☆ Pang Man Part 25: Cool Video Game Places: “The Kirby Café”- a missed opportunity! ☆ #GamersUnite

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On my final day in Tokyo, I was feeling a bit peckish and so I decided to see if any gaming related restaurants were nearby. After a bit of digging, I found the perfect place to eat.

It was an official Kirby-themed restaurant called the Kirby Café which looked amazing.

I checked the location and unbelievably it was less than a 2-minute walk from where I was staying. My luck was in, or so I thought.

I went to the shopping mall and looked around the floor for the Kirby Café and I just couldn’t find it. Eventually I asked a member of staff and they told me it no longer existed! What I had failed to realise was that the Kirby Café was a pop up and was only temporarily available. My timing was unfortunate as it had closed only a short while before.

It’s a shame because the Kirby themed food, drinks and decor looked fantastic.

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In the end I had to settle for going to another temporary pop-up, the PPAP (Pen, Pineapple, Apple, Pen) Café instead. (Address: Tokyo-to, Sumida-ku, Oshiage 1-1-2, Tokyo Sky Tree Town Soramachi West Yard 4F)

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This was set up to take advantage of the popularity of the viral hit song that you probably have heard a million times by now.

The queue for the café was massive and they had an impersonator doing the PPAP singer’s poses to entertain the crowd. The food predictably was apple and pineapple related. (The pens were chocolate sticks.)

On the subject of pop ups, a Super Mario themed café appeared for a short while in 2015 to celebrate Mario’s 30th anniversary. Again this looked great and I only wish we were lucky enough to get something like this is the UK.

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Hakuhinkan Toy Park

In the afternoon, I felt a visit to the Hakuhinkan Toy Park (address: 8-8-11 Ginza, Chuo 104-8132, Tokyo Prefecture) was in order. The Hakuhinkan Toy Park is a huge toy store (think similar to Hamleys) with each of its floors dedicated to a particular group.

For example there was a floor with soft toys such as Totoro and various zoo animals, and another floor filled with toddler toys such as train sets and animal puzzles.

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For fans of Pikachu and friends, the store had quite a bit of Pokemon stuff as well.

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Nintendo merchandise was also available:

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I purchased a Super Mario Chain Chomp and a Mario Piranha Plant to add to my Nintendo plush collection. (I was tempted to get a Thwomp and Bullet Bill as well but sadly my cash flow was a little low towards the end of the holiday).

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These orgami animals were not gaming related, but they looked so awesome I had to show you guys!

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The only drawbacks of the Hakuhinkan Toy Park are that it did get a little busy during peak hours and that there were limited lifts for those with children’s buggies. But overall it was still a great place to see and keep the children occupied for a couple of hours.

The Jump Shop

My final stop before departing Japan was the Jump Shop in Tokyo Dome City (address: -3-61 Kouraku Bunkyo-ku Tokyo).

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This shops is for fans of the manga comics serialised in the Shonen Jump weekly publication

https://www.shonenjump.com/e/jumpshop/tokyodome/pop_tokyodome_english.html

So If you like Naruto, Dragonball Z or One Piece, then this was a great place to get collectibles.

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Sadly my Japanese adventure concluded with my visit there.

Overall it was a fantastic trip, I managed to visit 3 gaming bars, 2 Pokemon Centres, numerous game related shops and of course the gaming Arcades! Although there were so many other places I would have loved to have seen, I guess I will save those for my next trip!

I can’t wait to go back!