EAT IN ASIA / Food destinations / Japan - japaneese food
A budget overnight with refreshments in Manga Kissa, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan
Staying in Japan might be quite expensive especially if you are visiting main cities during the weekend or during festivals like for example during Sanja Matsuri Festival where you can feel the Japanese spirit and enjoy food tasting around Asakusa Shrine. If so, prices can be even trice as they are during the workweek. But, do not worry. If you are planning your trip to big cities, you will get there a huge number of manga kissa, where you could not only overnight but where you will get some basic food and beverages for free or for little money. That is something really excepronal not only in Asia but also in Europe or in America no matter whether we are talking about Northern America or Central America or Southern America.
What is manga kissa?
Manga kissa is actually an internet café where you can indulge yourself in the manga world. You can watch movies, read books, comics and spend some time on the internet.
What offers manga kissa?
Basically, manga kissa was designed to join people interested in manga. Share their time, thoughts and space. Apart form that, it was a place where one could read new manga comics, watch movies and relax.
Well, very often it is also possible to borrow books including these with uncensored drawings and watch porno manga movies. However, if you are strictly interested in that area, you might be disappointed as many manga movies are blurred.
What is so unique about manga kissa?
You may wonder what is so unusual about manga kissa and why is it so popular. Well, first of all, that is a real Japanese culture. Anime and manga are so loved! When going by underground or train you might see that there are many people, no matter what age, reading manga comics. It can be either online or in a traditional papaer book form, however, you will definitively spot it.
Apart from that, what is important, you might see both young children, teenagers and adults spending their time on it. No matter whether it would be a scholar, student, a regular employee, a businessman or a physical worker. Young and old, man and woman. The phenomenon of manga is present in every single community.
However, manga kissa is much more than a library or an internet café. It is the whole culture and the way of living.
Services included in manga kissa
Although the accommodation might not be the best one and the most comfortable one, it is still a good option for staying in the heart of the city on a budget.
Apart from that, manga kissa offers multiple services. What is important, they are not only related to the manga world like movies, karaoke, comics and books. Manga kissa allows you to stay in the internet cafe the whole night long, or even a couple of days. Of course the price of the stay will vary depending on the day of the week and the lenght of it. So weekends will be the most expensive. The same applies to late afternoon hours.
However, if you decide to come there after 9 PM or 10 PM you might get some special prices and reductions.
Showers and toilets
Finally, if you decide to overnight in manga kissa, you will get almost everything that is needed for a basic stay. This means that there are showers and toilets. In case you forget to bring any basic hygienic stuff like tooth brush or tooth paste, you would be able to buy it in the on-site mini shop or couter.
Kitchen area with beverages and meals
But your stay would not be complete if you do not have anything to eat. Imagine coming to the manga kissa late in the late night and that you had to go somewhere and search for an opened shop. A real nightmare. Usually you would be tired and dreaming about having something basic to eat no matter whether very local and sophisticated or rather simple and western or European style. Then a quick shower and a well deserved sleep.
Usually manga kissa offers a microwave whre you could either reheat your own food or the one you just bought in the on-site ,imi convenience store.
Drinks in manga kissa
Drinks are a must in any manga kissa. So you could expect anything starting from really basic drinks like cold and hot water or coffee and ending on carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks.
Coffee, whether iced or hot is cricial for a long stay. That is something that keeps users using paid services like VOD or karaoke. Then hot water is necessary not only for preparing tea but also for fast food meals or snacks.
Coming back to teas, their selection is really surprising. When we came to the manga kissa for the first time, we did not expect anything special in what we could choose for our tea. But then we were really positively surprised! And that were not only Japanese bottled teas that are so popular around the whole country but regular teas brewed with hot water!
Although that were only tea bags they were of a good quality, had a lot of aroma, strenght and flavor. The most popular tea set includes a regular, traditional jasmine tea, camomile tea, Darjeling, Earl Gray, apple tea and an awesome roasted green tea. Of course, I am even not listing it here, but as you probably guess, a regular, Japanese green tea would be available always.
And what about other drinks? Well, if you are interessted in anything that is like a fanta or coke style drink, you will get it. Carbonated or non-carbonated. With multiple flavors, colors and produced by many brands. You will get both well known, western-style and Japanese tastes like grapes and ume plums. Of course to all of these drinks you can add as much ice cubes as you wish.
Finally, in some places there is an option to buy a light alcoholic beverage like beer. These drinks are not free of charge but additionally paid at the counter. What is funny is the fact that they are often locked in a separate glass cupboard. Do not epect any strong, dark beer! Manga kissa offers usually one kind of a beer and that is all. However, it is still better than nothing. If it is regarding the price of the offered beer, it is not something that you are going to overpay comparing to any bar or restaurant. Of course the price would be higher than in a regular store or even in a convenience store like 7/11, but still, it will be usually lower than in pubs. That is true especially if we are considering busy and popular areas or posh districts.
Meals in manga kissa
Finally, it would be nice to have a late supper or an early breakfast in the manga kissa, wouldn't it be? For us, it was a very nice option. The idea of not having to do anything apart from heating water and pouring it over the bought buget meal was really tempting. Or, if you prefer a reheated meal, there is still a microwave in the common area and that would be something that you would be dreaming about.
Although the selection of ready to go meals is maybe not very wide in manga kissa, it is still available there and allows you to stay in your cabin without any extra walk. It will also eliminate unnecessary searches for any convenience store or for an other eatery. I believe that sometimes no need of leaving the place where you overnighted might be the most important thing. You would be more than extremely happy to have everything in one place and not have to go anywhere else.
The list of offered dishes is usually not the widest one but usually has vegetarian or non-vegetarian options. However, these non-vegeterian create 90% of all options and are teh most popular. Please, remember that the Japanese cuisine includes meat in almost every meal.
Usually that are ready-to-go meals that you could just reheat in the microwave or hot soups or porridges that can be easily prepared with hot water that is always available in manga kissa.
Other meals than Chinese box soups will include prepared boxes with rice or noodles. One of the most favorite ones is donburi that is very often called just don. Actually, in Japanese, don means a bowl. So the meal that you could get under the name of donburi or don, would be nothing more than a bowl full of rice with some toppings. These toppings will usually include fish or meat. Howvere, there is a plenty of donburis that are just with a sauce or with an egg or with vegetables. That means, that this option might be a good choice for almost everybody. As rice is the base it should not cause any harm to persons with gluten intolerance. Vegans and Vegetarians also won't be hungry. Then, for those looking for something more sophistiated, different curry boxes would be a good option. Finally, for all of you that are more traditional and more western-style cuisine oriented, there are always pastas or differnt noodles, that in some cases, might be similar to the wonderful Italian spaghetti.
However, no place could exist without traditional Chinese soups. Perhaps this position should be mentioned as the first one, but I believe it is the most typical one and you might have already been tired with all differnt flavors and brands of these cup soups. But Japanese people are never bored with them. These soups are tasty, easy to be prepared, satiating and hot. So, what might be more valuable? Well, I guess that for many people nothing. If you are in that group, then you are lucky in manga kissa. The selection of offered Chinese cup soups is usually the widest one.
So, as you can see, manga kissa offers everything that is needed for a basic stay. Showers, toilet, bed and some food and drinks. That is all that is so often so precious for you. Apart from getting a great experience and the experience that might be unforgetable, you will get a unique option to see the real manga world with all its characteristics, with it's beauty and it's ugliness.
Do not miss it and try it at least once during you whole stay!
Author: Beti – A passionate traveler and lover of Asian cuisine, especially Thai and Japanese dishes, Bernadeta brings her culinary and cultural experiences to life in her writing. Beyond her travels, she’s an avid technology enthusiast with a deep interest in data processing, merging her love for exploration with analytical insights.
Photographer: Adalbert – An aficionado of computers and photography, Adalbert captures the essence of diverse cuisines with a discerning eye. A connoisseur of rich flavors and particularly fond of meat-based dishes, he combines his technical skills with his passion for the culinary arts in every shot.
