You’ve been warned. “A restaurant that can’t even get your order right,” states its website. The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders in Tokyo, Japan, is quite clear about what to expect – still, thousands visit it every year. Here’s why.
Click start to play today’s Spell It, where we learn to contribute to the ‘welfare’ of others, thanks to this unique restaurant.
Japan is known to be a ‘super-aging society’, according to the Government of Japan’s website. It’s predicted that dementia will affect one in five people in the country by 2025. Already, two of three Japanese people with dementia live at home, often isolated from society.
One man, Shiro Oguni, decided to find a creative solution to this issue. In 2017, he introduced the country to his nonprofit pop-up restaurant, The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, which was fully staffed with servers who had varying degrees of dementia.
In a video on the restaurant website, Oguni explains his philosophy behind it: “People believe you can’t do anything for yourself, and the condition will often mean isolation from society. We want to change society to become more easy-going, so dementia or no dementia, we can live together in harmony.”
If customers visit the restaurant and order a steak, they might be served a plate of gyoza (pot stickers) instead. Sometimes, an elderly server may show guests to a table, and then sit down and join them. Another may bring piping hot coffee, but with a straw.
It’s clear that the restaurant is not about orders being executed perfectly – a norm in other established eateries in Japan (which is one of the reasons why this establishment is considered so wildly different). Mistaken Orders focuses on a different message, one where it encourages interactions with people who live with dementia, gives them the dignity of work, and cultivates tolerance in society.
And even if the servers get the order wrong, the restaurant guarantees that ‘everything on our menu is delicious and one of a kind’. So, it’s a win-win situation.
The response has been incredibly encouraging, according to a report in the Government of Japan’s website. Laughter is often heard, and visitors are always willing to overlook errors – often expecting and enjoying elements of surprise.
On one occasion, an elderly woman struggled to twist a large pepper mill, unsure of where the pepper would land. Everyone at the table helped her, and when they were successful, they cheered, “We did it!”
It’s a snapshot of what the establishment hopes to achieve. With a gentle nudge, it pushes two circles of society together, helping create a warmer, more tolerant world that’s based on kindness and respect.
What do you think of the restaurant and its mission? Play today’s Spell It and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.
