Shooting Bar AE: Resident Evil 15th Anniversary Collaboration

Name: Shooting Bar EA
Hours: 5:00PM-1:00AM.
Price: ¥600-¥1200 for appetizers.
¥500 for shotgun shell shooters; beer and cocktails from ¥600.
Events: Airsoft shooting gallery. ¥500 for 3-4 magazines/~70 shots.
Address: 1-5-5  Gotenyama, Sawada Building 2F, Musashino-Shi Tokyo (From Kichijoji station, take the South Exit and travel west towards the intersection. Turn left down Kichijoji Doori road and the bar will be on your right after a short walk.)
Japanese Level: Basic conversational ability recommended if you want to suit up for the shooting range.




The CDC’s recent article on surviving a zombie apocalypse is essential reading for anyone who hopes to live through the coming rapture, though it leaves out one critical element—weapon training! In particular, close-range shooting with small firearms. Every bullet counts when you’re facing down an undead horde, and if you go in unprepared you’ll wish you had saved the last one for yourself.



Don’t despair! Shooting Bar AE and Capcom have teamed up for the 15th Anniversary of Resident Evil and upcoming release of The Mercenaries 3D to bring you a fully stocked armory just waiting to dismember the franchise’s most iconic monsters and get your marksmanship up to survival speed.



Though Japanese law bans the right to bear arms, restriction has bred innovation in the form of true-to-life model guns indistinguishable from the real thing. The Kichijoji-based Shooting Bar EA lets you get hands-on with their awe-inspiring equipment. You don’t need to be a gun freak to get your rocks off, though the experience might turn you into one.

Decisions, decisions. Do you head straight for the firing range, or do you first loosen up your trigger finger with Resident Evil-themed cocktails?

Green, blue, and red flavor-dip won't actually cure a zombie bite, but the Mixed Herb Cocktail can help you forget the pain.

Inoculate yourself against the plague with T-Virus and G-Virus vaccines.

Shotgun shell shots go straight to your head.

Umbrella-brand painkillers are there to help nurse your hangover the morning after.

Sorry buddy, the kitchen's fresh out of braaaaaaains... But there are overpriced novelty appetizers!
(Courtesy of our partner in grime from I Live on Another Planet.)

The “Itchy Tasty Brains” shrimp risotto lived up to its name, though it may have been my shellfish allergy acting up.

Sadly, there's no Jill Sandwich, but there is Tofu Survivor.

Pio-Hazard was a delicious, meat-filled pun. (Resident Pastry to Western audiences.)

This R.P.D. cosplayer posing with Leon's custom Desert Eagle brought out every camera in the house and with it new meaning to the term "shooting gallery."

To be clear, this guy isn't one of the staff. He just parades around like this for kicks when he's not lighting people up in the field with airsoft pellets.

Resident Evil: The Shooting will continue through June 19th. If you find yourself along the Chuo Line it's well worth your time to poke your head in, if just to take in the ambiance and neuter some bloodthirsty cultists. Boom, "head" shot!

Kamen Rider the Diner

Those dastardly Shockers are back with another heinous scheme to undermine Japan. This time they're plotting to swindle milk money from innocent children . Backed by the Pasela Group, the very same masterminds behind the Dragon Quest tavern in Roppongi, Kamen Rider the Diner is poised to serve up a steaming plate of nostalgia laced with mind control serum.


Today, themed restaurants.
Tomorrow, the world!


Reservations need to be through the website in advance or the staff will show you the door.


The interior is ostensibly decorated as a secret Shocker hideout, though the Third Reich eagle motif clashes with the walls adorned with rider action figures and glamor shots of the heroes.


Past riders are encased in vacuum sealed glass coffins for future generations.


There were two display cases featuring every rider belt ever.


Having a rider belt embossed shirt is the Japanese version of those novelty tees with a tie printed down the front.

Naturally you're not paying for the food itself, but rather the ambiance and right to take sweet pictures to brag to your friends. It takes a truly insidious organization to make you feel good about blowing 800 yen on a plate of cheese and rice.


Cheese Condora Risotto.


Amazon Salad.


Amazon Green Tea Float.


Stronger Strawberry Hot Cake.


X Riders's Gateau Chocolate Scarf.


X Rider Cocoa.


Apollo Geist Killer Spicy Shrimp Chili.


Rider Ichi-Go Melon Soda Float.

Some of the items are more of a stretch then others and require a high level of mental gymnastics to justify their existence. Half the fun is seeing how desperate the menu can get; the other half is returning to a child-like state of mind that can see rider helmets in green ice cream and kaiju in pan-fried shrimp.

Despite the slightly dodgy menu, this is intended as a somewhat classy dining experience for friends and couples looking to play grown-ups by dishing our major bank for a meal. Never mind that it's a living museum dedicated to a children's show about spandex-clad grasshoppers beating up guys in rubber suits. The restaurant feels no shame in reveling in the source material, and honestly, why should they? Kamen Rider the Diner helps us remember that in the real world sincerity beats out irony, one overpriced novelty dish at a time.

Go Nagai Wonderland Museum

Not to be outdone by Voidmare's visit to knock-off heaven Korea, I returned to Ishikawa prefecture over Golden Week to bring back some official bootlegs from the Go Nagai Wonderland Museum.

Go Nagai, famous worldwide for his puerile power fantasies driven by cheesecake and cartooney ultraviolence, was born in the city of Wajima, a small town overlooking the Sea of Japan near the top of the Noto Pinnensula. His father's job took the family to Tokyo and Nagai never looked back until a few years ago when the tourism board of Wajima decided to cash in on the six years the author spent there by establishing the Go Nagai Wonderland Museum.

Sadly photography was prohibited, and with the staff hovering around like shit hawks you'll have to make do with a written account of the highlights, which include:

-A two meter Mazinger-Z statue shooting a rocket punch.
-Comprehensive timeline of all known works. (Surprisingly he was serialized in Shojo magazines as well during the beginning of his career.)
-E-book library of works through the mid-70's.
-Carved stone statue of his super deformed self-portrait.
-Original pages from Devilman, Dorodoro Enma-Kun and others.
-Print club featuring backdrops from tankobon covers.

The museum wouldn't be a true tourist trap without a selection of kitschy souvenirs.



Manga pages are made of pulp, which are then recycled into toilet paper. These Devilman and Cutey Honey toilet paper rolls bridge the gap between TP and manga, thus completing the circle of nature.



Individually wrapped, nondescript cookies are a must for appeasing co-workers, and the kleenex serves in a pinch when there's no Devilman toilet paper on hand.



The Mazinger-Z labeled local sake is possibly the worst offender in a long line of branded products that have nothing to do with the source material.



Wajima is famous for its lacquerware, making these Devilman chopsticks almost legit.


However I draw the line at a $300 drink tumbler, even if it does use gold leafing.



More curious than the museum itself, across the street stands a suit store operated by the Nagai family. The owner is the son of Nagai Go's father's cousin, making his connection to the author's legacy as strained as everything else in the city. This doesn't stop them from dealing in glitter-embossed T-shirts.



Get your Wajima exclusives right here.



The storefront also serves as a power spot for fans. After making the arderous pilgrimage to the museum, they leave offerings of toys and posters that the owner displays out of a sense of obligation


In fact, the whole town is rabid with Nagai Go fever. There isn't a bookstore without a sun faded window display of his manga. Renditions of Mazinger-Z and Cutey Honey adorn maps and tourist information completely unrelated to the museum.



Don't get me wrong. The shameless opportunism adds to the town's charm and makes the two hour bus ride from Kanazawa worthwhile. Like most shita-machi visits, its something to do on a lazy Sunday, rather than a must-see weekend destination. And if you time it right, you might show up in the middle of a black sabbath when the fan club makes their regular pilgrimage.

Seoul Searching

Full Seoul golden week vacation Flickr set organized by love hotel pics, bootleg toys, street snapshots and food HERE!!




"Coffee Break" room at R Hotel, a love hotel in Singil. They let us change our room every night, though sadly we couldn't get the Hello Kitty suite.


Bought all of these in the shop! The couple running the place got into a fight and the husband stormed out because he didn't want to sell them. The wife gave them to me for 2 bucks a piece!


Markets were so saturated with Transformers bootlegs that I eventually got sick of taking pictures of them


The same goes for Gundam...


Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Jango Fett and Luke Skywalker- powers combine to form Space Warrior


Awesome Rocky punching puppet card- puppets not included


Ultraman Lady?






Kinoko no Yama ripoffs at 7-11


If you ever find yourself in Seoul, you need to eat here


Silkworm street vendor. The odor was absolutely putrid, nothing like Uchiyama-san's cooking


Returning to Tokyo at 5AM

Full Seoul golden week vacation Flickr set organized by love hotel pics, bootleg toys, street snapshots and food HERE!!