ガンダム・カフェ


The Japanese sci-fi animation, Mobile Suit Gundam, with its beginnings in the late 1970s is still alive (or at least still mobile) and kicking (?) in Japan after all these years.

There are Gundam toys, movies, comic books and games. There are also gundam cafes. However, in April, the very first official Gundam cafe opened, in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district.

The cafe's sleek white armor-paneled facade gives way to an interior that is equally shiny and spaceship. The staff wear cute 1970s uniforms, there's lots of pink and icy blue neon, or "laser," there are Gundam toys for sale, of course there is food for sale, and there is even a special blend of coffee for sale, known as Jaburo Blend: a "whole bean coffee" that is also a "city roast."

Jaburo Blend comes with its own barely intelligible Gundam legend, about some massive Earth Federation Army being located in a hidden South American location, whereupon the till then secret Jaburo Blend also become known to earthlings in general, and can now be purchased by the curious at the Gundam Cafe, Akihabara.

When it comes to edible equivalents, there is the "1/144 Gunpla Yaki," a bean paste- or custard-filled confectionery in the shape of a Gundam mobile suit.

In the evening, Gundam Cafe becomes a bar.

1-1 Kandahanaoka-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Hours: 10am - 11pm. Closed Sundays.

Gundam Cafe website

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万世橋　映画



You see it all in Tokyo’s electronics mecca, Akihabara (“Akiba” for short). A hang out for gaming nerds, stereo enthusiasts, music freaks, loli-goth girls, and all sorts of subculture clones, you come expecting some oddness.

I was in Akiba on Sunday, and was surprised to see a very odd sight, even for this area: a quite well-dressed, if retro-looking, guy with a suitcase staggering across came across Mansei-bashi Bridge – obviously in a very bad way. Moments later I realized that the small crowd that I thought had gathered around him was actually a film crew. They were filming a scene from what was clearly a period movie, and this guy’s troubles were no doubt the pivotal scene of a terebi dorama (i.e., soap opera), or perhaps even a movie.

Scenes of everyman gritty but seemingly hopeless determination, noble but doomed heroism, and lonely tribulation are staples of a certain very popular genre of Japanese entertainment. The Great Depression look typified by the Tora-san movies and done in the scene I saw – with his cloth cap and old-style leather suitcase - is also often seen.

I don’t know if the actor is famous or not, but looking at the meager numbers of people involved in the filming, it did not give the feel of being a big budget production. Check out the YouTube video.

And let us know if you recognize him!

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