"Mom and Pop" shops a vanishing treasure.

The year seems determined to finish as its has presented itself so far, unseasonably warm. Yesterday we made the 2 plus hour trek to Makuhari, between Chiba and Tokyo, to see the movie “Tron”. After the movie, which exceeded my expectations and introduced me to the music of Daf Punk, we had coffee al fresco on the patio of a little Italian restaurant,”Pinocchio”, in the outlet mall next to Makuhari station. The pleasure of having a civilized coffee outdoors in December is hard to measure, especially considering that one of my Twitter friends in Miami was complaining about the cold. Today, so far, the weather has been fabulous with flowers that normally bloom in Spring bursting forth. This strange weather could play havoc with the seasonal trade in flowers in nearby Shirahama. Normally tours from Tokyo and Yokohama come here by bus after the New Year holidays to pick flowers along the beach(and strawberries behind our house). If the flowers bloom too soon and then get hit by a normal cold spell it could be a very disappointing ride for the senior set.
Recently I have re-discovered the joy of avoiding the 2 nearby “super” markets to patronize some of the locally owned specialty shops, a meat market, a fish mongers.
In this area it is almost needless to use the term “mom and pop” to describe any shop that isn’t part of a regional or national chain. There are many shops that have closed their shutters for good for various reasons, primarily old age and competition away from the center of town on the major “bypass”. It is sad that the personal attention, friendliness and service that these “mom and pop” run stores provide will soon be a faint memory.
In a few minutes, my son and I will take advantage of this fine weather to have some wonderful buckwheat noodles at a local, you guessed it, “mom and pop”, soba shop.