Famous cafes in famous locations to disappear from Kamakura? Owners are displeased with “such inconsistent reasoning…

A popular café that has been a part of Shonan’s history will be evicted by the city of Kamakura this month.

The name of the cafe is “Venus Cafe” (Sakanoshita, Kamakura City). It is also known as the location for the movie “Inamura Jane” (released in 1990) directed by Keisuke Kuwata (68) of the Southern All Stars, and the drama “The Second Love from the End” starring Kyoko Koizumi (58) and Kiichi Nakai (62), and was recently used for the movie “G-Men” starring Yuta Kishi (28).

Facing Route 134, a main road along the sea, and with the coast of Kamakura spread out before its eyes, Venus Cafe was established in 1954 (Showa 29). Located in Kamakura Seaside Park managed by the city, it started as a rest house for the municipal swimming pool (opened in 1955), which was the largest in the East at the time. Since then, the management company has changed, and the current president, Jiro Yoshizawa, 55, is the third generation.

I heard that the restaurant was extremely popular in the 1965-1975 period when the first generation was running it, and I have heard the legend too. At that time, this place was a live music club that had been added to a barracks, and musicians were always playing here. National Route 134 was still a toll road and was called “Shonan Road. The cars and motorcycles of the Shonan tribe who came to this restaurant lined up on Shonan Road, and the lights of their headlights were seen for a long time. You could say that this store was the birthplace of Shonan culture.

In fact, in “Inamura Jane,” a movie that can be said to be a symbol of Shonan culture, a live music club called “Venus” is the setting of the movie, and “Venus” is modeled after the Venus Café.

It was in 2010 that the city of Kamakura demanded the eviction of such a historical cafe in Shonan.

The Venus Cafe was originally positioned as a rest house for visitors to the municipal swimming pool, and the land and building were leased from the city of Kamakura for an annual rent of 2.3 million yen. The contract was renewed annually, but in January 2011, the city of Kamakura decided to stop renewing the contract and demolish the building because it fell below earthquake resistance standards. However, “Venus Cafe” continued to operate, and in June of this year, the city decided to file a lawsuit against it, claiming that it was illegally occupying the building.

The building was expanded in 1998 at my own expense with permission from the city, but the expansion was not earthquake-proof,” said the owner. The building is a sturdy steel-framed structure that complies with the new earthquake-proof standards,” he said. In Reiwa 2021 In 2021, we asked a contractor to check the earthquake resistance and were told that there was no problem at all. However, for some reason, the city told us that the earthquake resistance was insufficient. The city, however, said, “We can’t let you use the facility as it is if we can’t ensure the safety of our users. But I have a responsibility to protect this restaurant and the history of Shonan.

President Yoshizawa is not at all convinced by the city’s decision and continues to operate.

In fact, some have questioned the reason for the lack of earthquake resistance. Eriko Kurihara, 55, a first-class architect and a member of the Kamakura City Council, said, “If the buildings are not earthquake resistant, they should just be reinforced.

If it is not earthquake resistant enough, just reinforce it,” she continued.

I believe that city planning is something created by the citizens. Therefore, I don’t think it is a good idea to destroy a facility that has been a landmark for the citizens for more than 70 years, unless there is something wrong with it. People live partly in memories, so if we can continue the townscape that has been familiar to us since childhood, we should continue as is, and we should all think together about how we can make the town a better place.

Many city council members as well as Kurihara City Council members are of the opinion that “fair and careful consideration should be given” to this issue. However, Takashi Matsuo, 50, mayor of Kamakura, said at a press conference in May,

He stated, “The trigger is the lack of earthquake resistance, but I would also like to review the situation in which prime sites are given priority. While changing the rationale from “lack of earthquake resistance” to “reviewing the use of city-owned land,” the mayor has been flaunting his stance of pushing for the eviction and demolition of the building.

In response to the mayor’s statement, President Yoshizawa said, “At first, the seismic inspection showed that the building was ‘inadequate,

At first, he said, “The seismic inspection told us to leave because the building was noncompliant, but before we knew it, the story changed drastically, and he said, “We have been renewing the lease every year on an exclusive basis. The situation is not so good, so you should move out. Why is the city forcing us to leave with such inconsistent reasoning? What kind of a head of government would do such a thing?

On the other hand, the Kamakura City Green Parks Department insists that the reason for the eviction has not changed, and that the building’s earthquake resistance is still insufficient.

The steel-framed portion of the building was found to be not earthquake resistant, with an Is value of only 0.43, compared to the standard value of 0.6, indicating that the building is not earthquake resistant. Therefore, there was a risk that the steel-framed section would collapse in the event of a major earthquake, and in that case, there was concern that human casualties could occur, since most of the seating was located in the steel-framed section. It is not reasonable to continue the existence of the rest house (Venus Cafe) even after investing new capital in earthquake-proofing and other reinforcements and repairs, and it is not fair to continue to allow one person to use it exclusively due to changes in the environment.

What is the city’s assessment of the tourist and cultural value of the Venus Café? I asked,

He answered categorically, “We do not value it.

The city of Kamakura has asked us to operate the café as a rest house, and that is why it has been in existence for over 70 years. There are other park-benefit facilities, but they have conducted an earthquake-resistance assessment only for the Venus Cafe. If there is a plan for this area, it is not enough if there is no concrete plan, but I wonder how they are forcing us to evict them without a concrete plan. There was a large discrepancy between the Venus Cafe and Kamakura City’s seismic diagnosis results, and in March of this year, the Venus Cafe filed a lawsuit against the City of Kamakura. The fact that Kamakura City decided to file a lawsuit in June without waiting for the results of that lawsuit may be considered bullying of the weaker party,” said Kurihara.

I hope that the “Shonan Heritage” will continue to be active on location, etc. …….