Salon de thé François

In July 1936, the Salon de thé François started to support distribution of an anti-fascist newspaper, “Doyōbi.” The Doyōbi (“Saturday,” in Japanese) was a six-page tabloid edited by Masakazu Nakai, a lecturer at Kyoto Imperial University, and Raitarō Saitō, an actor at the Shochiku movie studio.

While Bencivenni worked on the master plan, Shirō Takagi, another friend of Tateno, designed stained glass windows and painted several murals.

[citation needed] The Salon de thé François continued business even after the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, although the name was changed to Japanese “Miyako Sabō” (Kyoto Tea Room) because of the prohibition of the use of enemy languages.

When Italy signed the armistice with the allies in September 1943, the Japanese authorities demanded Bencivenni declare allegiance to the fascist puppet republic of Salo.

[2][3] The Salon de thé François could no longer purchase coffee beans, and thus served green tea and dried banana chips as snacks.