|

Miyuki-chan in front of
Cafe Rodney
|
Just by chance I was out with my friend Miyuki and we happened
upon Cafe Rodney. Rodney
Alan Greenblat is the artist who designed Parappa
the Rapper and Um Jamma Lammy as well as Thunder
Bunny, the characters for
Family Mart, and the stage and package design for the Japanese group Puffy and
their TV show as well as several other
companies. I don't think he's
nearly as well known in America but here in Japan he's pretty huge.
His style is all about cute and fun. In the picture above
you can see a face on the door as well as on the two tea pots on the sign.
Even the chairs had happy characters on them.
|

Even the chair backs
are cute
|
Like most Tokyo cafe's they have a pretty small menu. A
few drinks, a few desserts and a few light lunch dishes.
|

The side of my glass
|
I had a tropical smoothie. Nothing to write home about but it
did hit the spot for a muggy summer day in Tokyo.
|

Inside the cafe
|
I didn't take a very good picture of the inside but basically
every part of the cafe is decorated. Rodney's style is very busy.
It's like you are at a cafe in Disneyland but busier. You can see PJ Berry
and Thunder Bunny sitting at the counter above. On top of food and drinks
they also sold some merchandise like T-Shirts and some of Rodney's books.
|

Happy Happy Fishy Fish
|
Behind the counter was the happiest about to be killed fish in
the world
At least with all the veggies drawn around him he looks like
he's about to be made into lunch but clearly he's not too concerned 
If you want to check it out and you are in Tokyo it's in the
Harajuku, Omotesando area. From Omotesando station walk toward Harajuku
maybe 5 minutes and then turn right and walk into the neighborhood. It's
maybe 5 minutes back from the main street along with lots of other boutiques and
beauty salons. Here's
a map
Also, the placemats had half-finished pictures on them with a
request (in English) to finish the picture, turn it into the staff and maybe
they'd put it on their website. Since it's in English it seems like most
Japanese probably wouldn't read it but I guess quite a few people did because
there's lots of pictures
on the website. Maybe if I'm lucky mine will turn up 