Barista wanted — Café de Kawakyu, Nanki-Shirahama

The place

Sixteen seats, facing the sea.

海に向かって16席。小さな店です。

Café de Kawakyu sits on the ground floor of a small auberge in Nanki-Shirahama, a hot-spring town on the Pacific coast of Wakayama. The counter faces the bay, with the old castle-like Hotel Kawakyu standing on the far shore.

It is small on purpose — around sixteen seats. Coffee and pastries through the afternoon; in the evening the same counter becomes a bar. You would not be one of thirty staff. You would be the person who stands here.

午後は珈琲と焼き菓子、夜は同じカウンターがバーになります。
大勢の中の一人ではなく、この場所に立つ人を探しています。

The cafe interior with a long stone counter, oak floor and hand-glazed tile wall — The counter is finished. It is waiting for someone to stand behind it.

The window seats looking across the water to Hotel Kawakyu — What you'd look at all day.

The water feature and lanterns outside the cafe at night — After dark, the bar hours.

The work

Roughly, this.

だいたい、こんな仕事です。

Espresso and brewed coffee Espresso machine, cold-brew tower, Clever dripper. Single-origin beans from Japanese roasters. エスプレッソ／水出し／クレバードリッパー。豆は国内ロースターのシングルオリジン。
Drinks made with what grows here Wakayama citrus — jabara, hassaku — in sodas, syrups and cocktails. The menu is still being written; your ideas go into it. じゃばら・八朔など和歌山の柑橘を使ったドリンク。メニューは制作中なので、あなたの案が入ります。
The evening bar Wine by the glass, a short cocktail list, a quiet room. Not a busy bar — a careful one. 夜はグラスワインと少数のカクテル。忙しい店ではなく、丁寧な店です。
Being part of the room Guests come for the place as much as for the coffee. How you stand, how you greet, when you stay out of the way — that is part of the work here. お客様は珈琲と同じくらい「場」を見にきます。立ち方・迎え方・引き方も仕事のうちです。

A barista finishing a pour at the stone counter, sea light behind — The counter, in use.

Why here

What you'd get out of it.

ここで働くと、何が手に入るか。

The counter is yours from the first day The menu is not written yet. What gets served here will be decided by whoever stands here, together with the chef — not handed down from a manual. メニューはまだ白紙です。何を出すかは、ここに立つ人とシェフで決めます。マニュアルを渡されるのではありません。
A drinks list, not just a coffee list Coffee and tea through the day, then wine by the glass and a short cocktail list at night. Few café jobs come with an evening programme attached. 昼は珈琲と茶、夜はグラスワインとカクテル。夜の面まで持てるカフェの仕事は多くありません。
Guests who stay, not queue A small auberge means the same few people for several days at a time. You learn what someone drinks instead of calling out names. 小さなオーベルジュなので、同じ方が数日続けて来られます。名前を呼ぶのではなく、その人の一杯を覚える仕事です。
Small enough that your work shows Sixteen seats. Nothing you do well disappears into volume, and nothing you do badly does either. 16席。良い仕事も悪い仕事も、量に紛れません。
Somewhere worth living while you do it Shirahama is a hot-spring town on the Pacific — white sand, onsen, an airport 70 minutes from Tokyo. We help you find a place to live. 白浜は温泉とビーチの町。羽田から空路70分。住まい探しはお手伝いします。

Terms

The plain numbers.

条件です。開業前なので、詰めきれていないところは正直にそう書いています。

Part-time: ¥1,600 / hour and up, by experience
アルバイト：時給1,600円〜（経験により）
Full-time: ¥280,000 / month and up, by experience
正社員：月給28万円〜（経験により）
Where: Shirahama, Wakayama — about 70 minutes by air from Tokyo, 2.5 hours by train from Osaka
和歌山県白浜町。羽田から空路約70分、大阪から特急で約2時間半。
Start: As soon as you can. We would rather meet someone who is ready now than wait
できるだけ早く。すぐに動ける方を優先します。
Language: English is fine. Japanese is welcome, not required
英語で構いません。日本語は歓迎しますが必須ではありません。
Housing: Shirahama is a small town — we will help you find a place to live. Let's talk
住まいはご相談ください。地元で探すお手伝いをします。

These figures are our current guideline, not a fixed offer. We are still opening, so hours, days off and the shape of the role are open. If you are the right person, we would rather build the role around you than lose you over a number. 上記は現時点の目安で、確定条件ではありません。勤務時間・休日・役割は相談で決めます。

Visa

One honest note before you write.

在留資格について、先に正直に書いておきます。

You need a status of residence that already permits this work. We are looking for someone who can start soon, so in practice that means one of these:

Permanent resident, long-term resident, or spouse of a Japanese national or permanent resident — no work restriction
永住者・定住者・日本人の配偶者等・永住者の配偶者等 — 就労制限なし
Working Holiday — welcome, and a good fit for a year with us
ワーキングホリデー（特定活動）— 歓迎します
Student with permission to engage in activity outside your status — part-time, up to 28 hours a week
留学＋資格外活動許可 — アルバイトとして週28時間まで
An existing Specified Skilled Worker (food service) status — if you already hold one
すでに特定技能1号「外食業」をお持ちの方

What we cannot do right now: we cannot sponsor a brand-new Specified Skilled Worker visa. Japan suspended new intake in the food service field in April 2026 and has not restarted it. We would rather tell you that here than after three emails.

If you are not sure what your status allows, write anyway and tell us what you hold. We will check it properly with our immigration specialist and give you a straight answer. 現在、特定技能1号「外食業」は新規受入れが全国的に停止中（2026年4月13日〜・再開未定）のため、新規のスポンサーはできません。ご自身の在留資格で働けるか分からない場合は、お持ちの資格をお知らせください。行政書士に確認のうえ、はっきりお答えします。

Who

Who we hope reads this.

こんな方に届いたらうれしい。

Someone who has stood behind a bar or a coffee counter and cared about doing it well. Someone comfortable being the only person in the room who knows how it should feel.

You do not need a long résumé or perfect Japanese. You need taste, steadiness, and the wish to make a place your own rather than inherit someone else's.

バーやカウンターに立った経験があり、その仕事を大事にしてきた方。
長い職務経歴書も完璧な日本語も要りません。感覚と落ち着き、そして「誰かの店を引き継ぐのではなく、自分の場所にしたい」という気持ちがあれば十分です。

Apply

Just write to us.

応募は、メール1通で大丈夫です。

No form, no résumé template. An email telling us who you are, what you have made, when you could start, and what status of residence you hold is enough. A few photos of your work are welcome. We read everything and we reply.

履歴書の形式は問いません。お名前・これまで作ってきたもの・開始できる時期・在留資格を書いてお送りください。
作品の写真があれば歓迎です。必ずお返事します。

Email us →

or ask a question first · if you found us on Instagram, a DM works too.
Instagram からお越しの方は、DM でも構いません。