
Tokyo's 2D Cafe - allthebest
https://soranews24.com/2019/09/01/tokyos-amazing-2d-cafe-looks-like-an-illustration-but-its-an-actual-restaurant-you-can-eat-in/
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hammock
I don't see any unusual tricks of perspective. A better name might be "paper
cafe" rather than 2D cafe as it reminds me of paper dolls and paper
dollhouses.

[https://www.amazon.com/Qaba-Folding-Cardboard-Coloring-
Playh...](https://www.amazon.com/Qaba-Folding-Cardboard-Coloring-
Playhouse/dp/B00GI29EKQ)

~~~
jupiter90000
That thing is insanely expensive! Is there something special about it to
justify the price tag?? I feel like I'd be cheap and buy some poster board and
make kids build their own(?)

~~~
aasasd
Could as well put up a proper IT version:
[https://i.imgur.com/km9TGBh.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/km9TGBh.jpg)

~~~
meddlepal
In a world where most IT offices these days are as sterile and bland as
possible I would applaud a coworker that went out and did this.

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andrenotgiant
It's really interesting looking at the evolution and interplay between social
network and real life trends around this topic:

1\. It's cool to take photos and apply filters (Instagram 1.0)

1a. It's not cool to take photos and apply filters (Cameras get better,
filters are over-used)

2\. It's cool to take videos and use AR filters (Snapchat/Instagram evolved)

2a. It's not cool to take videos and use AR filters (filters are over-used)

3\. It's cool to decorate real world to look like a filter, take unfiltered
photos (2d cafes)

~~~
ShteiLoups
There's also a [store/boutique/experience/outlet/place where you pay for a
thing] in my town where they just have neat sets for you to take photos in.
There's a room of ducks, a fake bridge through a magical forest, an upside
down room, etc.

The entire business model is selling tickets so people can take photos and
post to social media. And it's a great one.

~~~
karmelapple
I stumbled upon one of these walking around my city the other day. I thought
it was either a new museum, or some pop-up museum exhibit, but it was instead
exactly what you described: a photo studio with many preconfigured sets that
are pretty inventive.

In hindsight it’s so obvious: cameras are getting very good, sharing photos
and video is now trivial for the majority of the population, and everyone has
a camera in their pocket. What a money-making opportunity, even if someday
people will eventually go, “meh, I don’t need to visit that new photo studio
place that opened up.”

This reminds me of how Apple seems to (or at least used to) choose apps to
promote on the iOS App Store when a new version of iOS came out: what new
capability will now be widely available with the new iOS version? Make an app
that highlights that capability, and not only will Apple feature you, but also
a bunch of tastemakers will use your app and spread the word. It could be
support for new camera features, adding AR capability, adding calendar
integration, improved sharing capabilities, etc.

Go to what’s new but ubiquitous, and there are probably people willing - at
least in the short term - to pay with eyeballs or money.

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JDiculous
There's also a cafe just like this in Seoul (Hongdae neighborhood). "Cartoon
Cafe" I believe?

~~~
itake
yep!

[https://mymodernmet.com/cartoon-world-coffee-shop-
seoul/](https://mymodernmet.com/cartoon-world-coffee-shop-seoul/)

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aasasd
I guess the real trick is getting incredibly uniform lighting over each square
cm of all furniture.

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city41
I would have liked to see a photo with people in it to help show the contrast.
Although the food photos were pretty good in that regard.

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mariorossi666
there is a "restaurant with rooms" in Turin in which the rooms are designed by
local artists and one of them is "2d"

The restaurant is also very good.

[https://r-cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1280x900/187/187002...](https://r-cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1280x900/187/187002741.jpg)

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firefoxd
I've seen pictures of this restaurant multiple times on the web. What I
haven't seen, is a person in the picture. I wonder if having a person in it
ruins the illusion?

~~~
graphememes
A quick google image search results in people in the cafe.

~~~
anewguy9000
which all look carefully curated to me. i cant find any with more than one
person in it within first few pages of results

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pcurve
This is a fantastic novelty for once, but I personally find the setting
jarring and unsettling for repeat visits.

~~~
ixtli
I lived in tokyo for a bit and i always wondered if these theme cafes get
repeat customers. I enjoyed going to like a Feudal Japan era cafe, but animal
cafes aside, i never really had a desire for a repeat visit especially since
the lines can be SUPER long.

~~~
ajmurmann
Aren’t many of the ones that are themed after IP’s explicitly temporary?

I went to a bird café In a mostly residential area just north of Ueno park
last year. It was a total blast. We only went in because my spouse didn't feel
well and need to rest, but it ended up one of the highlights of our trip.
Everyone was super happy. All guests were laughing at the birds that were in a
huge cage; the caged birds were seemingly having a great time snuggling and
humping each other; the birds you could visit with were clearly excited to get
attention. One bird kept chirping at my wife every time she stopped petting
it. The entire place liked like a room for kids, but there were no kids, just
happy adults and birds. The music they played sounded like music from a happy
scene in an anime. It was almost surreal. I would go back in a heartbeat!

We did go to a hedgehog cafe which was bad. Unhappy staff and the animals are
nocturnal and just want to sleep. It felt just like animal abuse.

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barrowclift
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21322807](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21322807)

EDIT: I was wrong, the previous discussion was for a similarly styled cafe in
Korea, whereas this one is in Tokyo.

~~~
neogodless
These are two different cafes that use these visual effects (one in Tokyo,
Japan, and one in Seoul, Korea.)

~~~
barrowclift
Shoot, I didn't read the titles correctly enough; you're absolutely right,
they're two completely different cafes. Thanks for the correction!

~~~
neogodless
On the bright side, it's absolutely relevant to the discussion and useful for
comparison.

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sjburt
This is quite similar to a room in Meow Wolf
([https://santafe.meowwolf.com/](https://santafe.meowwolf.com/)). That one was
quite well done, down to painted shadows in spots where real shadows were cast
from the lighting.

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greggman2
Looks cool. I'll have to go check it out.

Reminds me of the sets from "The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne"

[https://youtu.be/MSl2FekEuaE](https://youtu.be/MSl2FekEuaE)

go to 01:07:12

And of course more recently Sin City

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froh42
Is the quality of a place only dictated by instagrammability, today?

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ixtli
Eh, thats definitely something happening in the west but theme cafe culture
has been a big thing in Tokyo for far longer than Instagram has existed. These
places don't typically stay around for too many years but they are common
places to take casual dates, or for groups of people with shared interests to
go. C.f.: gundam themed cafes, cat cafes, feudal era cafes, etc.

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canada_dry
Reminds me a bit of Disney's Animators Palate dining room:

[https://youtu.be/ofwEF2yBR8Y?t=6](https://youtu.be/ofwEF2yBR8Y?t=6)

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wruza
Looks more like cel shading with outlines rather than 2d (though both terms
are used interchangeably for anime and cartoons).

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codezero
If you like this you should check out Meow Wolf. It’s in Santa Fe and has a
very funky vibe.

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gdsdfe
It would be cool to have a flashmob where everyone is wearing a skeleton
onesie in there :)

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notfoss
They should name it Borderlands cafe :P

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seanmcdirmid
Don’t these kind of places rely on perspective tricks, ideal POVs, lighting,
and really good photographers (like those floating crosswalks)? I think if I
saw it in real life, it wouldn’t be as impressive since those conditions would
break down quickly.

~~~
andrenotgiant
Yes - BUT the main reason people go isn't for the first-person experience,
it's so they can take photos and post online. So none of those limitations
really matter.

~~~
bduerst
Reminds me of the quote I heard about 'experiential' businesses: "If you can't
take a picture and brag about it online, then it's not experiential"

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Kind of reminded me of how Starbucks used to disallow photography in their
Chinese stores. It was to prevent copying, but it didn’t go down well since it
was mainly a lifestyle business in that country.

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latchkey
Just another cafe serving sugar junk food in single use plastic cups.

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megablast
At least show someone sitting in it.

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slynn12
This is beyond trippy.

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aaron695
So it's crap to visit IRL but it allows you to take good Instagram photos.

This is what we want now?

Fair enough if it's what people want, but say that.

Don't pretend like it's also a place you will enjoy as a cafe or find visually
appealing to look at with eyes.

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/2D+Cafe+%E6%96%B0%E5%A4%A7...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/2D+Cafe+%E6%96%B0%E5%A4%A7%E4%B9%85%E4%BF%9D%E5%BA%97/@35.7001289,139.6985482,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m7!3m6!1s0x0:0x32cef73eb90e513d!8m2!3d35.7001289!4d139.7007369!9m1!1b1)

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joezydeco
Does _every_ restaurant have to appeal to the Instagram generation now?

~~~
nexuist
Taking pictures and sharing them with friends is not a generational thing. It
has been a cornerstone of human culture since the concept of photography was
invented.

Are we not allowed to enjoy what we see anymore?

~~~
astrobe_
However sometimes it feels like it is being _hijacked_. Sometimes it feel that
the main experience is "sharing a picture", rather than having an experience
(view, sound, smell, all senses plus emotions) and then trying to share it
with pictures. Sometimes it feels that people are too focused on being the
directors of their lives rather being the (ad-lib) actors. The _gamification_
and addiction-inducing practices of certain social media probably has
something to do with this trend. This, I think, is the generational thing.

~~~
setr
I doubt it; people have been going on vacation, and selecting places based on
non-self-interest reasons for ages.

In my own family, every vacation turns into a question of how many tours and
points-of-interest we can fit, and the whole thing is just stressful. And at
those PoIs, the only real interest is getting a good picture with $thing in
the background, and visiting the next thing.

And it's common enough behavior that whole industries revolve around it, which
we call tourism.

And of course, those tourist hotspots are natural places for locals to avoid,
because they cater very directly to those tourists.

Instagram is a very direct extension of the model, but with a much tighter
feedback loop, and much more advanced strategies and competition. Boomer-style
tourism is just as culturally dumb (and profitable) as instragram-tourism, but
implementation-wise, instagram-tourism is simply on a different level of
technical proficiency.

~~~
astrobe_
Well... You are unfortunately correct.

