After 11 years of service, Japan's chain of Gundam themed cafes has just three months left before they close down permanently.
According to SoraNews24, the Gundam Café announced the chain's closure on Nov. 1 in a letter to its customers. There are currently four Gundam Café locations in Japan: two in Tokyo, specifically Akihabara and Odaiba, one in Osaka, and one in Fukuoka. Under normal circumstances, these locations receive large numbers of tourists traveling domestically and internationally, so while no official reason for closure was given in the letter, many have speculated that the severe travel downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic played a large part in the decision to close the chain. The announcement was unexpected, coming only days after the company announced new menu items.
Mobile Suit Gundam began as a TV anime series created in 1979 by Yoshiyuki Tomino and animation studio Sunrise. The original show was a science fiction military drama that focused on the experimental giant robot known as "Gundam." In the decades since its release, the franchise has become wildly popular in Japan and has spawned dozens of TV series, films and OVAs, as well as manga, novels, video games and a whole industry of plastic model kits known as Gunpla.
The Gundam Cafés offer food and drinks inspired by the anime and also sell a wide array of branded merchandise. Prior to the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, the chain's restaurants, as well as life-sized Gundam statues that are located throughout Japan, were popular attractions for both international tourists and domestic fans of the series alike. In the letter announcing the chain's closure, the company took a moment to thank its customers:
“We opened our first café in Akihabara in April of 2010, and our customers have supported us at every step along the way. On behalf of our entire staff, we are more grateful to you than words can express. We don’t have much time left, but we will continue doing our utmost so that everyone who visits can have wonderful memories to take home, and we hope you’ll enjoy yourselves at our cafes right up until the very end.”
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The final day for the café in Osaka will be Jan. 10, while the locations in Akihabara, Odaiba, and Fukuoka will all close on Jan. 30, 2022. The café at the the Gundam Factory in Yokohama will remain open until March 2022.
The company's statement ends with "Please look forward to our next project,” suggesting that the Gundam Café may eventually return at some point.
Source: Gundam Cafe via SoraNews24
