Category Archive for Food + Theme Restaurants
MAID CAFE IN TOKYO JAPAN: ANGEL & DEMONS, CAFE BAR PRAY. CUTE COSPLAY COSTUMES, WEIRD RESTAURANTS IN AKIHABARA.
O, the bizarre world of Japanese maid cafes! Since I photographed and wrote about the phenomenon in my Tokyo Theme Restaurants book, the Dutch Pepsi TV show wanted to shoot at an Akihabara cosplay cafe. Naomi and I made arrangements with Cafe Bar Pray, a newcomer with an Angels and Demons theme.
Here, half of the servers are innocent seraphs, and the rest are devilishly cute temptresses. Which side of the counter would you sit on?
Naturally, I chose the dark side. My outfit theme was Evil Queen Step-Mother.
Long trailing Goth dress: gifted from Lip Service
Victorian tulip choker: gifted from Yifat Aharoni
Long lace gloves: Spider, Hong Kong Lolita brand
Hair clip: Daiso
I bonded with the cafe manager, Tamao, over our orange hair. He’s a pro at mugging for the camera.
The adorable “Raphael” is the number one maid in Akihabara. (Yes, there’s an annual contest for Japanese maids!)
Each maid has a fake name, age (most are hundreds of years old), and rank in the heavenly hierarchy. Pick your favorite. She’ll give you her name card and prepare her special cocktail.
The maids charm the customers with games, skits, and light-hearted conversation.
Cafe Bar Pray is my new favorite. You’re allowed to take photos inside, the decor is swanky, and there’s a relaxed, anything-goes atmosphere. A nice change from the typical tense otaku hangouts.
The Dutch TV host, Bo, got dolled up like an angel.
We taught her how to make cute poses and decorate Polaroid photos for her admirers.
Can you guess who was our favorite customer-boy?
At Cafe Bar Pray, it doesn’t matter if you choose good or evil. You’ll be smiling from the moment the girls greet you with “Yokoso!”
The Dutch Pepsi TV shoot was great fun. Don’t forget to check out my behind-the-scenes photos and videos in this and this post. There’s more madness to come.
Have you ever been to a maid cafe? Would you want to visit one? Which angel or devil is your favorite?
Japanese Word of the Day: Kokuren = United Nations
Song of the Day: Era – The Mass (Carmina Burana and Gregorian chants meet dance beats!)
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VEGETARIAN & VEGAN RESTAURANTS IN TOKYO, JAPAN. BROWN RICE CAFE & PURE ORGANIC FOODS IN OMOTESANDO, HARAJUKU.
Since Spookyville’s residents tend to be vegan or vegetarian, I’ve visited many meat-free establishments in Tokyo. In between our pirate duties, Naomi and I visited two veggie restaurants — Brown Rice Cafe and Cafe Pure — in Omotesando (a short walk from Harajuku station). Read on to see what we ate…
First, here’s what I wore to the Hangry & Angry fashion show. I’ll be posting exclusive photos and a video interview with designer Gashicon ASAP!
Spooky ghost top: Black Peace Now, from Closet Child Ikebukuro
Black Goth dress: h.NAOTO, from Closet Child
Turquoise long scarf: It’s actually a very long stocking, gifted from Sock Dreams
Fetish mask: from a Camden Market costume store
Makeup: The shimmery turquoise eyeshadow is my new favorite (gifted from Sugarpill Cosmetics by Shrinkle). I created an outline with black eyeliner and blended the edges with white. Glued fake eyelashes over the top for a “big eyed” effect. Pink lip gloss. Done.
Naomi and I finally got to meet Yaz for lunch at Brown Rice Cafe. She’s a hard-working rep for X Japan and h.NAOTO, with a long and well-respected career in the Japan/USA music industry. You can look forward to more collaborations between us!
Brown Rice Cafe takes pride in sourcing seasonal vegetables from trusted Japanese suppliers. Each dish has three “fundamental foods” — vegetables, brown rice and soy — and every bite is intense, fresh flavor. I loved my bento box of veggie delights.
After the fashion show, we met up with some of our favorite people outside another vegetarian eatery, Pure Cafe in Minami-Aoyama.
The indestructible “Sebastian Teamu”: Sebastiano Serafini and I Am Sebastian!
One is a vegan; one requires meat at every meal. Their interaction reminded me of manzai (Japanese traditional stand-up comedy). Can you can guess who’s the “clown” and who’s the “straight man”?
Pink is the new black.
It was around Halloween, so Cafe Pure was serving vegetarian meals that fit the theme… joy!
Kabocha soup, pumpkin sandwiches, organic wines.
I’ll eat anything pumpkin or shaped like a bat or ghost.
You can see more photos of Japanese Halloween foods in this post (including kabocha ice cream and pumpkin pizza).
Do you eat at vegetarian restaurants? Which are your favorites? I’ve been to most of the ones in NYC, LA and Vancouver…
Japanese Word of the Day: Shun = In peak season, ideal time
Song of the Day: David Bowie – Magic Dance. Many of you freaked out on my Twitter and Facebook because I hadn’t seen the David Bowie / Jim Henson film, Labyrinth. I immediately ran out the door to rent it. And it pleased me very much. Evil laughter, sissy fights, codpieces and masques. “David Bowie’s junk is hypnotizing” — indeed!
LA CARMINA
