Pikachu Cafe!

Hey everyone!
So I am back with a brand new post!

A limited-time Pikachu Cafe has recently opened up in Roppongi hills!
The cafe opened on the 19th of July and will be around until August 31st. It is part of the Pokémon the Movie XY Exhibit that is being held at the Tokyo City View observation deck on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower Building. It is pretty close to the station and right by the Spider statue in Roppongi hills so it isn't hard to get to.

Being a Pokémon fan since childhood, a visit to this restaurant was a must so a few mutually enthusiastic friends and I ventured up to Roppongi yesterday to check it out.

If you go now you can also catch a limited-time exhibit of Doraemon (a famous anime) statues which are near the permanent spider statue. There were lots of people crowded around all the different Doraemon figures so don't expect to get a snap with your favorite one straight away!

Doraemon army!

No waiting for pictures at night!

They also had a dokodemo door anywhere door from the anime which had a short queue of people waiting to take photos.

dokodemo door

 Onto the main attraction... Pokémon!

Ash Ketchum... ah, my first crush!

 The Pokémon exhibit is being held to coincide with the new film Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction which is currently being shown in cinemas in Japan.

Being on an observation deck you can bet there are some pretty good views of the city as you walk through the observation deck (It does mean, however, that you need to buy a ticket up to the observation deck as well as the exhibition, but as students this came to 1500 yen - 2000 yen for adults). You can get your photo taken with the view in the background - a mini copy of the photo is given to you for free but you have to pay for the full-sized version.

Choose your Pokémon!

 Near the beginning of the exhibit you can find out your starter Pokémon by choosing one of 4 Pokéballs and following the path to your destined buddy! It was mainly for the kids but there were plenty of adults enjoying themselves. In fact there may have been more adults then children at the exhibit!

Who's that Pokémon?!

 The exhibit had original artwork of the characters and scenes and videos showing their search for locations for the films. I had no idea that location scouting was done for cartoon films but you could certainly see how they had incorporated it into some of the sceneries of the movies.

One of my favorite parts was a dark room with lots of glowing Pokéballs and atmospheric lighting. Without wanting to give too much away you could touch the Pokéballs to find out what Pokémon would be summoned!



After looking around the exhibit we were excited to finally see the Pikachu cafe!

What a cute menu!

While in the line we were given a rather cute Pikachu shaped menu to look at.

Once you have decided on a meal you use one of these machines often seen outside ramen restaurants to pay for your meal. You insert your money and push the buttons that correspond to the dishes you want. The machine prints you a ticket which you give to the waiter after you are guided to your table.

 

The café in all its glory!

 The food at the Pikachu cafe was - as may be expected - all Pokémon themed. They had ice cream floats that corresponded to different Pokémon and came with a matching coaster.

Food on offer was: a Pikachu curry, beef stew with omelette and Pokéball rice, Pikachu burger and a Pikachu curry bun. There was also a mango flavoured Pikachu pudding and a Pikachu parfait for dessert. All the food, was naturally adorable!

Blue oranges always were my favorite fruit

As usual I couldn't resist the unnatural allure of the blue Froakie drink which was 'blue orange' flavour. I, forever the naughty child, took the Fennekin coaster instead of the matching one!

I got the Pikachu parfait for desert which had a mango Pikachu pudding on top with layers of cream, fruit, cornflakes all decorated with blue sugar shards. It was really tasty, especially the strawberry sauce layer, but the kiwi sauce at the bottom was a little too strong without the cream.

My friend had the Pikachu curry

The Pikachu pudding

The teriyaki burger was delicious!

Don't worry it wasn't all mine!

The little Pikachu factory!

After the meal we headed up to the top of the building for an amazing view of the city unmarred by the reflections of glass windows. There is a little area where a photographer will take a photo of you with the amazing scenery in the background. You can also give them your camera to take one photo so there is no need to purchase the printed version which is kind!

Don't worry, if you feel that you didn't manage to get your fill of Pokémon, you can head on down to the temporary Pokémon shop where you can shop to your hearts content!

If you are a Pokémon fan, or just like meals so cute you don't want to bite into them and you are in Tokyo before the end of August I suggest giving the Pokémon exhibit and cafe a try!

Day 142 - Izakaya in Ikebukuro (Zawatami)

Hey everyone!
I hope you are all well!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I have had lots of coursework lately and just recently had to move to a new house! It is the holiday now so hopefully I should more time to write posts up.

On January 24th a group of friends and I went to an izakaya in Ikebukuro.

One of our friends was coming to visit from another part of Japan so we wanted to go somewhere nice. We eventually decided on trying out an izakaya called Zawatami.

Zawatami 座和民 is a chain of izakaya Japanese pub that is part of an even larger group of restaurants so there are many of them across Tokyo. We went to the branch near Sunshine City.

When you enter you need to remove our shoes before stepping into the elevated floor. There free lockers  that you can store your shoes. The lockers were even big enough to hold my tall boots.

I really liked the atmosphere of this izakaya, it had quite a Japanese feel to it. Our table was in  an enclosed area with tatami flooring and cushions. But there was a sunken area to put your feet in case you don't like sitting in seiza kneeling. You can also choose between smoking and non-smoking areas.

Ther menu had a wide range of food from sashimi to chips. Being an izakaya there was naturally lots of exciting cocktails on offer too. We ordered lots of things to share which is always a great way to eat!

As usual I couldn't resist the allure of the unnaturally blue drink

fried Gyoza dumplings

Cheese-filled meat croquettes - bad for the heart, good for the soul

tofu!

Takoyaki squid balls

The food was really nice and the table we were sitting at was perfect for catching up as the seating was quite intimate and we could all face each other.

If your ever in Japan I definitely recommend trying out an Izakaya!

Day 103 - Cat Cafe, Game Bar and Karaoke!

Hey everyone!

On the 23rd of December Amy and I took the holiday as a chance to visit some places we had been wanting to check out!

Our first stop, the Calico Cat Cafe in Shinjuku!

Now you may have already heard about Japan's cat cafes, but in case you haven't I will give a brief explanation of what it's all about.

Many Tokyoites may want a fuzzy friend of their own but there are numerous reasons why this is often unfeasible. Many apartments do not allow pets and Japan's work ethic often leads people to feel that they are too busy to keep a pet. And the ingenious solution to the problem: Cat Cafes! 

If you feel like you would like to spend some time bonding with a cute little ball of fluff all you have to do is head down to the nearest cat cafe. Customers can enjoy the company of the kitties without the responsibility of owning one.

Matcha Latte

At Cat Cafes there are often a variety of things you can do. As the name suggests there is usually a cafe inside where you can order various drinks and sometimes food to enjoy, just remember to be on the lookout for cheeky cats hankering for free samples! There are also cat cafes that stock books and manga to read amongst the furry friends. Of course there are also cat toys, and in some cases even little costumes that you can use to play with the feisty felines!

Rows of books to read！

Food and drink menu

You could use these cat toys to play with the kitties

When you enter the cafe you are faced with a little reception desk where they explain the rules and then give you a lanyard with an individual number on it - this is used to identify your bill when you leave. Before entering the rooms with the cats you must take off your shoes and put them in a cubby hole in exchange for some slippers. There is also a sink with soap, hand sanitizer and sticky rollers to get the cat hair off your clothes when you are finished. There are lockers further inside for bags and coats. 

Once you are inside you can play with the cats till your hearts content.

Don't forget to take your shoes off and place them in the lockers!

But there was one problem. The cats didn't seem too interested in playing along. Some of them just seemed to be disinterested and others seemed to not want to be stroked all together. However, fear not, there was a solution!...Chicken! You can purchase little pots of chicken to give to the cats. As soon as we had cracked the tub open, our popularity seemed to sky rocket. It may have just been cupboard love but that was good enough for me! 

Just watch out for the slender ginger cat! He was a grabber!

He came straight for the chicken!

A challenger appears!

Big and beautiful!

A Disney fan?

After visiting the cat cafe we went to try out a themed restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't get seated at the Alice in Wonderland themed cafe so we decided to try out the Capcom bar. Capcom is a gaming company so the theme was based around some of their popular games. 

We had to make a reservation and come back later so being the naughty kids that we are, we decided to get some ice-cream at Baskin and Robbins before returning to the bar. With Christmas very rapidly approaching naturally there were lots of Christmas themed ice-cream flavours.

On our way to the Capcom Bar

Ice-cream.... CAKES???

My sneaky ice-cream

The Capcom bar was pretty amazing. The design was really sleek and there were lots of figures and decorations from the games around the room.

Before entering we were given an introduction by one of the waitresses and were then taken to our seats. There were magazines and games consoles by the table so you could actually play some of the games while you were there. There was a rather strict time limit though so unless you don't want to eat much there wasn't too much time to play.

Cute little apron!

The food was perhaps the best part. Leafing through the menu you can see that all the drinks and dishes were themed on Capcom games. They also had an English menu so no worries if you can't speak Japanese. Not only was the food and drink really well designed but some of the dishes were accompanied by skit performances by the very lovely staff.

As you can see we got the Gaijin menu of shame!

Pheonix Wright themed drinks

Monster Hunter themed drinks

Amy and I, both having played Phoenix Wright couldn't help but order the Pheonix Wright themed onion rings which came with a skit! It is thanks to this starter that I learnt the word  異議あり Igi ari (often used in the game) which means objection! As it was cut out into nori as a decoration!

Nori with "異議あり" written on it

Amy also chose a Phoenix Wright themed drink

I couldn't help but order this drink - The ice was shaped like a brain!

It looked really cool when you emptied the contents of the syringe!

Can you see the flame?

Amy's Locomoco

Monster Hunter drink - I really liked the cute stirrer and the vial!

In the mood for dessert?

It looked all the more gruesome with the knife!

Both the drinks and the meals were pretty cool and based on a variety of Capcom games such as Monster Hunter. The pasta I ordered was based on the game Ookami and the butter on top was lit to an impressive blue flame! The drinks were also amazing, they had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Some came with vials or syringes filled with coloured drink made to look like potions or health items.

Amy and I decided to round off the meal with a brain shaped pudding that you cut with a sword-like knife ~ gruesome!

We finished off the day with a round of Karaoke with another friend. It nearing Christmas, we couldn't help but to sing a few Christmas jingles!!

Overall it was a pretty amazing day!

If you ever end up in Japan I definitely recommend visiting a cat cafe! It is a rather unique experience and is worth it even if you have cats of your own!

The Capcom Bar also scores top points. The only downside to it was the time limit but this is not unusual for themed restaurants in Japan as they are just as much an attraction as they are a place to dine. There is an English menu but the skits are all in Japanese so they may be lost on non-Japanese speakers, however I would still say that the experience is worth it even if you don't speak Japanese! If I get the chance I will definitely be visiting here again!

If you are ever interested in taking a look, both the Calico Cat Cafe and the Capcom Bar are located in Shinjuku not too far from one-an-other and can be found easily through a quick web search!

Well that's all for now! Let me know in the comments section if you have any questions or thoughts!