Japan’s Resident Evil Restaurant Has More Hot Pants Than Zombies

Didn’t you hear? Today, Capcom is opening a Resident Evil cafe and grill in Tokyo.

The Biohazard Cafe and Grill aims to transport diners into Raccoon City and the world of Resident Evil. It will have RE themed food, replica props and dancing girls. Because there are so many dancing girls in RE.

Besides the assorted RE artifacts that line the walls, there’s a one-to-one scale Tyrant that was crafted by the special effects house that creates the tokusatsu costumes for Toei’s superheroes.

Thanks to 3D projection mapping, the statue comes to life, and the restaurant’s staff, dubbed S.T.A.R.S ANGELIQUE, shoot at it with phony S.T.A.R.S. guns as part of a in-house performance that also includes dancing. Just like the games!

The Biohazard Cafe and Grill will only be opened a year. It’s a limited time only establishment — which is one — if not expensive — way companies in Japan sometimes launch new products. These types of promotion are an easy way to see PR in motion and are something tangible companies can point to and say, hey, we are really promoting (insert product name)!

But it’s more than that. Japan loves “for a limited time only” products. Stroll through a Japanese supermarket and you’ll be overwhelmed with “for a limited time only” (“gentei” or 限定) chips, cookies, soft drinks — and more. For this RE cafe, part of the selling point is that this can only be experienced for a limited time only — so you better go soon!

Capcom is no stranger to these types of promotions. Besides creating its own bar (which already offered RE inspired brains), it’s partnered with a variety of restaurants to promote everything from Street Fighter to Monster Hunter. Once, it even collaborated with an airsoft gun bar for a Resident Evil promotion.

While there are probably more sensible ways to promote Resident Evil 6, there is nothing sensible about a one-to-one scale Tyrant and dancing ladies. And that’s OK.