lifestyle

New cafe pairs men and women at random, provides coffee, cake & iPads to spark conversation

9 Comments
By Scott Wilson, RocketNews24

Remember that time you spotted that cute guy/girl at the cafe? Remember how badly you wanted to go over to them, make a witty comment, sit down and have them laugh and gaze into your eyes? And remember how they left before you actually did anything?

Well, no longer. Aiseki Cafe in Ginza has the answer. When you come in you’re shown to a table with only two seats: one for a man and one for a woman. You chat, flirt, sip coffee and eat cakes, and then after 30 minutes you get rotated to the next person to repeat the process until you’ve found someone to make the sacred connection with: sharing your cell number.

Oh, and if you’re a woman, great news! You get unlimited coffee and cake for only 500 yen, one-fifth of the price for men. Cha-ching!

Aiseki Cafe (meaning “Sharing a Table With Someone You Don’t Know Cafe” or “Blind Date Cafe”) is located in Ginza, Tokyo. It’s owned by the same company that runs the upscale Lohas Ginza cafe, and it was established with the purpose of giving people a place to meet potential partners all day long.

Unlike other speed dating programs, Aiseki Cafe is open all day with no reservations necessary, meaning you can stop in at any time to find the potential love of your life. You just come in, quickly fill out a form with some key information about yourself so they can verify you’re not a stalker, order your drink or food, and then you’re seated at one of the two-people tables.

The men are rotated every half an hour (the women stay seated), so you don’t have to spend too long putting up with somebody if you’re not hitting it off. What’s more, each seat comes equipped with a tablet fully loaded with music, books, manga and more for patrons to use as conversation stimulators. Or as a way of killing the silence until their awkward 30 minutes are up.

When it comes to how much the cafe costs, it’s really not bad… if you’re a woman.

While ladies can stay as long as they like, get unlimited drinks and a slice of cake for just 500 yen, gents are required to pay 2,500 yen for an hour of unlimited drinks and a cake. Men are welcome to stay a little longer if they like, but it’ll cost them 1,000 yen per subsequent hour. That’s one way to ensure the place isn’t packed with single men all waiting to talk to the one available girl, we suppose.

Aiseki Cafe advertises itself as a place where you can “casually meet other people.” In essence that’s true, but it seems to us that the cafe’s main clientele is going to be a little more than “casual”. After all, meeting someone here isn’t going to be like crashing into someone outside a department store on Christmas Eve, suddenly locking eyes with them as you scrabble around trying to pick up your various parcels; people are coming to this cafe in the hope of meeting that special someone. Still, as long as no one gets escorted out of the building by security, yelling that their table-partner didn’t give them their cell phone number, then maybe it’ll work out.

So what do you think? If you’re single, 20 or older, and happen to live in the Tokyo area, then check it out! Let us know if you meet the man/woman of your dreams, or if you get kicked out for being too suave and breaking too many hearts.

Source: Aiseki Cafe via PR Times

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Saitama cafe offers outdoor baths, books, beer, massages, hammocks, and no reason to leave -- Make Tracks to Tokyo’s Train Bars -- Catch some Zs in the big city: Nap cafe for women opens in Tokyo

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


9 Comments
Login to comment

'...it was established with the purpose of giving people a place to meet potential partners all day long."

Based on this premise it would cost women a mere 500 yen to stay all day long but the guy would have to pony up 25,500 yen. Guys, cut your losses and head to Starbucks!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

****I need to move to Tokyo

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

This place is no good for gay people.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

[Serrano

You may just have given them a good idea for a new café... ! They owe you !

1 ( +1 / -0 )

If you ever see me entering in one of these "cafes" please stop me and gently slap me "Benny Hill style" toward the nearest "Kaiwa-school" where, on the other hand, you get paid to talk to women.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Cheaper to just pay for a professional "friend".

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites