

Kashiwa Mystery Cafe - adamhowell
http://www.cabel.name/2009/09/kashiwa-mystery-cafe.html

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patio11
See here if you're interested. It was part of a two day exhibition, so I
wouldn't buy a ticket to Chiba with the hope of finding it.

[http://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/corporate/news/2008/0418/inde...](http://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/corporate/news/2008/0418/index.html)

「EAT&ART TARO（イート・アンド・アート タロー）
1979年神奈川県生まれ。食をテーマにしたワークショップ、美術館のカフェプロデュース・メニュー開発など、食とアートに関わる様々な場面での活動を行う。
当マルシェコロールでは、おごりcafeをプロデュース。」

Brief translation:

(The artist) Eat & Art Taro was born in 1979 in Kanagawa Prefecture. He leads
food-themed workshops, produces menus for museum cafes, and is engaged in
various activities relating to the intersection of food and art. Ogori Cafe is
his creation.

[n.b. Ogori Cafe is the official name of the cafe. Ogori is a form of the word
"To treat someone to".]

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JacobAldridge
A delightful mystery for the undecided or the adventurous, but alas not
designed for the everyday 'I need a coffee / feel like a ham & cheese
sandwich' crowd.

Having worked with restaurants in tourist areas, I know that it's the locals
that provide revenue stability - tourists can be the cream on top, but if you
can't service the locals you won't survive long.

I would extrapolate from that experience that many cafes, especially those in
business-precinct areas, rely on the regulars to provide revenue stability.
Most regulars won't the same coffee at 9am, the same time sandwich at noon,
and the same coffee at 3pm. Hard to survive long if you're not designed for
that group, delightful and mysterious as you may be.

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rokhayakebe
If someone can figure how to implement this concept into some real/virtual
gift-game-concept for a startup they would do marvelous.

~~~
bemmu
Here's Ogori Google I made in 5 mins: <http://fi.bemmu.com/ogori/>

~~~
hughprime
Predictably, the person before me searched for "horse porn".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we can't have nice things.

~~~
sunir
I got "Paul Graham nude". Wunderbar.

What's missing from this is the accountability in the real world cafe. If you
ordered something disgusting, there is a significant chance the next person is
not too far behind you and will take it out on you.

Also, the cafe has a finite menu of predefined positive choices, whereas
Google has an infinite menu including potential negative choices.

I just ruined the joke, didn't I?

------
hughprime
I like rule 3:

"Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it."

~~~
jrockway
Rule #5 is what made me immediately think, "yes, this is Japan". "It can't be
done" is the Japanese customer service motto.

~~~
hardik
"Next time: The Best Fast Food Receipt In The World" - from the end of the
post (and i suspect it would still be about Japan)

