The Lock-up

Yesterday my girlfriend and I went out to Sanjo to a themed restaurant called The Lock-up. As you may (or may not) know, Japan has a wide variety of themed type restaurants and cafes, the most commonly themed one being maid cafes where the maids play games with customers and almost pamper to their every needs. However, The Lock-up is far from that - it is a prison themed restaurant, with the waiters/waitresses dressing up as police officers or convicts, and each of the booths set up as prison, which does it make it cosy for couples... when you're not being spooked by the random activities of monsters and convicts wreaking havoc on the poor customers.

Anyway, I should probably start from the very beginning. After being greeted by the waitress, she guided us to a waiting area, which we had no idea what we were supposed to do at the time... until the lights went out and someone seemingly dressed up like Sadako from The Ring comes out, crawling along the floor to scare us. They disappear, and the red lights go on, before switching off again, and the strobe lights kick in and Sadako pops again, standing right behind us. They really go all out in creating a terrifying atmosphere. I was more amazed at the effort put in to it, rather than being scared. Unfortunately, my girlfriend was too terrified to share in my appreciation （笑）
After the initial scaring, we're guided to the next room where another waitress dressed in police uniform greets us and explains some of the details, and asks us which of us is to be handcuffed and what crime we committed. My girlfriend told the officer that I eat too much (でも、それはうそじゃない（笑））, and hence, I was arrested on those charges. Leading us along, with me cuffed to the waitress, she guides us to our table, which resembles a prison cell. Because each of the tables are partitioned off, it means that my girlfriend and I could enjoy each other's company without having to look at other tables... or so we thought. After receiving our first order of drinks, the lights go off, sirens start blaring, and criminals and monsters start wreaking havoc on all the unfortunate customers - from the sound of the all screaming throughout the restaurant, there were clearly a lot of girls dining that night. My girlfriend was totally freaking out, but again, I was more impressed than scared with the effort they go to in order to create a really scary atmosphere. After a good few minutes of scaring the customers (with some of the monsters/convicts prodding me with a glow stick because I could not stop laughing when they came in to our booth and tried to scare us), eventually the police show up to save the day and start "shooting" all the criminals and monsters, with one of them "dropping dead" just outside our booth. As an extra, it was someone's birthday, so they were playing "happy birthday" while scaring the birthday guy/girl (I couldn't tell, since we're all in booths). After that, the black curtains lift up and we are greeted to a nice view of the area and Kamogawa (the restaurant is up on the 6th floor). While my girlfriend did not enjoy being scared, she found it to be an interesting experience, and admitted that she was glad that I was having fun.

 

For the meals and drinks, it's pretty much izakaya style of meals, with the main focus being on the prison themed drinks and cocktails. The only condition for dining in is that you have to order at least one drink, but since there are non-alcoholic cocktails also, it accommodates for everybody's preferences. The menu has a wide selection of cocktails, and it tells you the strength of the cocktails with a little graph. I had two cocktails, but they weren't all that strong which is nice. Presentation-wise, they were all horror/prison themed, so they look really nice, albeit a little pricey, but part of the cost is covering the work in producing these cocktails. We also had some takoyaki (octopus balls), though we were warned that one of them was a really spicy one, and my girlfriend really wanted that one. Guess who ended up eating the spicy one? (hint: It wasn't her). We also had nachos, though the middle was a little bit cold. However, the corn chips were really nice. We also had some karaage, but it was made black so it ended up looking like coal - it tasted nice though. Finally, we finished up with a chocolate parfait that is made to look like it's partially exorcised. All of this with the view, it was a good experience.
One thing though: while the cost of the individual drinks and meals is not too bad, it does accumulate in the end. Ultimately, between the two of us, it was about 6000円 - a little over $60. However, considering that Australia does not have these kind of themed restaurants, and I've never been to a themed restaurant/izakaya such as this, it was worth giving it a try. Well, I did go to Sweets of Ninja previously, but the experience was nowhere near as extreme as The Lock-up.

If you haven't experienced this kind of thing before, I would strongly recommend giving The Lock-up, or any themed restaurant a try (though probably stay away from maid cafes if you want to keep your dignity...), especially if you're one who's in to scary things.

Coming of Age Day (成人の日)

I had no class on monday. The reason for this, is because it was a Japanese public holiday called Seijin no Hi (成人の日), or 'Coming of Age Day' which is held every year on the second monday of January. Pretty much it is a day for young people who have turned 20 in the past year to celebrate their new-found adulthood, as 20 years old is considered the age when one reaches adulthood (compared to Australia where it's 18 years old).

My girlfriend had explained to me previously that on the day, all the young people will dress up - girls dressing up in very beautiful kimonos (that are apparently so expensive, that many use rentals instead), whereas boys will normally wear business attires, though some supposedly wear traditional Japanese dress. I happened to go to Shijo that day, and it was easy to tell just who was celebrating their adulthood given the number of girls in kimonos and boys in business attire. Even at the Round 1 game center at Sanjo, all the girls were queuing up at the photo booths to do group shots with all their friends. Considering that there are already plenty of those booths available for use at Round 1 (with about another 4 placed outside, just in front of the entrance to the game center), it should give you an idea of how busy it was when I say everyone was queuing up.

Aside from young people being given the opportunity to dress in expensive and beautiful clothes, there is also a ceremony that is held every city ward across the country at 11:30 am. After the ceremony, there are usually parties among family and friends, and plenty of photos. Considering the cost of the kimonos worn for such a day (and you only turn 20 once) photos are apparently the main focus of the day.

From what I have read also, the rate of attendance of the Seijin no Hi ceremonies has been declining over the years. Aside from the cost of the Kimonos (which I guess is understandable), other reasons cited include that there are many who feel they aren't ready yet to take on the responsibilities that come with being an adult, and apparently young people in the past have been disrupting the ceremonies in protest, which I guess would turn people away from attending. However, the most likely cause would be simply the declining birthrate. It seems to be a combination of all these, which kind of sucks, especially for a once in a lifetime (literally) celebration.

Also, once Japanese people turn 20 years old, they can now (legally) do the following:
- Drink alcohol
- Smoke
- Vote

So yeah, another really intriguing national holiday here in Japan.

New Year (正月）

I know it's a little late, but Happy New Year everyone! ちょっと遅いけど、あけましておめでとうございます！

Celebrating New Year in Japan is a totally different thing compared to Australia. Whereas in Australia, people will typically party on the New Year's Eve, recover from the previous night's party on New Year's Day, and then back to work the next day, Japan is a totally different thing altogether, at least from what I experienced.
For starters, the holiday lasts from the 1st of January until 4th, so a majority of businesses are closed during this period. Also during this period, people will go to temples and shrines and pray for safety, good health, etc. During this time, everyone is going to the temples and shrines, so the more popular ones are incredibly busy. My girlfriend and I did exactly that, although we didn't go to any of the busier ones. We went to Goryou Shrine to pray, before we headed to Shimogamo Shrine, and we decided to check our fortune. My girlfriend had told me previously that whenever she had her fortune told, she would always end up with a bad one - so imagine her surprise when she received the best fortune possible. I ended up with the second best one, so I was happy too, and as per the instructions, I'm keeping that fortune in my wallet. We had a look some more around the shrine area, before we started going around the food stalls area, and ate just about everything possible - taiyaki, candied strawberries, chocolate bananas, takoyaki, red bean soup with mochi (sticky rice cake) in it - yeah, quite a bit. I also had a chance to sample some shouchu that I spotted at a stall. Having little experience in the way of drinking (especially drinks that she's never tried before), she drank in one go and was completely overwhelmed by the strength of the alcohol, while I slowly sipped mine so I can get an idea of the taste. The taste actually reminded me of the Vocaloid Shouchu Lily that I bought on my previous trip to Japan. However, compared to that, this sample was certainly a lot stronger, and the taste more distinct. I was considering buying it, but the price kind of chased me away. However, I will keep it in mind to possibly purchase before I return to Australia.

Also, I forgot to mention, it snowed on New Year's Day and the day after. Having never seen snow before (because I live in Western Australia, and it never snows there because of the climate), I was totally excited. On the second day, at night my girlfriend and I headed to Gosho and play in the snow, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at trees to knock off all the snow hanging on them. Also, because of the snow, it was fairly bright at night, making walking around Gosho really easy.

Anyway, that's it for now. I finish uni at the end of this month, and then I'll have two months of break before I return to Australia. I certainly do have plans for the break, so I'll be sure to post about it when it happens.