If any one country is truly synonymous with robotics, it is without a doubt Japan. Last year in the country’s Huis Ten Bosch theme park, the Henn-na (“Weird Hotel”) opened, billed as the first staffed entirely by robots. Now the Japanese have another claim to machine fame: a themed restaurant focused on robotics.
Located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, the appropriately named Robot Restaurant isn’t strictly staffed by robots. It would be more accurate to describe it as full-on sensory overload. With a future-carnivalesque atmosphere and enough psychedelic wattage to put Las Vegas to shame, Robot Restaurant is also something of man-machine Pop performance art.
Judging by a recently released video that showing the restaurant’s robotic pyrotechnics, this bot parade looks legit. As techno-theater, it’s fantastic, and one can only imagine the wonder people on mind-altering substances will feel walking through it. Whether or not one would actually want to eat the food, however, is another question entirely.
I loved the way you described the quiet moments between the big sightseeing stops—it made the trip feel much more real. The tip about leaving room for unplanned detours is something I’ll remember for my next journey.