KAWAII MONSTER CAFE creator launches new train-themed art restaurant in Kyoto

A new and highly unique restaurant and art installation, the “FUTURE TRAIN KYOTO DINER & CAFE,” is set to have its grand opening.

The project is the creation of the artist Sebastian Masuda, the “father of kawaii culture” and the producer of the legendary KAWAII MONSTER CAFE in Harajuku.

It was recently revealed that the spirit of the KAWAII MONSTER CAFE would live on as an amusement park called KAWAII MONSTER LAND, which is set to open in Winter 2025.

This new “train-themed entertainment restaurant” is built on the “Umekoji High Line,” a section of disused, elevated railway tracks in Kyoto.

The centerpiece of the experience is the “FUTURE BIRD,” a real, decommissioned front carriage of a “Thunderbird” (Series 681) express train that once connected Kyoto with the Hokuriku region.

The train car has been “upcycled” and given a new life as an art piece. It has been repainted in a “plum blossom red” and has been transformed on the inside into a retro-futuristic “engine room.”

In a collaboration with the digital creative company IMAGICA EEXS, this carriage will host an immersive, 20-minute “boarding experience” featuring a show of CG visuals, light, and sound, guided by the original characters, the conductor “Birdie Buddy” and the attendant “Pink Bird.”

The main restaurant area is designed to look like a station platform and will serve a “KYOTO Diner” menu, which fuses the pop-art fun of an American diner with local Kyoto ingredients and culture.

In a comment given prior to the restaurant’s opening, Sebastian Masuda stated:

“This restaurant was inspired by the thrilling and exciting feeling I had as a child when I rode a train to a faraway place… I want to breathe new life into this disused railway line and create a place that stimulates the senses of our visitors.”

This new project is a reunion of the team behind the original KAWAII MONSTER CAFE and aims to become a new cultural landmark in Kyoto that fuses tradition with pop culture.