If your definition of the perfect table for two is one for you and your 2-D oshi, you’ll want to stop by this kominka cafe.
Among restaurants in Japan there’s a category called kominka cafe. Kominka translates as “old residential house,” and so kominka cafes are converted from homes with a historical or retro air to them.
We recently heard about a kominka cafe in Tokyo, though, which offers a very modern service. They’ll serve food and drink not just for you, but for figures or plushies of your anime crush who you’ve brought along to dine with you.
Cafe Kojika is located 10 minutes on foot from Hachioji Station, and from the outside, it looks like a well-maintained pre-bubble economy home. After you open the door you take off your shoes (this is a Japanese house, after all) and step up into the interior, which has an even more old-school vibe.
The support pillars appear to be from the original construction, but the wall coverings and tatami reed flooring are freshly replaced, giving the interior a welcoming and relaxing mixture of familiar warmth and chic newness.
The menu features traditional Japanese cafe favorites, and our Japanese-language reporter Ayaka Idate started things off with a cream soda, for 550 yen (US$5), and because she was by herself, she was able to take advantage of a special offer only for solo diners of a free mini cream soda or mini coffee gelatin.
▼ The sign for the solo-customer offer
It might seem strange to give extra food and drink to someone who ostensibly has no one to share it with, but the understanding is that the mini drink or dessert is for the customer’s oshi, or anime character crush.
▼ Ayaka’s oshi, who’d accompanied her in acrylic standee form
Another cool bit of hospitality at Cafe Kojika is that the staff can make your cream soda for you in any color you’d like. While this service isn’t exclusive to solo diners, it’s especially popular for those who’ve come with their anime crush, since it means you can have your drink made in your oshi’s image color. You can even show the staff a color sample on your phone or a piece of paper to give them a better idea of the shade you want, and Cafe Kojika did a beautiful job recreating the hue of “Edo purple” that Ayaka asked for.
And after they’d set Ayaka’s drink down in front of her, they did the same with the mini cream soda for her oshi.
Again, this is an actual, miniature cream soda, made with the same ingredients and care as the full-sized version, so that you and your crush really are enjoying the same treats together. If anything, the small scale probably makes it more difficult to prepare, but Cafe Kojika’s excellent customer service extends to its courteous treatment of its 2-D guests.
Obviously, visiting the cafe makes for a prime photo op, and so the cafe has an area with scale furniture where you can snap pictures.
There’s also a selection of mini-size plastic food models. However, rather than being whatever happened to be in a random pre-made pack from the toy store, these are custom-made to match Cafe Kojika’s menu items.
For example, Ayaka also ordered a slice of baked cheesecake, which comes with a cookie and swirl of whipped cream, and the miniature replica was an exact match.
The menu isn’t all desserts, either, as their Napolitan pasta is also great…
…and if you’re in a rush, they also have a take-out window for cream soda, including the custom color request, and soft serve ice cream.
Though Aya is very fond of her oshi, and had seen some hard-core otaku and fujoshi out and about with theirs and looking like they were really having fun, she’d always felt a little self-conscious about going out for a bite to eat with her 2-D crushes. With Cafe Kojika being so welcoming, though, she was able to enjoy herself to the fullest, and while any day you eat sweets is a good day, the unique memories she made this day were like the cherry on top of her oshi-colored cream soda.
Cafe information
Cafe Kojika / カフェ小鹿
Address: Tokyo-to, Hachioji-shi, Yorozucho 122-1
東京都八王子市万町122-1
Open 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays and Sundays
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