Chalk this one up as just plain weird or bizarre. However you slice it, the Kayabuki in Utsunomiya is a really odd restaurant by all accounts. It’s a restaurant in Japan where two monkeys act as the waiters.
No, you didn’t misread that. They’ve got a pair of monkeys, male and female who will drop by and serve you things like hot towels while you’re eating.
Even creepier, the monkeys (technically, they’re chimpanzees) are actually dressed up to look like humans, complete with a Japanese face mask and clothes. The monkeys will provide regular service for a specified period of time (apparently, when they’re done, it’s time to go) and then retreat behind the bar. They don’t seem to serve the food however. Instead, they simply serve things like towels and other things.
The restaurant is not known for much beyond that however, since they happen to serve only average Japanese fare and the prices are nothing special either. From what we’ve read about it, the human waiters at the restaurant also leave quite a bit to be desired, sometimes acting surly and often ignoring customer requests.
The monkeys supposedly work for tips (there is a tip jar to provide them with a tip), though we’re not really certain what they’d do with a dollar (or a yen for that matter).
In any event, the chimps are certainly an interesting gimmick to bring people in the door, though we wonder whether or not it would work in this county. If nothing else, we wonder whether or not the board of health might come and close the place down since it was being run by a bunch of monkeys.
Still, if you’re ever in Japan and want to experience what it might be like on the Planet of the Apes, it’s an experience to try at least once.
Tags: chimpanzees, monkey waiters, strange dining
Jim Balis' Blog 
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