I've been promising myself I'd check out the Kaiju Bar in Kawasaki city for quite some time. And I've been putting it off for quite some time. Having left my job, though, I've finally gotten the chance to gather some Adventure Friends, namely Ty and Ken, and check it out. And though the place was not quite what I expected it to be, it wasn't all bad, either!
The Kaiju Bar is based on the villains who appeared in the Ultraman TV series - put simply, the monsters played by men in big rubber suits who show up to get whooped.
Westerners are probably more familiar with the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and in essence, it's pretty much the same. But whereas this type of show hasn't really picked up as much steam in America, in Japan, they're still quite popular and going strong, as they have been for decades. You
might recall this is actually my second time visiting a bar based on such a television show. They're just that popular. And as much as there's love for the main characters of these shows, so too are there cult followings for each of the big rubber villains - the Kaiju.
Now, when I first caught wind of the Kaiju Bar last year, when it opened, I looked at the promotional material and thought to myself, "sweet! You get to go in there and drink with big monsters!" Well, advertisement can be deceiving, folks, though I'm not blameless for not having checked. Unfortunately, and to my sorrow, unlike in the bar's videos and posters, the Kaiju don't come out for you to have a drink with them. But I almost forgave this on account of all the other nice things the place had going for it.
For one, the bar
was lovingly decorated with as many Ultraman and Kaiju paraphernalia as you could think of. On top of the standard fanfare of having figurines of varying sizes in glass cases, the Kaiju Bar had beautiful murals and all types of replicas suspended all over the shop, which was pretty sizable, too.
However, the place is quite generous to customers in terms of what's given to them. Upon being seated at the table, every patron gets a resting plate for their chopsticks with a different Kaiju on it. Plus, every order placed awards you with a different beer coaster, which the staff painstakingly choose so as to make sure customers aren't given the same one twice. This being an Izakaya, our table ended the night with over 10 coasters.
Second, there was no denying that the service was quite good! Unlike many other themed places run by different chains (notably Diamond Dining and Pasela Resorts) the waiters and waitresses don't do much to remind you that they're in character. There is the initial bit where the reception makes you put your hand into a big Kaiju's mouth on the wall to "detect whether or not you're a hero in disguise," but other than that, the staff acts pretty normal.
And the third great thing about the Kaiju Bar is that, lo and behold, the food is actually quite good! Despite not bearing a heavy price tag, the food, which doesn't necessarily follow the theme either, is prepared with its actual taste in mind. I thought the food was quite tasty, and Ken, who's a major foodie, actually approved too, which confirms it! The menu offers all the standard izakaya fare, so there's a good amount of variety, from
karaage fried chicken to
yakisoba noodles and more, each cooked by someone who actually knows what the hell they're doing.
So at the end of the night, the Kaiju Bar was a good meal, good service, and good ambiance, despite not actually having been what we came for. Oh well, we'll live.
Not that all of the rides in Joypolis are a rehash of this formula though. One of the rides I walked into had a similar premise at first, having me sit down in a cart with gun-controls and shoot through hordes of zombies, but with an unexpected twist. Imagine my surprise when the cart was launched out of its tunnel and went barreling through the inside of the theme park, corkscrewing across a set of rails. Somehow, I didn't even notice when I had walked in that the ride was a miniature roller coaster.
