Totally legal, Kyoto City’s first CBD cafe, Lull Kyoto, offers seriously good smoothies and CBD-infused, high-quality Japanese traditional snacks as well as organic CBD products.
CBD is legal, THC is not. It is as simple as that in Japan. But public impression speaks differently; cannabis is illegal and just as bad as any other illegal stuff. Japanese people don’t care much about CBD or THC, like many other foreign ABCs nowadays. That’s pretty much where the value of cannabis becalms in Japan as of 2022.
The difference between CBD and THC is as deep/complicated as the difference between wine and beer (irony wwww). But again, most Japanese people don’t seem to care. Aren’t we – the Japanese – missing anything? God knows; when we visit a Shinto shrine, as an etiquette which may or may not be related to a personal religious belief – we usually bow before a holy torii-gate where a hemp Japanese shimenawa rope is strung. Praying for hemp is how it could look, isn’t it?
Legal hemp products are everywhere in Japan. But it seems that CBD and THC are mythically unrelated to their birth ironically, (partially) thanks to American Douglas MacArthur-led GHQ.
The storefront of Lull Kyoto.
The interior of Lull Kyoto. Tiny Japanese sugidama balls are suspended from the ceiling.
The first CBD cafe in Kyoto City, Lull Kyoto, is kind of like the first bar in the land where alcohol is banned and considered illegal. The only difference between Lull Kyoto and a speakeasy is that Lull Kyoto is a 100% legal, CBD-specialized cafe. There’s no underground vibe whatsoever, in fact, it’s the extreme opposite.
This clean, contemporary, and vegan-friendly CBD cafe is focused on health benefits and showcases a variety of cannabis-related products such as organic hemp seeds, CBD oils, CBD skincare products, CBD-infused Japanese snacks, etc. At a counter was an intellectual and congenial young couple who were willing to help customers with questions.
On a counter were 3 types of well-edited documents: a drink menu, a CBD menu that says “CBD DROPS,” and a chart concisely explaining the benefits of various substances in cannabis. The CBD menu offers drops by percentages: 3.3% (15mg), 5% (25mg), and 10% (50mg).
I ordered a presumably Lull Kyoto’s signature smoothie called “Horensosoi” in Japanese, which contains spinach (horenso in Japanese), banana (banana in Japanese), and soy (soy in Japanese). On top of that, I tried a 5% drop they recommended.
The 5% drop came with several drops of liquid from the bottle.
This matcha latte looking spinach smoothie was surprisingly delicious. I liked it more than its beguiling name (“Horensosoi” in Japanese almost sounds like “Chunky Monkey” of Ben & Jerry’s). I’m not a smoothie type of person when it comes to drinkable beliefs but it was good enough to almost convert me. I think Lull Kyoto is doing a divine job as a cafe even without its special services.
Lull Kyoto’s CBD wasanbon. ¥3800/$29 for a box containing 9 pieces.
The success of the smoothie made me grab a box of the Japanese traditional sweet snack, wasanbon (à la Lull Kyoto), as a souvenir. Wasanbon is essentially a hyper-quality granulated sugar cube in a cute shape of a flower, animal, etc. Each piece of Lull Kyoto’s unconventional geometric wasanbon contains 25mg of CBD. It had a unique bitterness and was certainly different from the traditional one that is sweet all the way.
The hexagram emblem on each piece is Japanese traditional Asanoha Monyo which means “hemp leave patterns” in Japanese.
The texture of Lull Kyoto’s CBD wasanbon.
Lull Kyoto was taking matters very professionally and functioning as an intellectual hub for customers to stay updated with the germinating cannabis industry in Japan. The prices of the products were reasonable. And most importantly, the smoothie was delicious.
On a wall at Lull Kyoto was a Japanese shinsatsu(ofuda)-amulet from legendary Oasahiko Shrine worshipping the god of cannabis in Japan.
Lull Kyoto CBD Café & Store | 384 Kajiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 〒604-0964, Japan
Horensosoi: ¥700 / $5.40 / £4.30 / €5
CBD drop 5%: ¥300 / $2.30 / £1.80 / €2.10
CBD wasanbon: ¥3800 / $29.20 / £23.80 / €27.10
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Lull Kyoto CBD Café & Store | 384 Kajiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 〒604-0964, Japan
