Where in Japan? I just got back from visiting Tokyo and Kyoto and there are loads of good places to drink coffee. In Tokyo a few of my favourites were Bear Pond Espresso, Omotesando Koffee, Maruyama Coffee but there are a multitude of great places.
If you're interested in Japanese coffee culture you should read Merry White's Coffee Life in Japan which shows how rich Japanese coffee culture is and how it has influenced the recent speciality coffee movement in the US including popular places like Blue Bottle.
Those are in central Tokyo I think? There are a few decent places here (I've just moved to Setagaya) but outside of central Tokyo (I was living in North Tokyo) it's a different story. Even around here, if you just walk into a random chain, I think you'll find the coffee is markedly worse than Starbucks.
I'm not saying the Kissatens generally in Japan aren't great, they are! I love them to bits. They serve good food are independently run and have a really nice casual atmosphere and friendly owners, and unique character quite often with children and or dogs running around...
But the coffee often isn't that great, they can be quite smokey (Starbucks is the only nonsmoking coffee shop I've found in Japan) and the vast majority don't have wifi. I can see why a "digital nomad" might be attracted to Starbucks you know what you'll get and you can hang around working without feeling bad.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll try and check them out.
If you haven't already I would highly recommend you watch The Pier (La Jetee) which was the inspiration for 12 Monkeys. It has a really beautiful and unique style being composed almost completely of still images which suits the story very well.
