Time to try "Robot Restaurant!"
 

OK, if there is space available on my next trip, I am going to ante up the Y4,000 to see bikini-clad Japanese young ladies control battling mega-robots.

http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/venue...bot-Restaurant

http://www.robot-restaurant.com/

Note: In the second page listed above, if you allow the "short movie" to play through in a jerky manner, it gets smooth the second time around. Also if you click on "skip top", you get all the details.

In a way this would be the natural successor to the late, much lamented, "Christon Cafe."

I know some people who have been there and they said it's one of those places you go to once for the experience. The food is supposedly really bad -- described to me as an economy class meal accompanied by Asahi Super Dry in the can.

Yeah, apparently they give you a bento which the review suggests you don't eat.

Wow definately on the todo list for my next trip to Tokyo. Do you know if it's best to reserve in advance or just turn up?

Wow - I'm at a loss of words beyond that - wow

So I shouldn't go there for the food?

Hrm... sounds like a good candidate for the "feeling of being in Japan" thread.

Review: Go, but don't expect to see any robots. What you will see is a Japanese version of a Las Vegas-style review that for several minutes features a few people in robot costumes. But overall, I thought the show was an enjoyable PG-13 rated spectacle in a small room so you were close to the performers. It featured at least 20 girls who were mostly clad in bikinis, as well as a staff of at least 10 stagehands all in black. Decor, from the time you passed the entrance, was over the top.

The show was about 70 minutes long. It started with bikini-clad dancers who were supported by a bikini-clad taiko group. This was followed by the same girls dressed as a marching band. Then they set up a totally useless temporary fence between the stage and the audience, followed by four minutes of "robot wars" where assorted costumed robots battled a weapon-laden girl in a bikini, two bikini-clad girls on an electric armadillo (yes, they called it an armadillo), and a cute panda.

The fence was taken back down and some large robots came out and danced to a musical selection that terminated with "gagnam style." There was then a break so that audience members could take pictures with the robots.

When we went back to our seats, all the bikini-clad dancers were on seats just over our heads, revolving around the room. We were instructed in spoken Japanese and by an English sign that we could high-five the dancers as they went by, but if we smacked their butts or did anything else unseemly, we'd be thrown out.

Robots, dancers, cute pandas, and all then returned for a grand finale.

All told, it was a true "only in Japan" spectacle. The bento box was even not as bad as previously advised; you get a choice from 4 different types but to be on the safe side, I'd pick the cooked one (a hamburger with french fries), as refrigeration looked non-existent. Location is a few blocks into kabuki-cho, single males will have to dodge a few African touts to get to the place.

Despite myself, I enjoyed the show. It's really hard, no matter how down you might be at the time, not to get into the spirit of the thing. Definitely over-the-top, which was just what I wanted.

Edited to add: review on Huff Post with some photos -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gail-n...b_2674787.html

I was one of the audience members chosen to ride and control one of the so-called fembots.

Saw this on YouTube, just as you described. Since a huge swathe of the local population will have come of age gawping at the nubile dancers and actors at the Bombastic Disneyland electric parades the spectacle offered at the Robot Cafe seems like a logical progression.
You didn't mention the gleaming gold toilet stalls where patrons can create their very own Eau de Trump.

Apparently it takes about £100,000 to start up a cat café in London
http://ladydinahs.com/
I think the 'robot' franchise would involve considerably more capital, so this is probably going to stay an "only in Japan" concept for a while - at least until the legions of growing males currently being desensitised by Mickey and his energetic friends over in Hong Kong and Shanghai come of age.

I went to the toilet there and the one I went to wasn't gleaming and golden.

The best urinals I have been to in Tokyo were at a Chinese restaurant along the main street at the entrance to kabuki-cho not far from Robot Restaurant. It had some sort of motion sensor that started the urinal swaying from left to right while you stood in front of it, while a deep voice intoned "Ho ho ho ho ho...." Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUBB...e_gdata_player
At 1:40

That's pretty cheap for a cat house. ;)

In the US it would cost $100k to $500k to open a store with street level storefront, depending on how much equipment.

Good luck to that crazy cat lady from this crazy cat person.

There is still a Christon Cafe in Shinjuku that is open for business AFAIK.