Another week, another bout with work, another batch of deadlines. Despite that, we have to start it right, and what better way to do that than to greet it with rainbows? Yes, rainbows. Granted, it’s just going to be one-fifth of a rainbow (….you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you, you-who-have-no-idea-who-Arashi-is? That’s all right, you get a free pass. This time.), but we all know there’s a lot of sparkles to go ’round, even from a single Arashi member. I’m talking about Aiba, and his family’s Chinese restaurant, Keikarou.
You don’t have to be a hardcore Arashi to not have heard of the word “Keikarou” once or twice. Fangirls almost always include this Chinese family restaurant in their itinerary when they are in Tokyo, despite the fact that it is an almost 1-hour-long train ride away from Tokyo.
We decided to have dinner at the restaurant of the Aiba family. (Yes, that Aiba.)
Chinahouse Keikarou is a long-running (it opened back in 1986) family-owned restaurant that serves lunch and dinner. Its claims to fame are its Chinese dishes, and the fact that the eldest son – Masaki – is one of the five members of Japanese idol group Arashi. I would say that the restaurant’s best marketing tool is THAT eldest son. THAT Masaki. THAT oh-so-lovable baka-chan Miracle boy Aiba-chan.
From the JR Akihabara Station, we took the Sobu Line to Chiba, and it took around 50 minutes. This was already around 4pm, and we were wondering if there would be a long queue when we get there. After all, fangirls (and local patrons) are known to flock to the restaurant (one) for the food and (two) for the chance to see the members of Aiba Masaki’s family, or Aiba Masaki himself. Depending on who you’d ask, the two reasons could be interchanged.
We arrived at the station 20 minutes to 5pm, and it was already getting quite dark. It was quite a walk from the station to the street where the restaurant is, and we got there five minutes before the opening.
It was located in a clean and peaceful neighborhood (if you call an area with a small hotel a “neighborhood”). If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I’d have completely missed it. We were just walking, chatting away, then Ana stopped and went, “We’re here~”.
Lo and behold, we were the only ones there! There was no queue! In fact, it was so empty, we thought the place was closed and won’t open. But the lights were on, and we could see a waitress (again, for purposes of this entry, let us call her Staff-san) walking about, presumably doing last minute checks. She also spotted us from the window and kept peering out at us. Ana, Sil and I were bandying about in the cold, trying to guess what’s running through Staff-san’s mind as she looked at the three girls freezing their asses outside.
Then she stepped out, flipped the sign from CLOSED to OPEN, opened the doors, and we’re in business, baby!!
The interior was bright and welcoming. It was also noticeably spotless and clean. It was relatively small, with only 8 to 10 tables.
I was too embarrassed to openly stand up and take photos of the place, so I just went about it sneakily. Ergo, the not-so-good pix in this post. Forgive me? (*bribes you with sparkles*)
Staff-san can’t speak English, (Minus brownie points, Aiba-chan. You’re totally hogging your Engrish skills all to yourself.) but we were still able to place our orders.
A funny anecdote.
Ana (to Staff-san): Excuse me, is Aiba-san around?
Staff-san (flustered): Sorry, this is the store, so Aiba-san won’t be here.
Ana (and us, by extension): ……
After clearing things up, that we were referring to Aiba’s mother (Ana: OF COURSE WE KNOW HE’S NOT HERE~!), she went off to get our orders ready.
Unfortunately, Aiba-mama was not around during the dinner hour, although she was there during lunchtime. Oh well.
Will it make me sound tacky if I say I kept the napkin and the chopsticks? Haha! Shameless fangirl, eh?
Sadly, these napkin holders are the only “Arashi traces” around. I was looking for the “shrine” of sorts that had various Arashi mementoes, but it was supposedly taken down. I think it was supposed to be at the entry way, right beside the door when you come in. However, now, in its place is a table with various sweets and okashi for sale.
And now we come to the actual dinner.
This was quite a problem, since we just came from an uber-filling late lunch at Akiba. I sooo wanted to try their karaage (fried chicken, Japanese-style), but I was too full, so Sil and I ordered one ebi-chahan and split it. And also one order of their yummy gyoza.
We hung around the place for two solid hours. Yes, two. And we still weren’t able to clean our plates. Blame that on the okonomiyaki we had earlier. The other diners came and went, but we still stayed, chatting and chattering away. We only left when it looked like the staff were preparing to close up. Haha!
Aiba’s restaurant would not be complete without any Aiba Masaki, and there is this calendar- or poster-sized photo of him promoting KIRIN by the entryway. And, look! Debikuro-kun is also there with him!
Any Arashi fangirl that goes to Japan is bound to include this in her itinerary. Now if only Ohno-mama also opens up a fish shop or something….
Leave a Reply