Tokyo has no shortage of eateries that take inspiration from the 2D media world. There are a permanent “Sailor Moon” musical restaurant and cafes for both the Pokemon franchise and Square Enix Cafe video game realms, plus limited-time pop-up venues like the Ranma 1/2 Cafe.
The newly-opened pop-up coffee shop “2D Cafe” in Tokyo, Japan is exactly what it sounds like – a cafe where everything appears to be in 2D! As soon as you walk in through the front door, you’ll instantly feel like you’re a comic book character. Neat, huh?
The coffee shop is located in the Shin Okubo district of Tokyo and it’s every Instagrammer’s dream. Everything inside – from the tables and chairs to the curtains and wallpapers – is made to resemble a black and white comic book or a cartoon.
Everything about it makes you feel like you’re in a comic book: starting from the entrance that has a retro feeling in it to well-decorated monochrome decor with white floors, walls, furniture, and other small details. Therefore, when you order a trendy bubble tea (now, you can actually find it in every corner in Japan) or a delicious dessert, the whole thing looks surreal and vivid as your eyes trick you into thinking whether it’s real.
The fun fact is that the furniture is not all monochrome as it’s actually two-tone. All flat surfaces are white while the edges have soft, uneven black stripes just like sketch lines. However, for some things, there’s no deception at all. For example, curtains and flowers are indeed flat-plane artwork.
When it comes to food and drinks, the colors seem to really pop. The cafe offers a wide range of bubble teas – you can choose between pineapple, blueberry, tomato, and mango flavors – also patbingsu Korean-style shaved ice desserts which come in seven different flavors – strawberry, banana azuki and more. Hence, visitors are welcome not only to admire the unusual interior design but also taste some delicious new flavors.
Everyone knows how obsessed Japanese people are with comics and other animated things that bring you to another reality. Hence, considering this fact, this cafe should be one of the most visited cafes in Tokyo as it makes the real, three-dimensional world that we live in look like a flat illustration from a comic book. Let’s admit that we all would love to visit this two-dimensional world!
Restaurant Information
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Hyakunin-cho 1-7-5
2D Cafe / 2Dカフェ
東京都新宿区百人町1‐7‐5
2D Cafe Timings: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.