One of our favorite things to do when we travel to Japan is check if there are any gaming-related themed cafes going on when we visit the country. Luckily, Final Fantasy IX had a pop-up at Shinjuku to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025, so we scheduled a visit. 🙂
Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary Pop-Up Cafe Location
The themed cafe we went to was located in Shinjuku. It’s another Pasela Resorts branch, and one I’ve never been to before.
It was a really narrow building, but it’s very easy to spot once you cross the street from the Southeast Exit of JR Shinjuku Station. If you’re looking to visit, here is the full address of the cafe:
SQUARE ENIX POP-UP CAFE
〒160-0022
3-36-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Paselabo Tower 1F/2F/3F
Interior Details
I was kinda sad that the cafe wasn’t as decked out as, say, the FF14 Eorzea Cafe or MonHunBa in Akihabara. But there were a few points of interest inside that were kinda cool to see.
The walls did have some Final Fantasy IX-themed visuals, and you can see the free placemats and coasters that you get displayed on the walls.
Since the designs you receive for every order are random, PLUS there’s always a second phase of the cafe period where the designs completely change, many people tend to visit more than twice to collect all the designs. HAHA!
Final Fantasy IX Themed Food & Drinks
The Final Fantasy IX 25th anniversary cafe did have a good mix of food and drinks in the menu. However, we really only ordered drinks.
I think our bill was around JPY 8,400 yen, this included the two tickets plus six other menu items. Take note that ticket fees are around JPY 1,200 yen per seat, and these normally come with the free placemat and complimentary drink.
Also, the coasters you get randomly are free with every drink or meal order. 🙂
Coaster Designs We Got
In total, we got six coasters! Unfortunately, the complimentary drinks don’t come with the coasters, likely because you already get a placemat. LOL!
Out of the eight available designs in this cafe phase, we were able to pull four – Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, and Steiner. The ones we were missing were Eiko, Quina, Amaranth, and Freya. TBH, not really a loss. XD
We did get some dupes which we gave out to some friends who are bigger fans than us. <3
Shopping for FF9-Themed Merch
Of course, we can’t forget that shopping is an integral part of visiting themed cafes. The whole ground floor of the building had a lot of themed merchandise for Final Fantasy 9 fans!
There were SO MANY plushies, haha! I didn’t really buy anything, but I’m kinda regretting not getting the Tonberry plush. HAHA.
It was a fun experience, I always love going to themed cafes, especially if they’re gaming-related. Hopefully we get to visit another one when we go back to Japan next year.
If you want to watch the whole adventure, be sure to check out my reel below. Until next time, see ya!
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