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Published: March 22nd 2018
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Answer: Robot Restaurant.
I am in Japan once again. Jeff had been selected to judge a diving meet in Fuji, southwest of Tokyo. Because this meet ended just before his spring break, we decided that he would stay there through spring break and that I would meet him in Tokyo. I flew to Tokyo the day after Jeff’s meet ended, took the Narita Express to the city, and met him at our hotel in Shinjuku. Soon after my arrival, we made our way to Robot Restaurant nearby. As you may already be aware,
I went to Robot Restaurant in September last year. Jeff was bitter that I had gone without him, so, to keep the peace, I atoned for this transgression by taking him there.
Our evening started in the lounge area, which we entered just as the lounge singer, who was accompanied by a guitarist wearing a robot suit, completed her act. I told Jeff to go to the bathroom, which was all gold. After a few minutes of waiting, the guests were herded downstairs through an extremely gaudy stairway and seated for the floor show. Thankfully, three of the four parts of the floor show weren’t the same as what I saw in September. The show
Robot Restaurant
This is one of my favorite robots. It depicts a fishing boat and sushi. The sushi pieces move up and down. started with an opening act featuring a parade of robots, dancers, and drummers, followed by a bizarre act of animal robots versus an invading alien race, followed by the third act known as King Robota (which was the only act that was repeated from September), and finally a closing act once again featuring a parade of robots and dancers played to Uptown Funk and their signature “Roboto” ditty.
Jeff’s reaction to all this? He said the whole act seemed as if it had been created by sexually repressed, ADHD-afflicted teenagers who had been given a big budget to create a cabaret. That’s why we love Tokyo. I don’t understand what is going on around me most of the time, but I am bewildered in the best possible way.
I’ll let the following two videos and the pictures speak for themselves.
Pardon the image quality of the second video. I can’t seem to get YouTube to upload a high def version.
Jeff and I planned to head west the afternoon after Robot Restaurant, but first, we needed to indulge in some more silliness. After breakfast at our hotel, we headed over
Shinjuku
Godzilla cake at Hotel Gracery. The Godzilla was made of chocolate, the cake was cheesecake, and the little cup had lemon sorbet floating in a purple cola. I suspect it was meant to symbolize the primordial soup that Godzilla came from. to Hotel Gracery nearby to get a look at the Godzilla statue there. At the hotel, we found that access to the statue is allowed from 10.30am. We had some time to kill. While wandering, we came across a VR center. We went in and played one VR game, which was to rescue a kitten stuck on a plank 200 meters up high. Jeff went first, he was fitted with gloves, a VR mask, and a bungee cord. Jeff isn’t afraid of heights but he did make some noises as he walked along the wobbling plank. He managed to rescue the kitten. I tried the simulation as well but I did not dare step out on the plank.
Back at Hotel Gracery, we had dessert at the hotel cafe because a sign said that access to the statue was only for hotel guests or patrons. We ate their signature godzilla cake. After that, we went out onto the deck, took lots of photos, and pressed on a stone plate that made Godzilla roar.
After that silliness, we headed to Roppongi where we met some of Jeff’s diving friends and went up the Mori Tower for a birds eye
Roppongi
Jeff being impaled by giant spider. view of Tokyo. I’d been up the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Skytree, so this wasn’t anything new to me. But, the view of Tokyo’s sprawl is nonetheless impressive.
After this, we bade goodbye to Jeff’s diving friends and made our way to Tokyo Station to catch a westbound shinkansen.
Travel Tip: The walkup price for Robot a restaurant is a little steep at 8,000 yen. We bought our tickets in advance online at klook.com and it cost us a little over US$50.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
It all sounded good until...
...purple cola! I can't imagine how that would taste with cheesecake, chocolate and lemon sorbet... did it work? I suppose it's an ice cream spider (ice cream float) for grown-ups, but it still sounds weird :)