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Our reporter visits Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku, a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu esque world of cuteness!

Kay Aug 17, 2015
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If you’re a fan of Japanese kawaii culture, there’s a new establishment that just opened in Harajuku this month which you may want to know about. It’s the Kawaii Monster Cafe, produced by artist and creative director Sebastian Masuda. As the name of the cafe suggests, Masuda is quite the leading figure in Japanese kawaii culture and has even handled direction and set production for solo live performances by none other than Japanese pop idol Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. So it really isn’t surprising that the cafe has attracted attention as a place where you can have the quintessential Kyary Pamyu Pamyu-esque psychedelic experience.

Well, that certainly piqued our interest, and as you may have already guessed, one of the reporters at our Japanese sister site Pouch visited the unique cafe so that we can give you a firsthand account of what the place is like!

So, what did our reporter Yayoi think of her experience? She says it was too cute, too exciting and too much fun!

The cafe is actually quite a good size, with 193 seats, and divided into four distinct zones — the “MUSHROOM DISCO” “MILK STAND“, “Bar Experiment” and “Mel-Tea ROOM“. Guests can choose which area they want to sit in after receiving an explanation from the cafe staff.

At the entrance, you’re greeted by the cafe mascot, Mr. Ten Thousand Chopsticks (nicknamed Choppy). With his eyes lit up and rolling around, you can tell the excitement’s begun right from where you enter the cafe. It’s almost like an amusement park!

Yayoi, who made the visit with her six-year-old daughter, was caught by surprise when at the entrance when her daughter commented, “Hey, you enter through the (mascot’s) mouth here, don’t you? The red carpet is supposed to be the tongue, right?” Yes, our reporter admits she was impressed by how observant her daughter was, but also a little disappointed in herself for losing the ability that children sometimes have for seeing things as they are.

▼ Guests will see this large and colorful rotating merry-go-round when they enter the cafe.

From the four zones, Yayoi chose the Milk Stand, and once shown to her seat, she found that the table and chairs were quite standard-looking and made of whitish colored glass. But what was unusual were the countless baby bottle-shaped lights hanging upside down from the ceiling!

Yes, the atmosphere certainly is psychedelic, and not just in that section either, but throughout the entire cafe. The pop and almost garish colors that might even seem slightly grotesque give everything a surreal feel, as if you’re in a bizarre dream, making the experience that more thrilling.

With such a distinct deocr, what would the food here be like? The menu was provided as a tablet device decorated with a cookie-like frame. Yayoi ordered the French Fries with Monster Dip, Colorful Poison Cake (Chemical) 1/4 size, and Monster Girl Ice Cream Baby.

▼ Here’s the menu offered on a tablet device.

Hmm…the fries with the dip in five different colors should be interesting, but we really couldn’t wait to see the colorful cake! The menu describes it as “chemical”, and we guess that could be called an apt description of its coloring.

▼ Here it is, the “chemical” cake.

▼ It looks a bit like Play-Doh!

Now, it quite often happens that cakes with such unique appearances don’t taste as impressive as they look, but when Yayoi tried the cake, it was surprisingly tasty — the sponge cake inside was soft and fluffy, and the cream on the outside wasn’t just sweet, the pink cream even contained real strawberries. Yup, we guess you should never judge a book by its cover…or a cake by its color in this case.

▼ And here’s the French Fries with Monster Dip. From left to right, the flavors of the dip are: ketchup, mustard, wasabi, cheese and butter.

▼ And this is the Monster Girl Ice Cream Baby. The contrast between the white vanilla ice cream and the red chocolate is just charming!

And we can’t forget about the five Monster Girls, who are an important part of the cafe’s appeal. The Monster Girls are five girls who are mascots of the cafe and include the sweet BABY, the slightly self-centered DOLLY, the happy CANDY, the sexy NASTY, and the whimsical CRAZY. The Monster Girls walk around the cafe in costume, and guests can take pictures with them. Now, that should be good fun!

When Yayoi was there, she saw BABY and DOLLY on duty, both looking like they walked out of a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu music video. Yayoi and her daughter also had their picture taken with BABY. On close inspection, BABY’s costume was quite interesting in an avant-garde way, being made of baby clothes with baby shoes attached to her arm and baby’s feet sticking out from around her hips.

▼ The picture with BABY, showing everyone striking the standard “monster” pose.

▼ Here are some shots of the cafe interior. It’s all strikingly colorful and stimulating to the senses.

▼ Naturally, even the restroom was adorably decorated!

▼ They also have a souvenir shop.

▼ The illustration at the exit is marked with the words, “Thank you”. A thank you to you too, Kawaii Monster Cafe, for an enjoyable time. We’ll be back!

If you’re planning on visitng Kawaii Monster Cafe, it might be good to keep in mind a few points concerning the charges. There is a cover charge of 500 yen (US$4) per customer, and if you use a box seat for four or six people, you’ll be charged by the number of people the box seat is made for, even if there are fewer people actually in the group. There’s also a 90-minute limit to the time you can spend at your table.

Yayoi and her daughter sat at a regular table, not a box seat, for this visit and were quite happy with the seating. If you’re going in a small group of two or three people, it shouldn’t be necessary to get a box unless that’s really what you want to do. And even with the 90-minute time restriction, Yayoi says they had plenty of time to enjoy the experience as they were able to explore the cafe before and after their 90 minutes at their table.

It seems Yayoi was quite satisfied with her visit as she reported that there are other interesting items on the menu like the Colorful Rainbow Pasta that she wants to come back and try. She says she would also love to meet the other Monster Girls, and it would also be nice to sit in one of the other zones the next time she’s here. If you want a little color and spice in you life, the Kawaii Monster Cafe may be the perfect place for you to get a little eye-opening, psychedelic excitement!

▼ We’ll leave you with a short promotional video of the cafe. Enjoy the eye candy!

Restaurant information
Kawaii Monster Cafe
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 4-31-10, YM Square 4th floor
東京都渋谷区神宮前4丁目31‐10 YMスクエア 4F
Telephone: 03-5413-6142
Open 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Website

[ Read in Japanese ]