Don’t these kind of places rely on perspective tricks, ideal POVs, lighting, and really good photographers (like those floating crosswalks)? I think if I saw it in real life, it wouldn’t be as impressive since those conditions would break down quickly.
Tokyo's 2D Cafe
21–30 of 62 posts
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#22This is a fantastic novelty for once, but I personally find the setting jarring and unsettling for repeat visits.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#23Don’t these kind of places rely on perspective tricks, ideal POVs, lighting, and really good photographers (like those floating crosswalks)? I think if I saw it in real life, it wouldn’t be as impressive since those conditions would break down quickly.
Yes - BUT the main reason people go isn't for the first-person experience, it's so they can take photos and post online. So none of those limitations really matter.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#24Don’t these kind of places rely on perspective tricks, ideal POVs, lighting, and really good photographers (like those floating crosswalks)? I think if I saw it in real life, it wouldn’t be as impressive since those conditions would break down quickly.
Yes - BUT the main reason people go isn't for the first-person experience, it's so they can take photos and post online. So none of those limitations really matter.
Reminds me of the quote I heard about 'experiential' businesses: "If you can't take a picture and brag about it online, then it's not experiential"
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#25It's really interesting looking at the evolution and interplay between social network and real life trends around this topic:
1. It's cool to take photos and apply filters (Instagram 1.0)
1a. It's not cool to take photos and apply filters (Cameras get better, filters are over-used)
2. It's cool to take videos and use AR filters (Snapchat/Instagram evolved)
2a. It's not cool to take videos and use AR filters (filters are over-used)
3. It's cool to decorate real world to look like a filter, take unfiltered photos (2d cafes)
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes - BUT the main reason people go isn't for the first-person experience, it's so they can take photos and post online. So none of those limitations really matter.
Reminds me of the quote I heard about 'experiential' businesses: "If you can't take a picture and brag about it online, then it's not experiential"
Kind of reminded me of how Starbucks used to disallow photography in their Chinese stores. It was to prevent copying, but it didn’t go down well since it was mainly a lifestyle business in that country.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taking pictures and sharing them with friends is not a generational thing. It has been a cornerstone of human culture since the concept of photography was invented. Are we not allowed to enjoy what we see anymore?
However sometimes it feels like it is being hijacked . Sometimes it feel that the main experience is "sharing a picture", rather than having an experience (view, sound, smell, all senses plus emotions) and then trying to share it with pictures. Sometimes it feels that people are too focused on being the directors of their lives rather being the (ad-lib) actors. The gamification and addiction-inducing practices of cer…
I doubt it; people have been going on vacation, and selecting places based on non-self-interest reasons for ages.
In my own family, every vacation turns into a question of how many tours and points-of-interest we can fit, and the whole thing is just stressful. And at those PoIs, the only real interest is getting a good picture with $thing in the background, and visiting the next thing.
And it's common enough behavior that whole industries revolve around it, which we call tourism.
And of course, those tourist hotspots are natural places for locals to avoid, because they cater very directly to those tourists.
Instagram is a very direct extension of the model, but with a much tighter feedback loop, and much more advanced strategies and competition. Boomer-style tourism is just as culturally dumb (and profitable) as instragram-tourism, but implementation-wise, instagram-tourism is simply on a different level of technical proficiency.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#28Is the quality of a place only dictated by instagrammability, today?
Eh, thats definitely something happening in the west but theme cafe culture has been a big thing in Tokyo for far longer than Instagram has existed. These places don't typically stay around for too many years but they are common places to take casual dates, or for groups of people with shared interests to go. C.f.: gundam themed cafes, cat cafes, feudal era cafes, etc.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#29This is a fantastic novelty for once, but I personally find the setting jarring and unsettling for repeat visits.
I lived in tokyo for a bit and i always wondered if these theme cafes get repeat customers. I enjoyed going to like a Feudal Japan era cafe, but animal cafes aside, i never really had a desire for a repeat visit especially since the lines can be SUPER long.
Re: Tokyo's 2D Cafe
#30There's also a cafe just like this in Seoul (Hongdae neighborhood). "Cartoon Cafe" I believe?