Starbucks Tribes

Starbucks is definitely not the most original place to spend your time at. But then again it is a really good place to study at. Obviously Starbucks has recognized that exactly this is a major appeal and has placed an extra shared study table in its stores here in Japan. Even the regular tables are mainly occupied by people studying, having informal business meetings, reading, working on their laptops, having language lessons and so on. So basically Starbucks has turned into one big office/library/meeting room with the benefit of decent coffee.
I go to study in my favourite Starbucks in Akabane almost every day. It`s the ideal atmosphere to study: some noise but not too distracting, a cup of coffee, other people studying as well to make you feel you are not alone and the impression that you are still having a social time while working. I do like small private cafes, but unfortunately you quickly get the impression that you should buy a new cup of coffee every 30 minutes or so or else start moving on. I had developed a dislike of Starbucks in 2006 when doing my internship in Boston where you have a cafe every 5 meters or so. But now I`m in again, just too good of a study spot.
The other guests, and some of them are regulars too, are interesting to observe too. There is this English teacher who gives conversation lessons to a Japanese business man at Starbucks. He totally confirms my impressions that many English teachers are not cut out for improving Japanese people`s English skills. All he does is just sit there and chat with the other guy and being paid for it. I haven`t heard any serious inputs from him to improve the others grammar, vocab or anything. There is also a foreigner who gets Japanese classes with an elderly lady. She looks very stern, he looks very clueless... And there is this guy who comes to "study" at Starbucks frequently. Seems to be a student of city planning or something like that according to his books. The trouble is just, he reads like 3 lines, then he starts typing messages on his phone again or he re-arranges his hair or he looks at his too tanned face in a small mirror or he goes to the toilet or he falls asleep (see pic)... He could easily skip taking those props (aka textbooks) with him as he never seems to get anything done.
Coming there so often plus being a foreigner has made the staff of the Akabane Starbucks notice me. The boldest of the guys there asked me for my Facebook contact after a while and then gradually introduced me to his colleagues. It`s nice, I get special treatment now, little figures drawn on my cup and so on. Makes it even more fun to go there and I have the chance to practise my oral Japanese skills as well. Now every time I enter the store I get a big "Hello" from the staff and of course lots of encouragement for my Japanese studies.