🤖 ROBOT RESTAURANT ‼️

This post is the thirteenth and final in a series on our honeymoon trip in Japan (two posts about visiting Seoul bring the total to fifteen). My previous post was about visiting a restaurant named Obana, which specialises in eel dishes. You can find all our honeymoon-related posts on my blog at #thecookeshoneymoon. ☺

A room in a basement with coloured spotlights on the ceiling, people stand on giant square floats. The people are dressed in colourful costumes with their hands outstretched in powerful poses. In the background an audience can be seen in front of a screen with colourful space-like graphics

I left this episode of our honeymoon for last. 🤣 I think it’s because this felt appropriate, many people have heard of the Robot Restaurant in the area of Kabukicho in Tokyo, Japan – and the wacky experience it delivers. I also low-key kept raving about it in my previous posts, we visited Robot Restaurant on the last evening of our trip, and I just wanted to end it with a bang. 💥

There were a few tiny bits and pieces that I did not cover over the #thecookeshoneymoon series. These were minor events that I didn’t feel were worth blogging about (such as the Shinagawa Aquarium we visited on our last day because it rained, some places we ate at, and so on). Despite wanting to blog about our travels as soon as possible, I ended up writing a few posts during our trip and a lot of them a month, then two months, then eventually, now, four months later. When this happened, I feel that it caused me to look back and really write about the highlights and important parts of our trip, bundling related things together, or dedicating single blog posts to one attraction (like the one about the maid cafe and my previous post about the restaurant Obana). I feel that the regular way of writing a daily recap doesn’t always appeal – I should stress that I am not against it at all, and won’t stop writing posts like those when it comes to travel – but changing things up a bit really doesn’t hurt.

Not to mention, I never really wrote about the few weeks I stayed in Perth last July when I busied myself so much that I stopped blogging as often. But it’s not like anybody asked. So what am I saying? I’m saying if you’re a blogger, and you feel you have an intense backlog, just breathe and let it go. You don’t have to write about every damned thing. ✌

OK, to the point. ROBOT RESTAURANT! Yes!

We visited the infamous restaurant on the last night of our honeymoon. We had to buy tickets in advance, but it wasn’t much of an issue and could easily be purchased online. They were about $75 (AUD), which is pricey, but I’ve been to shows that have cost over $100, so I couldn’t really complain. I think we just didn’t really know what to expect.

The Robot Restaurant had been featured in so many YouTube videos we saw, people on the internet raved about it, and famous people visited Robot Restaurant too. People would mention that you should definitely check it out, but they weren’t even really able to describe what they saw.

Although it’s called Robot Restaurant, it isn’t much of a restaurant. The interior decor is insanely colourful and bright. Even the toilet… 😜

A cramped room with many people standing at small round tables with alcoholic drinks. Some pink velvet chairs surround tables at sitting height. Square pillars inside the room display colourful art. The ceiling has gold accents and is reflective, and also has arrays of colourful LED lights.
The bar looks totally funky.
A woman in a white dress with a microphone on a stage, with her back slightly to the camera. A person dressed in a silver astronaut suit holds a blue electric guitar. There is a black grand piano in the background. Some people are sitting in front of the stage on pink cushion chairs. There is a reflective shiny wall behind the stage.
There was a performance in the bar – the woman was singing and the person dressed in the costume was playing the guitar

When you buy a ticket, you are buying a ticket to a show. Before we went into the show/stage area, which is located in a basement, we hung around at a bar on the ground level. It was obvious that there were many tourists and non-Japanese people visiting. A man actually approached us and asked if we spoke English – I suppose he was looking for some people to connect with. He said, “Do you know what you’re in for?”

We laughed and said no, and he said he didn’t know either, and that someone simply told him he “had to see it”. 🤖😏

A group of people in blue and green costume stand on a transparent platform with coloured lights embedded in them.
It’s only just getting started…

The show has many robots that are about three to four times the height of an average person. Parts of the show tell stories, some of them depict fighting and war (in a fun way), while other parts are primarily dancing segments. The robots are accompanied by performers dressed in colourful costumes. The performers not only danced, but sang and played some percussion.

A float with glowing wires decorating it. There is a pink open cage on top of the float, in which a disco ball can be seen. Standing on the float and on either side of the pink cafe are a girl, not facing the camera, wearing a pink sequinned bikini top and bottoms, knee-high white boots and a white feather headpiece; and a man with pink glasses, blue pants patterned with white stars, a colourful top with colourful fluffy feathers, and is holding an electric guitar.
I almost feel like I am watching the Mardi Gras.
A girl dressed up in a costume consisting of a crop top and skirt, with big feather wings attached to her back. Purple lighting from the ceiling of the room colours her face and wings. In the background is a tall metallic robot.
There were a lot of dancers, but it was hard to take a photo of some of the fast-moving, large robots (like the one in the background here)
A man with two drums attached to his colourful costume. He is beating them with two drumsticks, and has glasses with concentric circles on them. He is wearing a feather hat. In the background is a big silver robot that reaches the ceiling, and a girl standing on the robot. The girl is wearing a skirt and a similar feather hat, holding a microphone.
I just realised how wicked this guy’s glasses are

There is a lot of music and the show is performed with limited lighting. A lot of the lighting comes from the costumes and the robots.

It was an entertaining show, it was probably around 90 minutes long with some breaks in between segments. We were encouraged to buy glow sticks and drinks in flashy light bulb cups (yeah, I bought one, haha), and to partake in the experience.

An upside-down light bulb with liquid and ice in it. It is lit up in blue and sits in a dedicated drink spot on a table.
The staff were saying in singsong, “light drink, light drink”, trying to sell us these bulbs with vodka cocktails

There was quite a lot of music, but my favourite part was a Michael Jackson inspired segment. I could tell it was going to be his music when I heard it starting up before the performance.

A dark room with several people in it, mid-dance, wearing black costumes with glowing wires woven through.
A Michael Jackson inspired number. This was my favourite part.
In a dark room with an open area, a person sits on a bike that is the shape of a large circular wheel. The person is in a dark costume with glowing wires woven throughout it. Shadows of an audience can be seen in the background.
Someone whizzed in riding on a wheel!

I’m not really itching to go back, but it’s an experience you should make the time for, just once, if you find yourself in Tokyo.

An open low stage area. Behind the area is a raised set of steps, where people are sitting in groups of two, in three rows, one on each step. Behind the people is a long screen with an image of a performer and her name
At the end of the show, the performers were thanked, and there were a couple of prizes handed out to lucky audience members.
A boy and girl smiling. There are some people seated in the background. On the table in front of the boy and girl is a light bulb shaped bottle with some liquid in it and a straw through the top.
Selfie of me and Nick :)

Thank you for holding out for so long for all my posts about our honeymoon! If you read through them all, thank you so much for reading! 🙏 I can tell you, I’m exhausted after writing all about it, and I am so glad I’m done. 😅

Links to all the posts in the series are at the end of this blog post. Let me know if you enjoyed these posts and if they make you want to head on over to Japan. 🙌 If you have any feedback about the style in which I’ve written some of these posts, let me know, likewise if you have any suggestions let me know too. 💕


Other posts in this series:

Reply to Amy

Comments on this post

I still can’t believe you’re married! I remember meeting you way back in my n00b blogging days. I’m so excited for you guys! I’m glad you had so much fun on your honeymoon. :)

The robot restaurant looks crazy fun omg. The performers looked amazing, you got some really good shots!

The vodka cocktail in the lightbulb looks sooooo good!

Japan has the coolest things, I’m so jealous you went! I’ve been trying to convince my parents to take the family on a trip there one day haha.

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I have to admit that I’m actually kind of surprised they let you take photos in the restaurant! Japan is so anti-photography at basically every attraction you go to; I think it’s awesome you got to get some memorable shots.

Totally get you on the recaps, though. Sometimes it’s easier to just grab the highlights and write them down rather than write about everything. Besides, you’ll remember those things yourself as time goes on. No biggy.

This post makes me want to go back to Tokyo D: I loved it! I think my heart is still for Osaka, but I have to admit that Tokyo was an awesome city. I didn’t think it was nearly as packed or complicated or “too much” as some people made it out to be. I was even disappointed I missed the infamous rush hour! I hit major stations too — Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo, and a few others — and didn’t have any “crazy packed” train moments. Disappointing, but actually made me realize how normal Tokyo is. It’s basically just New York, but way more clean, organized, and beautiful.

This Robot Restaurant looks awesome! I can definitely see this being a one time only thing, though. It looks like it was a really fun performance with a lot added to enhance the effect of the place (like the drinks). I really love how much Japan plays on themes; it brings everything together and makes it all so much fun.

I’m glad you had a great time in Japan and on your honeymoon! ^^ I’m sad to see the series finish because I loved reliving your Japan adventures with you, but I’m really glad you both enjoyed the trip and I hope you come again (and I hope I’ll be back too hehe).

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I’ve actually never heard about this robot restaurant, but I am not that big on robots, so I guess that’s why I’ve not heard of it! Good to know this is a place where you have to purchase the tickets ahead of time!

The interior is very colourful and vibrant. So many blings and blangs! From an aesthetic point of view, I’m not sure I’d like looking at all that, haha XD;;;

That is interesting that it’s actually a show rather than a restaurant! Your description of this show being a mardi gras is on point. I am not sure if I’d have enjoyed it, but the Michael Jackson segment seems quite awesome!

I don’t think this is something I’d do myself, but I’ll definitely mention it to others who are in Tokyo that may like this type of show. Thanks for sharing this!

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OMG. I wanna go there as I have plans to go to Japan one day. That looks amazing in so many ways . I have never heard of the Robot Restaurant at all but I am glad you went there and just took photos of the place.

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I think it’s fine to not blog about everything. Last year, when I went to London, I was so obsessed with getting everything written up that I ended up not enjoying it and not wanting to blog. I think I did a post on each day, and felt so much pressure to fit everything in the post, even though I didn’t need to. I definitely won’t be doing that for the next trip I take!

The Robot Restaurant sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to go there because it looks so unusual and I imagine the entertainment is great. The pictures you took look fantastic and I love the costumes! It’s definitely something I’ll be doing if I ever go to Tokyo!

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