Kobe

Why it matters: run since March 2023 by the social welfare corporation Mikari-kai as a Type B employment-support workplace, this is a real cafe where people with disabilities do the cooking, the counter and the service – and it doubles as the third home of Kobe Fureai Kobo, the city social welfare council’s craft outlet founded in 1999, whose cookies, pound cakes and sawori-woven pouches from 61 member workshops fill the wooden shelves. It changes character three times a day so staff can pick the shift that suits them: rich tamago kake gohan in the morning, weekday tonjiru with a choice from about fifteen onigiri at lunch, then local Kobe sake and small plates from 14:00. Get the tonjiru-and-onigiri set and take a bag of Fureai Kobo bakes for the train. Practical tip: it is inside the ticket-gate level of Sannomiya-Hanadokeimae subway station, step-free and door-free, but closed Sundays and the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays.