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Japan Robot Restaurant: Totally Over-the-Top!
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 11:09 PM PDT
 "QUANTUM SHOT" #876
Link - article by Juergen Horn & Michael Powell and Avi Abrams
"The Robot Restaurant" in Tokyo is probably the craziest restaurant in the entire world
We've wrote about dazzling "Decotora" electric light truck decoration, and today Juergen Horn and Michael Powell from Tokyo for 91 Days show us another totally over-the-top thing happening in Japan:
(image credit: Robot-Restaurant)
Japan at its most absurd and entertaining...
Giant robots dancing to electronic music? Laser shows and flashing LEDs? Lovely, shark-riding ladies fighting killer aliens? Bento boxes? It's hard to imagine that anything can offer a more uniquely Tokyo experience than the Robot Restaurant in East Shinjuku. With a stage show that stretches the definition of terms like “elaborate” and “bizarre”, the restaurant has quickly become one of the most popular venues in the city.
(images credit: Robot-Restaurant, Juergen Horn & Michael Powell)
We were dazzled by the Robot Restaurant from the moment we spotted it. The entire facade was illuminated in blinding LED lights and giant lady robots were roving about the foyer:
A band approximating Daft Punk’s style was rocking out behind the giant robots, and everything was flashing and loud and totally over-the-top. Sensory overload? Definitely, and we hadn’t even picked up our tickets yet. I suspected that the show was going to be more like sensory rape.
"It’s like the world’s most outrageous interior designers were given crayons, glue sticks, glitter and mescalin, and told to go crazy"
From the moment you enter the Robot Restaurant, you are going to be entertained... or perhaps fall into an epileptic fit. It's just sensory overload. No expense was spared, and no design idea was too crazy. Show up early enough to grab a pre-show drink in the upstairs lounge... because you've never seen a lounge like this. It’s like the world’s most outrageous interior designers were given crayons, glue sticks, glitter and mescalin, and told to go crazy. Everything is mirrored and shining:
(images credit: Juergen Horn & Michael Powell)
There is a robotic dinosaur on every table, which cutely rolls its eyes when you stroke its back:
(images credit: Juergen Horn & Michael Powell)
On the stage, a lady-band clad in metallic bikinis and angel wings is playing soft lounge music. The drinks are cheap and the vibe couldn’t be better. You and the people around you are in a place unlike anywhere any of you have ever been, and you’re all excited and nervous and giddily talkative. It’s bonding.
Showtime!
- Boxing robots. Women riding huge mechanical cows. An alien-eating shark robot, a neon-covered tank.... things which no sane human would ever possibly be able to predict
Now, however, it’s showtime. And the show is simply insane. You and your new friends head into the underground theater, take your seats, and await for the spectacle. Soon, the lights go out, the speakers switch on, and giant vehicles appear on either side of the narrow stage, ridden by ladies dressed as Amazonian war princesses from the year 3000:
They’re pounding on drums, rotating around the stage, screaming and dancing to the music, and you’re just... confused. What on Earth is happening? Singing, drumming, motorcycles, boxing robots, killer pandas, airplanes, massive cyborg ladies... It’s hilarious, ridiculous, impressive, overwhelming and pointless in equal measure:
(images credit: Juergen Horn & Michael Powell)
And that’s just Act One! By the end of the show, which stretches out across seven or eight acts, you’ll have perhaps seen boxing robots. Women riding huge mechanical cows. An alien-eating shark robot. Huge motorcycles and airplanes with pole-dancing lady passengers. A tank, I think. I think there was a tank. There was definitely a freedom-fighting panda. The shows change frequently, so you might see other things entirely, things which no sane human would ever possibly be able to predict:
(images credit: Robot-Restaurant)
We had fun from the moment we entered, and I’m still not sure my brain has been able to process everything we saw. As much as the crazy show, we loved watching the spectators sitting across from us. Without exception, they had their eyes wide open and huge smiles plastered across their faces. Just like us.
(images credit: Robot-Restaurant)
Here is the location of this fabulous place. Visit the restaurant's website to reserve a place. The Robot Restaurant is Tokyo at its most absurd and entertaining, and an absolute blast! No wonder it has already become a hit among visiting celebrities from Pharrell to Anthony Bourdain. Definitely not to be missed.
Article by Juergen Horn & Michael Powell from Tokyo for 91 Days and Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted
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I love great art, no matter the medium.