Bandai, the company that owns the popular Gundam toy franchise, announced that they would start closing the Gundam Café facilities: both its physical stores in Japan and its online stores.
Although COVID-19 restrictions are slowly opening up due to the lessening cases and continuous vaccine drives in Japan, social distancing protocols and banning large gatherings have caused some popular anime and game-themed cafes to close down. As of press time, Bandai has not released a statement about why the cafés have to close down. However, previous announcements noted how the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cafes to adopt special conditions like limited people capacity and shorter operating hours.
The first-ever Gundam Café opened in Akihabara in April 2010. Many anime fans, especially Gundam enthusiasts, visit this café as it features Gundam-themed food, drinks, and desserts. Exclusive merchandise is also available in the café. Its popularity has branched out with branches in Osaka, Tokyo, and Fukuoka.
Bandai will begin its closure with Osaka’s Gundam Square, with its last day slated on January 10, 2022. This will be followed by its Tokyo Brand Core Café in Akihabara. Finally, the Gundam Cafes in Odaiba and Fukuoka are scheduled to close on January 30, 2022.
In its latest post, the company also said that a new Gundam project is happening. In addition, Bandai also promised that they are currently thinking of ways to reach out better and communicate with Gundam fans in Japan and around the world.
As of now, they have not dropped anything on what these possible project would be. Knowing that Gundam is such a big and popular franchise, a lot is definitely looking forward and expectations are high. Although the Gundam cafés may close their doors at the beginning of this year, many fans are still looking forward that would open again once the pandemic is over.
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