MLB Restaurant Set For Tokyo

[Mulboyne]

Major League Baseball has announced that it will open a restaurant in Tokyo later this year. MLB Cafe Tokyo is scheduled to occupy a three storey building in Ebisu Garden Place near Sapporo Beer's head office. The main dining area will be on the second floor which will also have a 500 inch screen broadcasting Major League games (unfortunately for foreign baseball fans, the commentary track will most likely be in Japanese). Altogether, there will be seating available for 260 customers and the menu is expected to include the kind of food available in US baseball stadiums along with regional specialities such as clam chowder for the Boston Red Sox. This will be the first restaurant anywhere in the world officially licensed by the MLB and it will be managed by Sunrise Japan who run businesses like the newsDELI chain and the Cardenas restaurants in Tokyo. The opening date is set for September 17th.

[omae mona]

Altogether, there will be seating available for 260 customers and the menu is expected to include the kind of food available in US baseball stadiums along with regional specialities such as clam chowder for the Boston Red Sox.

Whoa. Sounds to me like they're aiming to snatch one of those Michelin stars from their neighbor Joel Robuchon.

If I recall there was a restaurant kind of similar to this next to the Tokyo Dome like 10 years ago. It had a baseball theme and offered 1500 yen crappy nachos with the authentic fake cheese used in US ballparks, I think. Is that still around?

[Captain Japan]

If I recall there was a restaurant kind of similar to this next to the Tokyo Dome like 10 years ago. It had a baseball theme and offered 1500 yen crappy nachos with the authentic fake cheese used in US ballparks, I think. Is that still around?

I don't know about the authentic fake cheese but the Baseball Cafe is still there. I went once. Nothing too special. As the link says, it is not open in the early morning so you are out of luck if you want to catch a live broadcast of an East Coast game on NHK or whatever.

[Samurai_Jerk]

the menu is expected to include the kind of food available in US baseball stadiums

I bet you'll be able to wash down a five dollar hot dog with an eight dollar beer so it probably will be just like going to a ball park back home.

[Bucky]

. . . a 500 inch screen broadcasting Major League games . . .

Really, 500 inches? Is that diagonally measured? That would be 41 feet, that sounds like a JumboTron at a stadium. You better be standing a ways back to be able to view that baby. This one is 150"

[Mulboyne]

Really, 500 inches? Is that diagonally measured? That would be 41 feet, that sounds like a JumboTron at a stadium. You better be standing a ways back to be able to view that baby. This one is 150"

The press release I have says 500 inches but, seeing your comments, I began to wonder if that was a misprint. The Yomiuri piece below also describes the screen as "500 inches", however, the content seems lifted directly from the same press release:

The world's first official Major League Baseball restaurant will open in Ebisu, Tokyo, in September, offering meals found on the menus at MLB ballparks. MLB Cafe Tokyo also will serve specialty dishes particular to the regional cuisines of MLB teams, in addition to staple dishes served at stadiums. The main eating area will be dominated by a 500-inch TV screen that will broadcast MLB games live. No such facility officially authorized by MLB exists in the United States, making the Tokyo restaurant a symbol of the importance of the Asian market to MLB. The restaurant is scheduled to open on Sept. 17 in front of Sapporo Breweries Ltd.'s headquarters in Ebisu Garden Place. The three-story, 1,600-square-meter restaurant is expected to have 260 seats. The giant TV will be in main dining room on the second floor. The facility also will include a store for selling officially licensed MLB goods.

The menus will include dishes created by the restaurant that will have items that combine local specialities of MLB team hometowns and Japanese cuisine. For example, the restaurant will offer clam chowder arranged with Japanese burdock root. Clam chowder is a specialty in Boston, where Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima pitch for the Red Sox. The restaurant will be run by Sunrise Japan Co., a Tokyo-based company that specializes in food services and tanning salons. "We'd like to make the restaurant the MLB's information hub for the Asian region," a company official said.

[IkemenTommy]

Don't want to thread-jack, but does anyone have any info on the 40/40 Club 40/40 literally is a baseball term for 40 HRs and 40 steals in a single season, and this particular club bar partly owned by rapper Jay-Z is geared towards the baseball atmosphere.

The website indicates that it will open in 2009..

[Kuang_Grade]

Might it be more like a video wall, in which multiple TVs can be turned in to create one video image as well being able to be separately tuned to show different games at the same time...god forbid ichiro, matsui and Dice K might be playing in different games at the same time.

[GuyJean]

Might it be more like a video wall, in which multiple TVs can be turned in to create one video image as well being able to be separately tuned to show different games at the same time.....

It very well could be.. 'TV screen' is pretty general..

Can't recall the maker, but I saw an impressive 'TV screen' at HK InfoComm Asia in November. It was an LED TV, but the quality fooled my colleague]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/18496c581933d25.jpg[/img]





GJ

[IkemenTommy]

Guy Jean -- Barco, maybe

[GuyJean]

Guy Jean -- Barco, maybe

You might be right.. For some reason, Lighthouse jumps out at me.. Damn! This is going to bug me all night.

*edit: Duh! It says '..HTHO__E' under the screen in the middle photo.. Not wonder 'Lighthouse' jumped out at me..

.. At the exhibition, Lighthouse will showcase a close to 40sqm 4mm LED display panel, together with its first HDMITM Integrated LED processor, LIP-HD. These two flagship products work together to create truly stunning HD image quality and optimized video performance, unlike anything event-goers have ever seen.. - http://www.e-techasia.com/highlights/latest_news/the-latest-news/lighthouse-to-showcase-revolutionary-flagship-solutions-at-infocomm-asia-2008

GJ

[IkemenTommy]

LED wall display will never be part of the consumer electronics. Mind as well stick with your plasma/LCD for a while.

Jesus, did anyone see the new Panasonic?

[Mulboyne]

Don't want to thread-jack, but does anyone have any info on the 40/40 Club

I hadn't heard of it but I see there was an announcement back in 2006 saying it would be opening in late 2007 so that 2009 date on the website may not be any more reliable. But you probably knew that already/

[IkemenTommy]

I hadn't heard of it but I see there was an announcement back in 2006 saying it would be opening in late 2007 so that 2009 date on the website may not be any more reliable. But you probably knew that already/

Sort of like the Hooters. I will abstain from the breast jokes for now for the possible story behind why it never happened, but there just aren't any really down to earth bars and clubs in Tokyo that everyone goes to on a regular basis.