12/30/2025
There's a café in Tokyo giving people with dementia a place to volunteer - and where pauses, mix-ups, and gentle confusion are welcome...
Orange Day Café is a monthly pop-up known affectionately as "the café of mistaken orders." There, muddled orders and long pauses aren’t seen as mistakes - they’re all part of the experience.
That's because as well as serving delicious coffee and cakes, the café is giving people with dementia a place to volunteer and find a sense of community.
One the best-known volunteers, Toshio Morita, is in his 80s. He's become something of a local celebrity in the area, with his orange apron, chequered headband, and charming smile.
"It's fun and lively here when there are many customers," he says. "I am excited when I see people enjoying their drinks, and when they start chatting to me."
Mix-ups can happen in the café, but nobody minds. And the tables and menus are colour-coded to help the elderly waiters take orders.
Toshio Morita has been working at the café for just over a year now, and his wife Masako says he always looks forward to it, but she worries how long he can continue:
"I wonder... if he can still do this, especially with his dementia symptoms progressing."
Japan's population is aging, and the country's Ministry of Health estimates more than five million people will be affected by dementia by 2030.
Many of Japan's elderly also live alone - so when Akiko Kanna founded the Orange Day café, she wanted to give people with dementia a chance to find human connection.
Her own father was diagnosed with dementia five years ago. By the time Akiko was able to open the café, her father was sadly too ill to take part himself. But Akiko says running it has been a great experience:
"People want to draw a line between people who are disabled and abled. I don't like that," she says. "Everybody needs a place to be needed."
🎧 The Happy Pod
A pop-up cafe in Tokyo is giving people with dementia a place to volunteer
