I found Merton to stray to the hyperbolic, and overly emo at times. If he was growing up in a similar time frame as I, I could see him being a quintessential emo-kid. There were times while reading that I felt, best I can describe, icky. But that was not the entire book, and very much a product of his time. It is a fascinating look into who would chose to join the Trappist Monks.
Okay. So, I got the first one in this series for a laugh last year, and I had weird feelings about it. I saw that the second one was released, and I felt a compulsion to read it.
It is a weird read, but it is well written. I like it. I like it a lot. I don't know if I like that I like it. I mean it is in some ways a super heavy read, and in others it is light and funny.
Will I read the third? Yes. Am I slightly embarrassed I have read these? Yes. Will that stop me? No.
This journey down the automaton rabbit hole started with a Pin from Pinterest. (which, of course, I can not find now.)
It was a blogger post about the 8 cafe's you should visit in Tokyo. There were some odd choices in that list including a "lockup" themed one, and a "school" one. Those are two places I like for my escape rooms, not lunch/dinner or snack.
The only one that piqued my interest was Robot Restaurant. (Since there was only one, I guess I deleted it off my board.) Seriously you should go to their website. The blogger post mentioned it was liked by Anthony Bourdain! While I have not verified that statement, the endorsement made me want to explore this as an option. I mean the serendipity of just reading/reviewing Kitchen Confidential!
What I found by searching Robot Restaurant has been enlightening, and yet I am still not entirely sure what this experience is.
The first video I found was electric:
I watched a few other videos from Japan Vloggers, nothing super exciting or new was added.
From there I went to the official website which has an English version.
It is about 8000 yen or nearly $80 for the show alone. I don't think that price includes any of the food. Multiple reviews state the price may seem steep, but the quality and uniqueness make it worth the steep price.
I am not sure if I am convinced. I mean if we were going for Halloween or "Dia de Los Meurtos" I might feel differently. I mean look at this video: LOOK!
But I am having fun exploring all the information around this show. I found some gems on their recruitment website.
I mean with "DIVA" & "Enjoy singing, enjoy life." Kinda makes my depressed butt want to move to Tokyo to sing in Robot Restaurant.
There is even a blog that is run by some of the dancers in the show. I think. Google Translate is trying its best, but might have some trouble with this blog. I think my favorite title for one of their entries is: "I gave a woman war to everyone." I'm into it.
So Robot Restaurant has ended up not being a MUST-DO for me, but I would be interested with we decide that is something we want to experience.
I mean it has inspired me to want to give woman war to everyone by singing.
It also inspired another more local adventure, but I will get to that one later.
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
