Japan is always up for a little entertainment with its meals. As a result, dotted around Tokyo you’ll find restaurants where you can dine on food inspired by cute and cool characters from animation, video games, and the like.
Usually, these fictional icons are Japanese in origin, but it turns out that Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have enough of a following for not just one, but two new restaurants collaborations in Tokyo.
While he’s not as ubiquitous as Hello Kitty, Snoopy has a pretty strong presence in Japan, where you’ll find the world-famous beagle on T-shirts, hand towels, and bento boxes, among an array of other assorted merchandise. He’s even popular enough that for the second year in a row, Snoopy is the pitchman for Tower Records’ extra-long Winter Sale, which has already kicked off and runs until January 12.
Since selling physical CDs is becoming a tougher and tougher job, Tower Records does a lot of work building a stylish image in Japan. Aside from the laid-back Tower Records Café in Shibuya, the company also has the Tower Dining restaurant in the neighboring Ebisu district of Tokyo.
While they’re both nice and inviting places ordinarily, they’ve recently been rebranded as the Snoopy Tower Café and Woodstock Tower Dining. As part of the project, new menu items in the likeness of the animal pals will be on offer.
▼ The Snoopy Tower Café’s 1,388-yen (US$12.10) chicken and stewed tomato plate
▼ Snoopy is all about the latte art these days, and the 509 yen will get you this special cup of coffee at the café.
▼ And of course, it’s not a café in Japan without dessert pancakes, also priced at 509 yen.
The Tower Café’s airy interior means there’s plenty of space to fill with members of the Peanuts cast.
▼ Some of them do look a little odd in 3-D, though.
Meanwhile, the Woodstock Tower Dining has its own selection of food and drinks styled after the comic strip’s other famous non-human character.
▼ 926-yen wraps and fries lunch set
▼ Woodstock makes a foamy appearance of his own in the 648-yen chocolate banana milk.
With a bit less open space, Woodstock’s restaurant doesn’t go quite as all-out with the decorations, although there are some tasteful examples of creator Charles Schultz’s artwork gracing the walls.
Like many of Japan’s character cafes, though, both collaborations are for a limited time only, as the Tower Café and Tower Dining revert back to their regular forms on January 1. Before that, though, either looks like a relaxing place to enjoy a meal, drink, or light snack, even if actual peanuts don’t seem to be on their menus.
Restaurant information
Snoopy Tower Records Café / スヌーピー×TOWER RECORDS CAFÉ
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jinnan 1-22-14, Tower Records Shibuya Branch, 2nd floor
東京都渋谷区神南1-22-14 タワーレコード渋谷店 2F
Open 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Woodstock Tower Dining / ウッドストック×TOWER DINING 恵比寿店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Ebisu Minami 1-17-17, Time Zone Terrace Building
住所：東京都渋谷区恵比寿南1-17-17 Time Zoneテラスビル1 2F
Open noon-5 p.m., 6 p.m.-midnight (Monday-Saturday), noon-5 p.m., 6 p.m.11 p.m. (Sunday/holidays)
Source: Fashion Press
Top image: Fashion Press
Insert images: Fashion Press