Like a Ninja

Joseph Craft, who came from Los Angeles as an intern for Kick Back Cafe, expressed his first impression of Kick Back Cafe in this way. The diversity of customers that is being targeted at various times during one day and the various genre of music at any given night make it seem as though the cafe has no consistency. The lack of so-called "consistency" is exactly the message that this cafe is trying to convey.

The face of Kick Back quickly turns from a family-type atmosphere filled with the youthful energy of children and their mothers during the day, to a mellow, jazzy atmosphere with candlelight at night. The Kick Back is a cunning cafe that uses every method possible to accomplish its task: to satisfy as many and as diverse of a crowd as possible.

Since our grand-opening, Kick Back has featured musicians from the genres of jazz, fusion, classic, club DJ, J-pop, Opera, traditional Japanese 3 string guitar (shamisen), and gospel, to name a few. We have also had dances, plays, art shows, and even weddings. Even our staff is amazed at the cunning nature of this cafe.

Kick Back and relax with your best of friends. Be yourself, and enjoy every aspect of Kick Back. That is what this cafe is meant to be. You can enjoy this place as a cafe, a live-house, even as a school. The Kick Back strives to create a multi-dimensional atmosphere, which gives it the seemingly cunning nature, and is comparable to the nature of the ninja. We hope that you will find a new face of our cafe every time you visit us.

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Wedding Five couples recently chose Kick Back as the place to start their lives together. The owner, Marre, is a gospel musician as well as a pastor and he can conduct the wedding ceremonies, as well as prepare the couples through his pre-marital counseling. Kick Back is also the exclusive wedding hall of J-Bride, an organization that produces original weddings suitable to the preference of the couples. "With the help of Marre and Kumiko, I was able to get married to my husband and have been happily married since. He not only conducted the wedding ceremony, but through his premarital counseling, he taught us the difference between men and women and got us ready for the marriage life. At the wedding, the Kick Back was adorned beautifully and it was a wedding made originally for us. Through his music and message at the wedding we were blessed, as well. It was by far the best day of our lives." -Yuka Morishita,a counslee that used KBC as their place to get married The Hayashi couple exchanged their rings during the weekly event, Sunday Night Service. "It was not easy making the commitment to exchange rings in front of a crowd I did not know, but one thing I wanted to avoid was to start my marriage with my husband with a simple signature of approval. As I went up on stage and exchanged rings with my husband, I was able to experience something that I would have never able to if it was just a signature. I was able to realize that I was truly getting married and I am very thankful that I did it. I was blessed by my friends, the Kick Back staff and the customers that were present at the Kick Back. It was a wonderful experience." --Rumi Hayashi,a counselee that exchanged wedding rings during the Sunday Night Service

Charity During the month of January, February, and March, the Kick Back had a charity live concert, "Gospel Fest-Don't Forget Sumatra" after the Sumatra Earthquake hit vast areas of Asia on December 26th. With the help of many customers, we were able to collect a sum of roughly 150,000 yen to deliver to Sumatra. At the end of March, several of the staff of Kick Back as well as the owner of Kick Back and his wife went to Thailand, where the tsunami hit, as a result of the earthquake. Our main purpose was to reach the areas that did not receive hardly any support from the government and NGO's. We delivered door to door to them water and other supplies that were desperately needed, and also hope in the Gospel. In the charity concert that was held in November of 2004 for the earthquake in Niigata, there were also many people that showed that they cared, as we once again able to collect money to deliver to the people suffering from the catastrophe. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers who showed their sympathy with their support. One of the villages that the team visited was a fisherman village and it was completely wiped out with the result of the tsunami. There was a conflict between the Thai government and those remaining from the fishing village. The government wanted to rebuild the area as a tourist palace rather than the fishing village it was before the tsunami, but for the surviving residents it was the only home that they have known for generations. In other areas, there was an overwhelming need for supplies.

Andre is coming to town!

In the spring of 2005, the owner received a call from his friend, "Producer M", and he said that Andrae Crouch is coming to Japan.

Andrae Crouch is a giant in the gospel music genre, has proudly won the Grammy Award 9 times, and has impacted renowned artists such as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones.

"Producer M" told Marre that Andrae wanted to visit Kick Back Cafe.

"What? Andrae Crouch wants to...! That's amazing."

Marre and the Kick Back staff could not hide the excitement that we had for the imminent visit of the superstar. Even though he was coming to Japan on a private sightseeing trip, there seemed to be a remote chance that this Grammy Award winning musician was going to be on stage performing for us. The day that Andrae came to our cafe was the day that our monthly Gospel Fest was going to be conducted. We did not promote this event, but obviously people heard that the superstar was performing at Kick Back as there was a long line formed before the concert. As he got on stage, he reminded of us of the reason why he was in Japan, just for a visit. It turns out that included Kick Back and its stage. He got on stage with his twin sister, Sandra, and showed his ferocious presence to the crowd that surpassed 200 for that night. The roof was truly raised that night.

Nothing anybody imagined.

What is happening at Kick Back Cafe is truly amazing. A year ago, the staff and anyone involved with the making of Kick Back Cafe would not have ever been able to imagine a musician like Andrae Crouch performing on the stage of Kick Back. The staff had no experience in the restaurant business, and,besides for the owner and his wife,they had no connections with any sort of musicians. But they were there as they witnessed musician after musician coming and performing at Kick Back. Starting with Andrae Crouch, all the events that were conducted at the Kick Back was with the help of unexplainable connections through customers and from other musicians.

After one year of operation and as a group that witnessed all of this first hand, they agree that one thing has happened at this cafe: a miracle.

Experience the miracle. Come and join us. It will surely be an incredible ride in the year to come.