One of the best perks of living in Japan and being a gamer is having the ability to attend the amazing pop-up cafes that are available here for a limited time only. During my stay here, I have been fortunate enough to been able to dine at both the Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal Cafes held at two different locations. Making a reservation for these cafes can sometimes be a bit difficult as they are quite popular, but I will be sharing my experience in this post to hopefully help and inspire other people to come and visit!
The Original Persona 5 Cafe at Pasela Resorts (Shibuya)
If you’ve played the game, you’ve probably seen a building called “Pasela Resorts” located on the map. That is because ATLUS had a collaboration with the popular karaoke chain Pasela Resorts in Shibuya from 10/14/2016 – 11/23/2016 with the series. The original Persona 5 Cafe was located on the 2nd floor of this location and required winning an in-person lottery to attend (meaning it was so popular at the time that you could not make a reservation online).
This was quite a heart-racing lottery, but I was determined to win! I remember arriving at 10am, lining up with around 100 or so other people on a 6 floor spiral staircase in front of the cafe, and drawing a ticket from a box. Fortunately, I drew a winning ticket! However, many people were unable to win. I went on a Saturday morning due to my hectic work schedule at the time, but perhaps if you went on a weekday you would have a better chance.
Even though I went alone, I had a ton of fun! I ordered the Ann and Joker drinks as well as the Leblanc curry and dessert pizza. Being in a room surrounded by other Persona fans filled my heart with joy. This was one of the first themed cafes I had been to, so it really left a good impression on me.
Persona 5 Royal Cafe at SEGA Collab Cafe (Akihabara)
3 years later I made it to the Persona 5 Royal Cafe in Akihabara–but this time with friends! Since this was a collaboration held at the SEGA Cafe, the reservation process was much easier. Online reservation in advance was possible, but you could also look at the cafe’s available seats and walk in on the day you wanted to go if there was space. That is what we did as a group of six, and we all managed to sit together! Between all of us, we were able to order almost every item on the menu and swap coasters. This time they had coasters of both the new P5 art and chibi versions of the characters given randomly with every purchase of a drink or food item. This cafe lasted from 11/2/2018 – 12/1/2018. Though I have not played the game yet, I am super excited to now!
If you have missed the dates for these cafes, fear not! Whenever a new game, movie, or even musical are announced, usually these cafes pop up and you can always search for the special merchandise online. I hope to attend many more Persona Cafes and events in the future, as it is one of my favorite series that has taught me much about how social relationships can affect you and the world around you!
Laugh of the Day
On our way up to the SEGA Cafe, we noticed a very special claw machine game filled with dozens of Anns… and one sole Ryuji! What a lucky fellow–if only it were Morgana instead!
You can’t tell how jealous I am of you. I loved Persona 5 and I’m a big Megami Tensei fan in general, so If I were in Japan I’d have definitely checked these Persona 5 cafes out. Maybe I’ll make it to the Persona 6 cafe when it opens in 2035.
Also, that Ryuji looks pretty happy in that pile of Anns, can’t say I blame him.
Haha, I am a huge fan of SMT/MT/Persona as well! The series is seriously addictive and captures some of the darker things that happen in this country. Not to mention I have really learned a lot about mythology through it. They seem to create a new collab with each game released, so maybe you can make it when the Switch game comes out next year! ;0
Indeed, I wish the best for Skull! Godspeed!
Thank you very much for your feedback! It seems that they had these cafes for the Persona 3 movies and the Dancing All Night Games which I didn’t know about as well, so I will be sure to watch out for them in the future! It seems they will be held at the SEGA Collab Cafe in Akihabara from now on, which you can keep track of here: https://sega-collabocafe.com/