Whilst I’ve been to many anime conventions, I have yet to set foot in a maid cafe, even in Japan. It’s definitely something to consider doing with friends of certain tastes, but I would never go alone. This pop-up was only for one weekend a year (as it’s an annual convention), but it’s likely going to be a mainstay at large anime conventions around the world, and of course there’s plenty of these in Akihabara.
Came here from a friend’s suggestion, and was attracted by their breakfast special – free toast, egg/red beans and jam with any drink. Generous offer, but we added a few things we wanted to try. A repeat of the Viennese coffee along with yoghurt and honey was a good choice, but my traveling companions were drawn to the salad and the tasty dressing. Unfortunately after the some questions and requests, there was no way to buy a bottle of their (apparently original) salad dressing to take home.
Tried “Viennese Coffee” for the first time along with a decent slice of cheese cake. Coffee with whipped cream is rich and smooth. The interior definitely sets it apart. Sadly, no pineapple sandwich unlike the anime-version of this in Hyouka, and I made it known in the guest book. Bagpipe is a cheap and quieter place to have breakfast, compared to the bustle of the morning market.
The lucky cat statue in the middle of the shopping street.The shop in the background even has the same logo, just with the name changed.Hyouka has been one of my favorite anime TV shows. It’s low-stakes slice-of-life but with the added charm of mysteries involved. When the opportunity arose to visit the city (Takayama) that the show is based on (Kamiyama), I set off with my camera to see how similar the city is with the anime depiction. In appearance, it certainly is.
It’s very hard to line the shots up from the actual anime scenes, due to various issues like not having the right field-of-view with the lucky cat above and the library below. This shot of the main shopping street intersecting with the road leading to Kajibashi Bridge lined up really well however.Definitely did not get the right FOV with the Takayama City Library, though it was a pleasure actually going in. For a small town, the library appears to be quite vast, with even a kids’ and small English section (though mainly for learning English) to boot.
I stopped by the “Bagpipe” (the real-life one on the right) cafe to see if they also sell pineapple sandwiches like in “Pineapple Sand” (the anime one on the left). Sadly, they do not despite having a Hyouka memorabilia section inside. At least I got to try their cheesecake and Viennese coffee – will post that soon.After trying to line these two photos up, I concluded that my camera wasn’t high enough to capture the right perspective. Additionally, in the 12 years since this show was released, the wooden bridge at the bottom has sadly disappeared. That, or it was simply added for the show and only existed there.
This one was quite difficult. The sun sets a lot later when I took this, not to mention the real-life “Cafe Katsute” (right) closes long before then, and it does seem that the anime-version, “Cafe 123” (left) did make a few difference in positioning certain elements. Nevertheless, I think the similarity is still very much visible.Finally, there’s several small bridges crossing through Miyagawa River, some more ornate than others, but all very walkable and offer great views. With shorts like these, I think there’s so many different elements that there’s going to be a lot of little differences with perspective and elements that a side-by-side comparison such as this would be more appropriate.
There’s many more spots that I visited which were featured in the show, such as the real-life Hida High School that the anime Kamiyama High School is based on (not publishing pictures because of obvious reasons), and the Miyagawa Morning Market (most of the stone pillars Satoshi stood on in the intro were removed to make way for a bridge). For fellow fans of the show, I do encourage you to make your own pilgrimage to Takayama and see for yourself – in addition to the tasty Hida Steaks and fascinating blasts of Japanese nostalgia you can consume.
Peso 
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