Couple strange things I've noticed at coffee shops here:
First, coffee is as expensive as espresso drinks. A tall coffee at Tully's is 360 yen ($3.60). A tall latte is 400 yen ($4). Not sure why they're so close here.
Second, Japanese borrows words from other languages and morphs them into words that fit its alphabet better. Whereas English keeps pretty close to it ("tsunami" is "tsunami," "sushi" is "sushi"), Japanese does not. Curry becomes "Kare" (Kah-REI), for example. 'Iced Coffee' is one of those words. I tried to order an iced coffee yesterday and the barista looked at me funny for a second, then said, "Oh! Aisu kohee? Hai." And ran off.
Third, I went to what must've been one of the busiest (if not THE busiest) Starbucks in the world today (it overlooks Shibuya Crossing). They had three cash registers: the main counter, one for buying beans and cups, and another counter downstairs. The main counter had 4 cashiers and 5 baristas making drinks. Get this though: they only served small drinks. You didn't have a choice of size. Wonder why...
Fourth, Chemex coffee makers are a different shape. Ours look like this this, theirs look like this.
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