Even before Tokyu Kabukicho Tower opened in mid-April, its fountain-like design caught my eye and had me wondering what this new building was. It’s Japan’s 19th-tallest skyscraper, and you can see it rising up over the train station from Shinjuku Southern Terrace. At 48 stories high, it’s significantly taller than the neighboring Shinjuku Toho Building, where the famous life-size Godzilla Head peeks out from an eighth-floor terrace, and where the adjoining Hotel Gracery Shinjuku tops out at 30 floors.
Tokyu Kabukicho Tower also holds two hotels on its upper floors, but below them is an entertainment complex with a state-of-the-art multiplex, venues for both live music and theater (stage productions), and a nightclub that spans four basement levels. The very first thing you’ll see when you walk in, however, is the neon-lit food court, Kabuki Hall, which brings together regional soul foods from around Japan in a retro, yokocho-style atmosphere.
Dim Sum and Gatchapon in Tokyu Kabukicho Tower
If you’ve ever been to Kabukicho, the sight of its red entrance gate should be familiar (though it’s getting to be more of a touristy yellow-light than red-light district these days). Walk down that street, Ichibangai, or the adjacent Godzilla Road and hang a left, and you’ll see Tokyu Kabukicho Tower right around the corner from the HUMAX Pavilion.
We originally planned to check out Tokyu Kabukicho Tower over Golden Week, before we got sick with Covid and realized how expensive tickets for the movie theater were (not necessarily in that order). 109 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku is a theater with next-generation screens, all-you-can-eat popcorn, and a sound system overseen by the late film composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Revenant). It also boasts premium prices; the cheaper “Class A” tickets are ¥4,500, and that comes with a ¥700 surcharge if you want to see a movie on the panoramic Screen X.
Needless to say, we’ll probably wait for something a little more special than The Super Mario Bros. Movie before we shell out that kind of dough. Last Friday, however, we had a few hours to kill in Shinjuku, so we did have a light lunch at the swanky Dim Sum Holic on the fifth floor of Tokyu Kabukicho Tower.
We also checked out the third-floor arcade, Namco Tokyo, where Azusa bought a gatchapon (capsule toy) from one of the vending machines. Then, because I was still a bit peckish, we headed back down to the Kabuki Hall food court on the second floor.
Some Curly Fries With That Dead Snake?
Kabuki Hall follows the same basic concept as Shibuya Yokocho in Miyashita Park—one of the spots on my GaijinPot list of 5 new places to see in Tokyo. The restaurants specialize in different regional foods from around Japan; one of them is decorated with a nebuta float from Aomori, for instance.
Not all of the restaurants were open when we were there, since it was afternoon and I get the impression this place really comes alive at night more. There’s even a stage for live music, which you can also see downstairs at the Zepp Shinjuku (TOKYO) venue.
We pulled up a couple of chairs at the Kyushu and Okinawa-themed restaurant, where we were seated next to a jar of habushu, complete with a dead habu (pit viper) coiled up inside. When I looked over and saw it, it gave me my own little “snake surprise” moment, à la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The taco rice, topped with egg and parmesan, looked the same as what I ordered earlier this year at the Okinawan restaurant in Shibuya Yokocho. Since we had already eaten dim sum upstairs, we just shared a draft beer and some cheesy beef curly fries this time.
It was just enough to give us the lay of the land in Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, which we’ll probably return to at a later date (maybe when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny comes out later this month).
Robot Restaurant Closed, Reopening Uncertain, Samurai Restaurant Now Open in Same Venue
[This section has been updated as of November 23, 2023.]
In other related news, there have been some conflicting reports about the future of the popular Robot Restaurant, which appeared everywhere from Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown to the music video for Muse’s “Panic Station,” before closing down, finally, during the pandemic. Time Out Tokyo initially reported that Robot Restaurant would be reopening in a new format in an adult cabaret club in Kabukicho. However, it later backtracked on that, seemingly confirming that the restaurant was closed for good and would not be staging a comeback in any other venue.
Bikini girls on a neon tank at Robot Restaurant in 2014.
Two things can be true, it turns out. Robot Restaurant is indeed closed, perhaps permanently, but a new experience called Samurai Restaurant Time has opened in the same building. The Japan Times has a fresh report on it, which is up to date for November 2023. It sounds like the owners, Gira Gira Girls, are going for the same wild and crazy kind of experience.
What makes things slightly confusing still is that two other outlets, Tokyo Cheapo and Japan Web Magazine, reported in October 2023 that the reopening of Robot Restaurant had merely been delayed due to technical problems. Both sources seemed to indicate that Samurai Restaurant Time (then called simply Samurai Restaurant in the media) would be a temporary show, keeping the seat warm for the return of Robot Restaurant. I’m not sure how much more reliable their information is compared to Time Out Tokyo, but it’s clear that, at present, anyone hoping to visit Robot Restaurant will have to settle for Samurai Restaurant Time instead.
The main Robot Restaurant sign in 2016, before it was replaced by a video screen.
Below the big video screen, a smaller screen can be seen flashing advertisements for Samurai Restaurant Time in 2023.
Today, just to confirm what’s going on with my own two eyes, I was able to swing by the Samurai Restaurant Time building while I was in Shinjuku. They still have a couple of signs for Robot Restaurant up across the street. However, the eye-catching main sign that once stretched across the show building is gone now. SoraNews24 (via Japan Today) ran a report in 2021 with pictures of them taking it down. In its place, there’s currently a big video screen flashing images of bikini girls, Japanese castles, and colorful flowers.
As its name implies, Gira Gira Girls is what’s known as a “girls bar” in Japan. The Samurai Restaurant Time show only happens there once a day during the afternoon, so it’s not even really the main draw for this building. They do have a smaller screen and signs advertising Samurai Restaurant Time below the big video screen, but amid all the other neon noise of Kabukicho, I can see how someone might walk past the building without even realizing it’s the show venue.
Personally, having done Robot Restaurant once, I’d be more inclined to wait and see if this new, slightly off-brand version is just a pop-up show, or if it sticks around and proves just as popular. In the meantime, if you want to check it out yourself, tickets for Samurai Restaurant Time run ¥10,000, or ¥9,000 online. Doors open at 1 p.m., but the show starts at 2:30 and ends at 5:30.
Though it may be disappointing for some to learn that Robot Restaurant has gone Samurai, I hope this at least clarifies the situation for anyone coming to Kabukicho in search of kitsch and cabaret. If you found this update useful, then keep it tuned here to The Gaijin Ghost for more of what’s happening in Tokyo and around Japan. I’ve seen the numbers, so I know the site’s readership has been growing, traffic-wise, but you can support more like it (and let me know you’re out there) by hitting me up on Twitter/X @TheGaijinGhost.