Before scrolling any further, check out this
YouTube clip, it's how I learned about the monkey waiters in Japan.
An hour train ride north of Tokyo, we braved the rare snow storm and cold to visit the Kayabukiya Tavern in Utsunomiya. We made an evening reservation through our hostel for 6pm and when we showed our cab driver where we were headed, he raised an invisible glass to his mouth in a drinking motion. I love communicating with non-verbals, never dull!
The tavern's walls were plastered with pictures of the monkey waiters and patrons. We were greeted by the tavern master and his wife who seated us at a traditional style table (kneeling). She went through the menu for us in Japanese, sprinkling in English occasionally. I ended up ordering raw deer - it was delicious.
(Un)surprisingly, we were the only two guests, with an Australian group expected to arrive at 7pm. The master's wife turned on the Olympics for us to enjoy as we waited for the monkey waiters to deliver our hand towels and drinks.
To our dismay, it wasn't a monkey, but the master's wife who brought out the towels, drinks and food - from what we were able to gather, the monkeys wouldn't come out until the Australians arrived.
So we ate frozen raw deer (really was good), suffered an emotional breakdown freaking out that after all the effort we may not see any monkeys...
Entertained ourselves with bad monkey jokes and waited for 7pm to roll around...
Enjoyed the tavern signage and pictures...
Watched the weather forecast (I'd really like to see more snowman graphics in the States)...
And finally decided to check in again with the master's wife when 7:15pm rolled around. Somehow, I was able to let her know we really wanted to see the monkeys, so she went upstairs to get them.
She returned carrying the baby monkey on a leash, handed it to Paige and left us alone with the monkey.
Likely due to the stranger effect, the baby monkey started screaming. Its cries went unheard and fortunately, Paige was the one left holding the screaming baby monkey.
The tavern master's wife returned with a slice of guava fruit and gave it to the baby to help settle it down. That's when I got to hold the baby monkey.
Who tried super hard to run away…(this pic moves…wait for it or click on it!)
But we eventually got along...
And were finally able to pose for a good picture...
Then the baby monkey got curious and went exploring, even pulling toothpicks off the table...
After 20 minutes, the tavern master's wife returned…and she obliged when we asked if the baby monkey would wear hat...
The Australian group arrived, delayed by the snowstorm, the monkey waiters finally came out to do what they do best (deliver hand towels, drinks, and collect their soy bean tips)...
They even let us take more pictures with our rambunctious monkey waiters...
Facebook comment:
It's a little unconventional, even (especially) in Japan, to hold your waiter on your lap. A little cultural sensitivity, please! - Got to love good natured sarcasm :)
All in all, a fantastically fun and memorable evening…though we had to catch a train back to Tokyo, the monkeys did do a little dinner theater after we left…
Thank you, come again!
I'm so grateful that the way Larry and I raised Liz, she came to expect the highest cultural experiences this world has to offer....
ReplyDeleteThe red monkey really did like her best!!
I need to add this to the bucket list!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI came upon your blog whilst researching the waiter monkeys. I have a few questions for you as you seem to have the most up to date info / experience / review I've been able to find. You might not be able to answer all the questions but I'm hoping you might know some of these answers from your experience...
Did you get a taxi from the station or elsewhere? (if from station, is it easy to get a cab? I read it is about 4km away from the tavern, is that accurate? Approx costs?).
Would you know if it is easy to get a taxi from Kayabukiya Tavern back to the station at night time?
What night did you go?
Any other info would be wonderful...
Thanks!
Hi Stephanie -
DeleteApologies for the slow response. We took a bullet train from Tokyo to Utsunomiya (1:15m). I had copied the address (in Japanese) from Google and showed it to the cab driver who took us to the restaurant (15m) - it was super easy to get a cab, you get in line outside of the station. I think the fare was around $10-20. At the tavern, we asked the tavern master to call a cab for us, which he did - very nice people. We went there on a Friday night.
We stayed at a hostel in Tokyo and asked them to call the tavern to make a reservation for us. It really was a lot of fun - you'll love it!
Feel free to ask any other questions,
Liz