini cafe menu planned. Really looking forward to future visits!

I know there aren't going to be many people from this forum making their way over here, but it was such a great experience I had to post it.