An unauthorized One Piece-themed restaurant opened in Beijing in May. The restaurant features giant illustrations of One Piece characters such as Luffy, Chopper, and Sanji on the walls, floors, and tables. The menu itself features items such as “Luffy’s straw hat fried rice.”
The Japanese news agency FNN asked the shop owner if he had permission to open a One Piece-themed restaurant and he answered that he did not. The shop owner added that he thought it was fine because he just was offering a place for One Piece fans to gather and have fun.
One Piece is also inspiring plans for a 329-acre theme park in the city of Dafeng in China’s Jiangsu Province. Planned attractions there include themed restaurants and an anime research center. 500 million yuan (about US$79 million) is being invested in the project, which started construction last month.
The Japanese publisher Shueisha had said in May that it has not given formal consent to the theme park. The company confirmed with FNN again on Thursday that it has still not given formal consent to the project.
Animenewsnetwork, fnn-news.com