Japan has a culture that supports all things cute! The Moomin Cafe lets solo diners sit with large stuffed animals at their tables to keep them company!
Our owner does not go out to eat by herself that often, but this must make the experience more fun! Definitely something to talk about later and take pictures of when a solo meal would have been otherwise uneventful.
Take a look:
(RocketNews/Twitter)
Moomin Cafe is a themed restaurant, based on a Finnish book series about hippopotamus like creatures, also known as Moomin, by author Tove Jansson. Some of the main characters:
(Screengrab/RocketNews)
There are nine books total in the series. The main character of the Moomin series of books and comic strips is Moomintroll, who lives with his father (moominpappa) and mother (moominmamma). There is also a host of other characters. The books and comics have inspired different tv series including one popular in Japan, animated movies, and a children’s theme park called Moomin World.
Diners have been flocking to the restaurant and many pictures have been posted online of patrons with their stuffed animal friends, and often just the stuffed animals themselves.
Here are tables with stuffed animals awaiting new human freinds:
(RocketNews/Twitter)
A diner’s picture of their stuffed animal enjoying some dessert:
(Instagram)
A stuffed friend across the table with themed table covering:
(Twitter/RocketNews)
The walls are covered in drawings from the series, so too are the table cloths. Even the food is themed to fit with the book series:
(Twitter/RocketNews)
Love this idea (but it needs more guinea pigs)! This is a unique restaurant concept, and with a theme more easy to relate to (Disney etc) it could work in the US. It is interesting and family friendly. The restaurant could even have a way to buy the large stuffed animals as well.
– Cola and Fizz
All photos from the Business Insider
