I walked into a restaurant to get a quick bite for lunch. After I squeezed myself through the narrow door, I noticed the restaurant's first floor was completely full. "Packed" would be a more appropriate word: All four seats were taken.

The waitress indicated I could go up the staircase, which was similar to an attic stairway — enough for one person to climb up. Upstairs had six small two-person tables that altogether could hold a total of 12 people.

Two waitresses, skinny ones, were moving around with elbows tucked in, serving drinks and saying, "Excuse me, excuse me," while coming perilously close to dumping hot tea into customers laps every time they brushed past. They must have strict metabolic-syndrome guidelines here when hiring waitresses. You really could not hire a waitress with a beer belly here. If these waitresses ever decide to break off on their own and start their own restaurants, perhaps they could start by serving breakfast on rush hour trains in Tokyo.