vanyk
Shrine Maiden
Today we talk about Touhou cafes and bars. Nowadays there are a lot of cafes which are related to Touhou in Japan and China. Some of them just have Touhou goods inside or the owner can be a Touhou fan. The others may be much more related to Touhou and may be even called as places for Touhou fans. In addition, there are regular Touhou cafe collaborations in different regions. But it wasn't always like this as for a long period of time there were not many Touhou cafes. One of the reasons why it happened because there was one rule: the prohibition of using Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou). This rule wasn't very strict at first but later the Touhou-themed cafe which existed back then was closed and commercial collaborations with cafes stopped. After many years this rule stopped to be that strict and de-facto such things became allowed at some extend. Today we will see how Touhou cafes developed and changed since early days.
This article is an improved version of my article about Touhou Bar incident as I missed a lot of information back then.
Early Touhou Cafes (2009-2013)
This was a period when the rule existed but it wasn't that strict. In 2009 the first Touhou-related cafe was opened: Touhou Kaenkyo (東方歌宴郷) or Reauta (リアウタ！). That was a cafe-bar which was themed after anime, Nico Nico Douga and Touhou. There were cosplayers who sang different anime and Touhou songs, there were game machines there you could play Touhou. Reauta also organized a Hisouten tournament. In addition FRONTIER CREATE and Millennium Pine Tree (松樹千年翠) made an album for this cafe. But things didn't go very well. At first the owner was changed in August as the previous owner had problems with health (the new owner was a lunatic player) and in November the cafe was closed. For most staff members this cafe was a hobby and they had (mostly IT) jobs and the amount of work on their jobs increased so they didn't have time for this cafe. That is why they decided to transfer the business. As they say the cafe didn't make a profit but it wasn't losing money either. Before the cafe was reopened the staff organized several parties where Touhou cosplayers performed and sang. In 2010, this cafe was reopened, new cosplayers were hired and later some new staff members. There was Touhou food and drinks. There were also different Touhou goods. To get them Touhou coins were needed. The cafe operated for two years, but it was closed in 2012 as their situation got worse and didn't improve. The business was transferred and it was reopened as Pandemonium, which kept Nico Nico Douga theme but removed Touhou theme. It is hard to say if Reauta got allowance from ZUN to have a Touhou theme as during the Touhou bar incident it was directly stated that such things were not allowed. That may be also a reason why Pandemonium wasn't Touhou-themed.
Around that time there were several Touhou cafe collabs. In 2010, Surfers Paradise (a doujin store which sold Touhou goods) organized a Touhou cafe collab and the cafe was opened in February. There was Touhou themed food, Touhou goods and Touhou cosplay. In late 2010, there was a collaboration between Ufotable cafe and Touhou. There was a special Touhou menu and Touhou goods related to Anime Tencho x Touhou Project. In 2011-2012, MAGIC STAR！ cafe organized several collabs with Touhou and there was Touhou food. In 2012, Good Smile Cafe organized a Touhou cafe collaboration with a special menu and some Touhou plushes and figures were sold. The last cafe-related Touhou-themed commercial event was organized by Dwango at the beginning of 2013 and there was Touhou (Bad Apple) food too.
There were several cafes which were much less open about being related to Touhou. For example, Chasho Yamazato (茶処山里) had Touhou goods at least since 2011 which were donated by visitors (Touhou fans), but they were not vocal about that. Another example is Suimusou opened in 2012, whose owner was an active Touhou fan and participated in Touhou-only Doujin events and later even sold their own sake. The bar itself was less open about this (kinda), but there were rumours that the bar had a secret menu for Touhou fans.
In 2010, ZUN visited Komaba Festival (駒場祭) at University of Tokyo and gave a lecture there. Students decided to organize Marukyu Project (まるきゅうProject): a Touhou cafe for several hours. And since 2012 this cafe collab is held every year (except COVID times). The rooms there are Touhou-themed and there are Touhou cosplayers.
Another cafe like that was Touhou Cafe (東方喫茶) on Mitasai (三田祭) at Keio University which was held yearly since 2012, but after COVID it became less about cafe and more about Touhou university club activities.
There were also some Touhou cafe collabs in China. There was a Touhou cafe collab by Cafe Matsuri in 2011, but there is not much info about it. In 2013, Gensokyo Maid cafe (幻想乡MAID) was opened. It had Touhou themed rooms and Touhou food but it was closed by the end of year.
Touhou food was slowly becoming more spread, for example Reitaisai had their own Touhou food for Reitaisai SP in 2010. Also Touhou drinks began to appear. On the first Engawa of Hakurei Shrine (2008) (博麗神社の縁側) there were Touhou circles which distributed dishes for sake. In 2010, Miko Suika cold spicy sweet sake set (巫女萃香 冷酒 萃辛 萃甘セット) began its destibution. In 2011, Kubo Liquor Store (久保酒店) got a license from Team Shanghai Alice to produce Ibuki Suika's Sake (伊吹萃香の酒). Since then they produced even more different Touhou Sake. In 2013, Imayo Tsukasa Sake Brewery (今世司酒造) sold Yumesakai (夢境) sake on Reitaisai.
Decline of Touhou Cafes (2014-2017)
During this period there were not a lot of Touhou cafes and all of them were short-termed. One of the possible reasons for this could be the rule about this becoming more strict. But there were fans who were interested in such things, so they continued to visit Chasho Yamazato and Suimusou and organize the short-termed events.
In 2015, Hifuu Cafe Theater (秘封喫茶劇場) a Hifuu themed cafe was organized by Kazuki (leader of Kyoka Fugetsu circle). That wasn't just a cafe but a performance where Renko and Maribel discussed different topics sitting in the cafe. After this event a related CD was published on Science Century Cafe Terrace (科学世紀のカフェテラス) (Hifuu-only event). The next year Hifuu Cafe Theater was held again and there was a cafe and a performance by Renko and Maribel too. After that a CD and the scenario were distributed.
At the same time another similar cafe appeared: Gensou Cafe Terrace (幻想カフェテラス) which was Hifuu cafe (秘封カフェ) during the day and Touhou cafe (東方カフェ) during the night. This cafe had a special Touhou menu with Touhou food and Hifuu and Touhou cosplayers. In 2016 there was the second event which had a new menu with more Touhou food and there were more cosplayers. In October 2016 the last event was held and TUMENECO was invited, but there was only Hufuu cafe and the amount of Touhou (Hifuu) food was limited, but there were no problems with drinks. That was the last Touhou cafe during this period.
Talkking about Touhou drinks, Hakurei Sake Brewery (ハクレイ酒造) made a collaboration with Reitaisai to sell sake on Reitaisai in 2016. But there were not much other new Touhou drinks during this period.
By the way there was a Touhou cafe in 2014 in Arizona, USA, but not much info remained.
In 2017, cafe-bar Futaride (2人でお入りください) began to host special days when Touhou and Vocaloid music was played in the bar. Such days were held until the end of 2019.
Touhou Bar Incident and Boundary Satellite Cafe
In early 2018, Japanese Touhou fan Yatabe decided to open a bar called U.N.Owen (U.N.逢縁), and it was scheduled to start business on February 2. The store started a trial operation on February 2, and the number of fans visiting this bar exceeded the owner's expectations, and it was closed due to insufficient food inventory and other reasons. The store officially opened on February 9. The bar used a lot of Touhou stuff, played Touhou music (Yatabe got the permission from circles), called itself a "Touhou Bar" (東方バー) and used Touhou for promotion. That is why some people questioned whether the Touhou theme bar would violate the rules. Yatabe said that he would contact ZUN about this and tried to contact TSA before the official opening, but he didn't get a reply. On February 11, Yatabe announced that he would temporarily close the store and denied his bar's relationship (only) with Touhou. Yatabe got the reply from TSA that this topic would be checked with ZUN. On February 17, Yatabe stated on Twitter that ZUN prohibits the use of Touhou as store promotion, and stated that they would remove Touhou elements and operate as an ordinary bar. Yatabe directly violated the rules, that is why everything happened, and a lot of fans discussed that topic. But Yatabe didn't give up. After that the store opened again and they remained Touhou goods (like Chasho Yamazato), continued to do Touhou food by request (technically not prohibited) and used images by visitors for promotion (technically not prohibited too). So Yatabe decided to stay in the gray zone and continue their activities, just without naming things their names.
Around that time another event appeared: Boundary Satellite Cafe (秘封珈琲店). It also was announced in January 2018. This event is similar to Hifuu Cafe Theater and Gensou Cafe Terrace. It had elements of sales, cosplay and interaction in a cafe with a special menu. This event is held yearly and the last one (at the time of writing this article) was held on the 23th of November.
Rise of Touhou Cafes (since 2019)
After the Touhou Bar Incident and Boundary Satellite Cafe becoming a regular event, the idea of Touhou cafes was becoming more accepted.
Around that time, in 2019, Reitaisai faced the problem: Tokyo Olympics 2020, which meant it would be nearly impossible to hold the event in Tokyo. The owner (who is a Touhou fan) of Suzuki Liquor Store (鈴木酒店) in Shizouka decided to collaborate with Reitaisai and help them, so he discussed this problem with the city council of Shizouka, and it was successful. As a result of the collaboration a lot of Touhou Collaboration Sake was produced. And as Reitaisai was postponed they decided to sell it in the store and during COVID they sold it online. Since then they have been selling the Touhou sake. Interesting fact: ZUN had this sake too.
In late 2019, JANS! a Touhou circle which distributes Touhou goods and clothes decided to host Scarlet Night Party event. It was similar to Boundary Satellite Cafe but with Scarlet Devil Mansion theme. The rooms were nicely decorated, there was a special menu, some food in themed jars and there were themed drinks and SDM themed flatware. The organizers paid a lot of attention to details. In February 2020, the second event was held and Touhou goods were also distributed. After the COVID restrictions became less strict the third event was organized, but they had to put some restrictions to prevent the spread of the pandemic for example the amount of food was limited and additional snacks couldn't be eaten there, but the event was held without incidents. But because of the pandemic the next event which was planned to be held on the 10th of October (a day before Kouroumu) was cancelled and it wasn't held since then.
After these events some, companies decided to hold Touhou cafe collabs. Animate Cafe announced the collaboration in July 2020. There was Touhou-themed food and drinks. In addition the rooms were decorated. The next time it appeared on Autumn Reitaisai in 2023 and in December Touhou drinks were distributed for 10 days. Since then Animate Cafe sometimes distributes Touhou drinks at some events.
Later, Hakurei Shrine Worship Association (HSWA) decided to organize collaborations with a cafe. That is how Touhou Project × Cure Maid Cafe (東方Project×キュアメイドカフェ) project appeared which was announced on August 2020. It is a commercial collaboration organized by HSWA and it is hosted nearly yearly since 2020. There is Touhou-themed food and some Touhou goods are sold.
After the appearance of this project other companies decided to organize their own collabs. In November, Touhou Project x Karaoke no Tetsujin was announced. During this collaboration there were Touhou-themed drinks and Touhou-themed karaoke rooms with Touhou songs.
In December, Touhou Project x Sanrio Characters Collaboration Cafe (東方Project×サンリオキャラクターズ コラボレーションカフェ) was announced, but because of pandemic it was cancelled. There were not many details about it, so it is hard to say how it could look like.
There was also a Touhou cafe collaboration in Korea. After the announcement of Korean version of Touhou Spell Bubble, Touhou Spell Bubble cafe collaboration was announced. Cafe was decorated, there were Touhou goods and there was a screen with Touhou Spell Bubble gameplay.
Around that time another U.N.Owen bar was opened in Osaka. Even though it is not a Touhou bar but an otaku bar it had a lot of Touhou-related things like the first U.N.Owen bar.
And here fans decided to make a serious step forward.
On the 14th of October 2021, a new bar was opened whose name was BAR Flandre and it called itself as "Gensokyo BAR for Touhou fans" (東方ファンの為の幻想郷BAR). They had Touhou stuff, used Touhou for promotion and had Touhou drinks. And they had no problems with such activities and this bar is still active.
So we can see how the prohibition of using Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) changed to it being okay to use Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) in 4 years. The people, who were interested in this, had so many activities in the (dark) grey zone that Touhou fans, semi-officials and TSA got used to them. The things, for which U.N.Owen bar was criticized in 2018, were normal already in 2021. And ZUN's opinion changed too, in 2018 he was against such idea, but now he has no serious problems with such things.
After that there were several collaborations between Reitaisai and stores, collaborations with another cafe happened.
In 2024, an onigiri store, whose owner is a Touhou fan, opened.
Recognition of Touhou Cafes
Since 2022 some Touhou-only doujin sales events began to collaborate with Touhou cafes, mostly with Kikuichi, the organizer of Boundary Satellite Cafe. On June 2022, Cafe Suzunaan ~Nimaku~ (喫茶・鈴奈庵～二幕～) was announced by the organizers of Suzanaan-only event Suzuna Gensou Emaki and was held on the 2nd of July the day before Suzuna Gensou Emaki. Before that such events adjusted their dates to be held close to Touhou-only events but this time that was a direct collaboration. During this event Mamizou made coffee while Kosuzu and Akuu helped to serve it. The rooms were also decorated. This event was successful. On January 2023, Touhou Kishinsai (東方輝針祭) (TD and DDC-only event) announced about Mamizou Cafe collaboration. During the event Mamizou could make different kinds of coffee for any visitor and Sekibanki helped to serve it. And that was very successful, so they agreed to open Mamizou Cafe again the next year. The next year, Igurusensen Ijounasi (イーグル戦線異状なし！) (Seiran and Ringo-only event) announced ODANGO
CAFE event where Kikuichi worked as barista who made different drinks while Seiran and Ringo served drinks to the tables. In addition there was dango. After that there was the second Mamizou Cafe collaboration with Touhou Kishinsai and this time Sekibanki, Kagerou and Seija helped Mamizou to serve coffee.
In March 2023, Kirisame Coffee Shop (雾雨咖啡店 / 霧雨珈琲店) was opened in Shanghai, China. It is a Touhou themed coffee store which has a lot of Touhou things. And in February 2024, a significant event happened: ZUN visited this cafe. He had a nice time there and signed an autograph. This can show the beginning of the official recognition of Touhou cafes. This cafe also collaborated with Shanghai THO (TouHou Only event). And by the way, it was closed for renovation in November this year and was reopened recently. It became more spacious, but in return less Touhou goods fit there.
On July 2025, another Touhou-themed cafe was opened in China: Night Bird Cafe (夜雀咖啡馆). There is not much information about it, but people say that it is nicely decorated and has a good menu.
At the same time in Korea, Airdefence doujin circle decided to organize Cirno Cafe on the 9th of September 2023. They made a survey, many people wanted to attend it so they began the preparation; fliers were sent to several cafes for advertisement. In Cirno Cafe there was a special menu and Touhou goods, the rooms were decorated with Cirno fanarts. Overall this event was so successful that they decided to turn an alleyway into Gensokyo next time. That is how OnDongHwan or "The Whole Neighborhood is Gensokyo" (온 동네가 환상향) a regular Korean Touhou-only event emerged. In 2024 there was also an announcement of Touhou Cafe & Exhibition event, but it wasn't held.
In 2025, Shizuoka Reitaisai was held and they decided to collaborate with Boundary Satellite Cafe too. So Renko and Maribel could serve coffee during the big sales event. But the most noteworthy thing is that ZUN attended them. So there is the ZUN's approval of such activities now and Touhou cafes may exist without many problems.
After that Kikuichi held Suzunaan Cafe a day before Autumn Reitaisai and it was successful. There were also plans for Touhou cafe on Kouroumu, but they didn't have enough staff in Osaka.
Some other events also had their own cafes. For example on December 2025, Tokisa Yumehoshi (時砂夢星) (Sakuya-only event) collaborated with On the Sands of the Sea of Stars (星の海の沙に) and they held Sakimari Cafe (咲マリ喫茶) where people could have some treats. And they plan to hold a similar cafe on The First Visit of the Year to the Shrine Where Reimu Is (初詣は霊夢のいる神社で)
At the same time more commercial Touhou cafe collabs began to appear outside of Japan. In 2024, Amiami collaborated with Toonique (Korean cafe) and the menu was Touhou-themed. There were also Fumos as goods (and Amiami announced that they began to distribute Fumos in Korea). The rooms were also Touhou-themed (and yes, there was a screen with Touhou gameplay), so this may be considered as a Touhou cafe. In 2025, Illustar Festival after collaboration with Touhou had some Touhou cardboard cutouts and goods left, so they decided to put them in Illustar Cafe and even though there was no online announcement, the information about that was placed in their cafe. Later there was another Amiami collab but this time it was with Moaeku cafe. This was a Doki Doki Literature Club collab and it was DDLC-themed, but there were also Touhou goods. Later there was the second collaboration and Touhou goods were presented again.
There were several collabs in China too. In September 2024, Animate Cafe made a survey to find out in which genres people were interested in the most. Even though Touhou didn't get the most votes, Animate decided to organize a Touhou cafe collaboration which was prolonged later. There there a lot of Touhou goods and there were Touhou drinks. In addition Animate collaborated with Shanghai THO. Later Good Smile Cafe made a collaboration with Touhou Lost Word and it was possible to get Touhou drinks there, but there is not much other information about this collab.
Conclusion
The first Touhou cafes appeared during Touhou's Golden Age; most of them were closed since then and the remaining ones didn't emphasize their relations with Touhou or were short-termed. Since late 10s more and more Touhou cafes (fanmade ones and commercial ones) began to emerge, and some of them began to collaborate with Touhou-only events. And the prohibition of using Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) became much less strict. And nowadays such Touhou cafes may be considered in light grey (if not white) zone. Touhou cafes show how Touhou rules may be adapted as time passes. Similar processes happened with other spheres. For example, Touhou Exhibitions existed since the Golden Age and nowadays there are more of them and a lot of commercial exhibitions have emerged. As a result, there are more and more different offline Touhou activities in different regions.
This article is an improved version of my article about Touhou Bar incident as I missed a lot of information back then.
Early Touhou Cafes (2009-2013)
This was a period when the rule existed but it wasn't that strict. In 2009 the first Touhou-related cafe was opened: Touhou Kaenkyo (東方歌宴郷) or Reauta (リアウタ！). That was a cafe-bar which was themed after anime, Nico Nico Douga and Touhou. There were cosplayers who sang different anime and Touhou songs, there were game machines there you could play Touhou. Reauta also organized a Hisouten tournament. In addition FRONTIER CREATE and Millennium Pine Tree (松樹千年翠) made an album for this cafe. But things didn't go very well. At first the owner was changed in August as the previous owner had problems with health (the new owner was a lunatic player) and in November the cafe was closed. For most staff members this cafe was a hobby and they had (mostly IT) jobs and the amount of work on their jobs increased so they didn't have time for this cafe. That is why they decided to transfer the business. As they say the cafe didn't make a profit but it wasn't losing money either. Before the cafe was reopened the staff organized several parties where Touhou cosplayers performed and sang. In 2010, this cafe was reopened, new cosplayers were hired and later some new staff members. There was Touhou food and drinks. There were also different Touhou goods. To get them Touhou coins were needed. The cafe operated for two years, but it was closed in 2012 as their situation got worse and didn't improve. The business was transferred and it was reopened as Pandemonium, which kept Nico Nico Douga theme but removed Touhou theme. It is hard to say if Reauta got allowance from ZUN to have a Touhou theme as during the Touhou bar incident it was directly stated that such things were not allowed. That may be also a reason why Pandemonium wasn't Touhou-themed.
Around that time there were several Touhou cafe collabs. In 2010, Surfers Paradise (a doujin store which sold Touhou goods) organized a Touhou cafe collab and the cafe was opened in February. There was Touhou themed food, Touhou goods and Touhou cosplay. In late 2010, there was a collaboration between Ufotable cafe and Touhou. There was a special Touhou menu and Touhou goods related to Anime Tencho x Touhou Project. In 2011-2012, MAGIC STAR！ cafe organized several collabs with Touhou and there was Touhou food. In 2012, Good Smile Cafe organized a Touhou cafe collaboration with a special menu and some Touhou plushes and figures were sold. The last cafe-related Touhou-themed commercial event was organized by Dwango at the beginning of 2013 and there was Touhou (Bad Apple) food too.
There were several cafes which were much less open about being related to Touhou. For example, Chasho Yamazato (茶処山里) had Touhou goods at least since 2011 which were donated by visitors (Touhou fans), but they were not vocal about that. Another example is Suimusou opened in 2012, whose owner was an active Touhou fan and participated in Touhou-only Doujin events and later even sold their own sake. The bar itself was less open about this (kinda), but there were rumours that the bar had a secret menu for Touhou fans.
In 2010, ZUN visited Komaba Festival (駒場祭) at University of Tokyo and gave a lecture there. Students decided to organize Marukyu Project (まるきゅうProject): a Touhou cafe for several hours. And since 2012 this cafe collab is held every year (except COVID times). The rooms there are Touhou-themed and there are Touhou cosplayers.
Another cafe like that was Touhou Cafe (東方喫茶) on Mitasai (三田祭) at Keio University which was held yearly since 2012, but after COVID it became less about cafe and more about Touhou university club activities.
There were also some Touhou cafe collabs in China. There was a Touhou cafe collab by Cafe Matsuri in 2011, but there is not much info about it. In 2013, Gensokyo Maid cafe (幻想乡MAID) was opened. It had Touhou themed rooms and Touhou food but it was closed by the end of year.
Touhou food was slowly becoming more spread, for example Reitaisai had their own Touhou food for Reitaisai SP in 2010. Also Touhou drinks began to appear. On the first Engawa of Hakurei Shrine (2008) (博麗神社の縁側) there were Touhou circles which distributed dishes for sake. In 2010, Miko Suika cold spicy sweet sake set (巫女萃香 冷酒 萃辛 萃甘セット) began its destibution. In 2011, Kubo Liquor Store (久保酒店) got a license from Team Shanghai Alice to produce Ibuki Suika's Sake (伊吹萃香の酒). Since then they produced even more different Touhou Sake. In 2013, Imayo Tsukasa Sake Brewery (今世司酒造) sold Yumesakai (夢境) sake on Reitaisai.
Decline of Touhou Cafes (2014-2017)
During this period there were not a lot of Touhou cafes and all of them were short-termed. One of the possible reasons for this could be the rule about this becoming more strict. But there were fans who were interested in such things, so they continued to visit Chasho Yamazato and Suimusou and organize the short-termed events.
In 2015, Hifuu Cafe Theater (秘封喫茶劇場) a Hifuu themed cafe was organized by Kazuki (leader of Kyoka Fugetsu circle). That wasn't just a cafe but a performance where Renko and Maribel discussed different topics sitting in the cafe. After this event a related CD was published on Science Century Cafe Terrace (科学世紀のカフェテラス) (Hifuu-only event). The next year Hifuu Cafe Theater was held again and there was a cafe and a performance by Renko and Maribel too. After that a CD and the scenario were distributed.
At the same time another similar cafe appeared: Gensou Cafe Terrace (幻想カフェテラス) which was Hifuu cafe (秘封カフェ) during the day and Touhou cafe (東方カフェ) during the night. This cafe had a special Touhou menu with Touhou food and Hifuu and Touhou cosplayers. In 2016 there was the second event which had a new menu with more Touhou food and there were more cosplayers. In October 2016 the last event was held and TUMENECO was invited, but there was only Hufuu cafe and the amount of Touhou (Hifuu) food was limited, but there were no problems with drinks. That was the last Touhou cafe during this period.
Talkking about Touhou drinks, Hakurei Sake Brewery (ハクレイ酒造) made a collaboration with Reitaisai to sell sake on Reitaisai in 2016. But there were not much other new Touhou drinks during this period.
By the way there was a Touhou cafe in 2014 in Arizona, USA, but not much info remained.
In 2017, cafe-bar Futaride (2人でお入りください) began to host special days when Touhou and Vocaloid music was played in the bar. Such days were held until the end of 2019.
Touhou Bar Incident and Boundary Satellite Cafe
In early 2018, Japanese Touhou fan Yatabe decided to open a bar called U.N.Owen (U.N.逢縁), and it was scheduled to start business on February 2. The store started a trial operation on February 2, and the number of fans visiting this bar exceeded the owner's expectations, and it was closed due to insufficient food inventory and other reasons. The store officially opened on February 9. The bar used a lot of Touhou stuff, played Touhou music (Yatabe got the permission from circles), called itself a "Touhou Bar" (東方バー) and used Touhou for promotion. That is why some people questioned whether the Touhou theme bar would violate the rules. Yatabe said that he would contact ZUN about this and tried to contact TSA before the official opening, but he didn't get a reply. On February 11, Yatabe announced that he would temporarily close the store and denied his bar's relationship (only) with Touhou. Yatabe got the reply from TSA that this topic would be checked with ZUN. On February 17, Yatabe stated on Twitter that ZUN prohibits the use of Touhou as store promotion, and stated that they would remove Touhou elements and operate as an ordinary bar. Yatabe directly violated the rules, that is why everything happened, and a lot of fans discussed that topic. But Yatabe didn't give up. After that the store opened again and they remained Touhou goods (like Chasho Yamazato), continued to do Touhou food by request (technically not prohibited) and used images by visitors for promotion (technically not prohibited too). So Yatabe decided to stay in the gray zone and continue their activities, just without naming things their names.
Around that time another event appeared: Boundary Satellite Cafe (秘封珈琲店). It also was announced in January 2018. This event is similar to Hifuu Cafe Theater and Gensou Cafe Terrace. It had elements of sales, cosplay and interaction in a cafe with a special menu. This event is held yearly and the last one (at the time of writing this article) was held on the 23th of November.
Rise of Touhou Cafes (since 2019)
After the Touhou Bar Incident and Boundary Satellite Cafe becoming a regular event, the idea of Touhou cafes was becoming more accepted.
Around that time, in 2019, Reitaisai faced the problem: Tokyo Olympics 2020, which meant it would be nearly impossible to hold the event in Tokyo. The owner (who is a Touhou fan) of Suzuki Liquor Store (鈴木酒店) in Shizouka decided to collaborate with Reitaisai and help them, so he discussed this problem with the city council of Shizouka, and it was successful. As a result of the collaboration a lot of Touhou Collaboration Sake was produced. And as Reitaisai was postponed they decided to sell it in the store and during COVID they sold it online. Since then they have been selling the Touhou sake. Interesting fact: ZUN had this sake too.
In late 2019, JANS! a Touhou circle which distributes Touhou goods and clothes decided to host Scarlet Night Party event. It was similar to Boundary Satellite Cafe but with Scarlet Devil Mansion theme. The rooms were nicely decorated, there was a special menu, some food in themed jars and there were themed drinks and SDM themed flatware. The organizers paid a lot of attention to details. In February 2020, the second event was held and Touhou goods were also distributed. After the COVID restrictions became less strict the third event was organized, but they had to put some restrictions to prevent the spread of the pandemic for example the amount of food was limited and additional snacks couldn't be eaten there, but the event was held without incidents. But because of the pandemic the next event which was planned to be held on the 10th of October (a day before Kouroumu) was cancelled and it wasn't held since then.
After these events some, companies decided to hold Touhou cafe collabs. Animate Cafe announced the collaboration in July 2020. There was Touhou-themed food and drinks. In addition the rooms were decorated. The next time it appeared on Autumn Reitaisai in 2023 and in December Touhou drinks were distributed for 10 days. Since then Animate Cafe sometimes distributes Touhou drinks at some events.
Later, Hakurei Shrine Worship Association (HSWA) decided to organize collaborations with a cafe. That is how Touhou Project × Cure Maid Cafe (東方Project×キュアメイドカフェ) project appeared which was announced on August 2020. It is a commercial collaboration organized by HSWA and it is hosted nearly yearly since 2020. There is Touhou-themed food and some Touhou goods are sold.
After the appearance of this project other companies decided to organize their own collabs. In November, Touhou Project x Karaoke no Tetsujin was announced. During this collaboration there were Touhou-themed drinks and Touhou-themed karaoke rooms with Touhou songs.
In December, Touhou Project x Sanrio Characters Collaboration Cafe (東方Project×サンリオキャラクターズ コラボレーションカフェ) was announced, but because of pandemic it was cancelled. There were not many details about it, so it is hard to say how it could look like.
There was also a Touhou cafe collaboration in Korea. After the announcement of Korean version of Touhou Spell Bubble, Touhou Spell Bubble cafe collaboration was announced. Cafe was decorated, there were Touhou goods and there was a screen with Touhou Spell Bubble gameplay.
Around that time another U.N.Owen bar was opened in Osaka. Even though it is not a Touhou bar but an otaku bar it had a lot of Touhou-related things like the first U.N.Owen bar.
And here fans decided to make a serious step forward.
On the 14th of October 2021, a new bar was opened whose name was BAR Flandre and it called itself as "Gensokyo BAR for Touhou fans" (東方ファンの為の幻想郷BAR). They had Touhou stuff, used Touhou for promotion and had Touhou drinks. And they had no problems with such activities and this bar is still active.
So we can see how the prohibition of using Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) changed to it being okay to use Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) in 4 years. The people, who were interested in this, had so many activities in the (dark) grey zone that Touhou fans, semi-officials and TSA got used to them. The things, for which U.N.Owen bar was criticized in 2018, were normal already in 2021. And ZUN's opinion changed too, in 2018 he was against such idea, but now he has no serious problems with such things.
After that there were several collaborations between Reitaisai and stores, collaborations with another cafe happened.
In 2024, an onigiri store, whose owner is a Touhou fan, opened.
Recognition of Touhou Cafes
Since 2022 some Touhou-only doujin sales events began to collaborate with Touhou cafes, mostly with Kikuichi, the organizer of Boundary Satellite Cafe. On June 2022, Cafe Suzunaan ~Nimaku~ (喫茶・鈴奈庵～二幕～) was announced by the organizers of Suzanaan-only event Suzuna Gensou Emaki and was held on the 2nd of July the day before Suzuna Gensou Emaki. Before that such events adjusted their dates to be held close to Touhou-only events but this time that was a direct collaboration. During this event Mamizou made coffee while Kosuzu and Akuu helped to serve it. The rooms were also decorated. This event was successful. On January 2023, Touhou Kishinsai (東方輝針祭) (TD and DDC-only event) announced about Mamizou Cafe collaboration. During the event Mamizou could make different kinds of coffee for any visitor and Sekibanki helped to serve it. And that was very successful, so they agreed to open Mamizou Cafe again the next year. The next year, Igurusensen Ijounasi (イーグル戦線異状なし！) (Seiran and Ringo-only event) announced ODANGO
CAFE event where Kikuichi worked as barista who made different drinks while Seiran and Ringo served drinks to the tables. In addition there was dango. After that there was the second Mamizou Cafe collaboration with Touhou Kishinsai and this time Sekibanki, Kagerou and Seija helped Mamizou to serve coffee.
In March 2023, Kirisame Coffee Shop (雾雨咖啡店 / 霧雨珈琲店) was opened in Shanghai, China. It is a Touhou themed coffee store which has a lot of Touhou things. And in February 2024, a significant event happened: ZUN visited this cafe. He had a nice time there and signed an autograph. This can show the beginning of the official recognition of Touhou cafes. This cafe also collaborated with Shanghai THO (TouHou Only event). And by the way, it was closed for renovation in November this year and was reopened recently. It became more spacious, but in return less Touhou goods fit there.
On July 2025, another Touhou-themed cafe was opened in China: Night Bird Cafe (夜雀咖啡馆). There is not much information about it, but people say that it is nicely decorated and has a good menu.
At the same time in Korea, Airdefence doujin circle decided to organize Cirno Cafe on the 9th of September 2023. They made a survey, many people wanted to attend it so they began the preparation; fliers were sent to several cafes for advertisement. In Cirno Cafe there was a special menu and Touhou goods, the rooms were decorated with Cirno fanarts. Overall this event was so successful that they decided to turn an alleyway into Gensokyo next time. That is how OnDongHwan or "The Whole Neighborhood is Gensokyo" (온 동네가 환상향) a regular Korean Touhou-only event emerged. In 2024 there was also an announcement of Touhou Cafe & Exhibition event, but it wasn't held.
In 2025, Shizuoka Reitaisai was held and they decided to collaborate with Boundary Satellite Cafe too. So Renko and Maribel could serve coffee during the big sales event. But the most noteworthy thing is that ZUN attended them. So there is the ZUN's approval of such activities now and Touhou cafes may exist without many problems.
After that Kikuichi held Suzunaan Cafe a day before Autumn Reitaisai and it was successful. There were also plans for Touhou cafe on Kouroumu, but they didn't have enough staff in Osaka.
Some other events also had their own cafes. For example on December 2025, Tokisa Yumehoshi (時砂夢星) (Sakuya-only event) collaborated with On the Sands of the Sea of Stars (星の海の沙に) and they held Sakimari Cafe (咲マリ喫茶) where people could have some treats. And they plan to hold a similar cafe on The First Visit of the Year to the Shrine Where Reimu Is (初詣は霊夢のいる神社で)
At the same time more commercial Touhou cafe collabs began to appear outside of Japan. In 2024, Amiami collaborated with Toonique (Korean cafe) and the menu was Touhou-themed. There were also Fumos as goods (and Amiami announced that they began to distribute Fumos in Korea). The rooms were also Touhou-themed (and yes, there was a screen with Touhou gameplay), so this may be considered as a Touhou cafe. In 2025, Illustar Festival after collaboration with Touhou had some Touhou cardboard cutouts and goods left, so they decided to put them in Illustar Cafe and even though there was no online announcement, the information about that was placed in their cafe. Later there was another Amiami collab but this time it was with Moaeku cafe. This was a Doki Doki Literature Club collab and it was DDLC-themed, but there were also Touhou goods. Later there was the second collaboration and Touhou goods were presented again.
There were several collabs in China too. In September 2024, Animate Cafe made a survey to find out in which genres people were interested in the most. Even though Touhou didn't get the most votes, Animate decided to organize a Touhou cafe collaboration which was prolonged later. There there a lot of Touhou goods and there were Touhou drinks. In addition Animate collaborated with Shanghai THO. Later Good Smile Cafe made a collaboration with Touhou Lost Word and it was possible to get Touhou drinks there, but there is not much other information about this collab.
Conclusion
The first Touhou cafes appeared during Touhou's Golden Age; most of them were closed since then and the remaining ones didn't emphasize their relations with Touhou or were short-termed. Since late 10s more and more Touhou cafes (fanmade ones and commercial ones) began to emerge, and some of them began to collaborate with Touhou-only events. And the prohibition of using Touhou as a way of a store promotion (or promotion of any other place unrelated to Touhou) became much less strict. And nowadays such Touhou cafes may be considered in light grey (if not white) zone. Touhou cafes show how Touhou rules may be adapted as time passes. Similar processes happened with other spheres. For example, Touhou Exhibitions existed since the Golden Age and nowadays there are more of them and a lot of commercial exhibitions have emerged. As a result, there are more and more different offline Touhou activities in different regions.
