RETOPO

Hidden away in Shibuya, right next to RECOCO (its sister record bar), RETOPO is a café dedicated entirely to the Heisei era. From nostalgic fashion and toys to shōjo manga, magazines, and beloved character goods, the space is packed with memorabilia that instantly transports you back in time, or allows you to experience the era for the first time if you missed it.

What’s RETOPO?

The café has two floors, each offering a different part of the experience. After checking in at the entrance, you’ll be assigned a seat in the main café area. Admission includes one drink and costs ¥1,958 on weekdays or ¥2,178 on weekends and public holidays.

There are plenty of drink options, ranging from classics like grape Fanta to coffee and tea. For an additional ¥300, you can upgrade to nostalgic café favourites like cola floats or melon cream sodas. There are also desserts available, including chocolate cake. I went with a classic grape Fanta, which was surprisingly refreshing and brought me back to my own childhood.

As soon as you’re seated, the experience begins. Each guest receives a cute personalized letter complete with a fortune for the day, along with one of the café’s highlights: a nostalgic Heisei-style profile page.

RETOPO provides pens and colorful markers so you can decorate your own, however you like. Each table also has a profile book filled with entries from previous visitors, making it super fun to flip through and see everyone’s personalities. Once you’ve finished yours, you can either take it home as a keepsake or leave it behind for future guests to discover.

Another fun touch is that you can borrow bedazzled digital cameras or flip phones throughout your visit. You can use them to capture photos around the café, complete with that nostalgic low-resolution, early-2000s aesthetic. Don’t worry about transferring the pictures either, the café has plenty of cables available so you can easily download the photos to your phone before you leave.

While the upstairs is where you’ll spend most of your time eating and relaxing, the downstairs area feels almost like a mini museum. The space is packed with decorations and nostalgic goods that make it feel as though you’ve stepped back in time. Colorful tamagotchi, Sylvanian family toys, plushies, old gaming consoles — and I even saw a Furby!

One of my favorite parts was the row of pink school lockers, each decorated with stationery, photos, keychains, and little trinkets that looked exactly like something a Japanese high school student from the time would have proudly filled their locker with.

What to know before you visit RETOPO

Do you need reservations for RETOPO?

This café doesn’t accept reservations and works on a walk-in basis. Note that you might need to wait a while on weekends, as it gets busy.

by Aila Nerve