奇速英语

新冠疫情当下，日本东京一酒店推出“灯笼聚餐”

The pandemic has caused difficulties for a lot of different types of businesses, but it’s been especially challenging for eat-in restaurants. Many have responded by adding partitions(隔板) between diners, but the drawback is that they can result in an isolated atmosphere and narrow table.

One Tokyo restaurant wondered if there was a more aesthetically(审美地) pleasing way to do things, and the idea they’ve come up with is this.

It’s called the lantern partition, and when you sit down at the table, you slide under it. While the top section is a traditionally styled chochin (Japanese paper lantern), part-way down it transitions to clear plastic, allowing you and your dining companions to remove your masks while you eat but still have a protective barrier that allows you to see one another, all without taking up any extra space on the table.

Each lantern partition is 102 centimeters tall and 75 centimeters in diameter, with its own light source to keep your face and food lighted.

The partitions have recently been installed in the restaurant of Hoshinoya Tokyo, a luxury hotel in Tokyo’s Otemachi neighborhood that’s part of the Hoshino Resorts group. They’re not just called lantern partitions because of how they look, as the Hoshino group produced them in cooperation with Kojima Shoten, a Kyoto lantern craftsmen’s workshop that’s been in business since the Kansei years (1789-1801) of Japan’s Edo period.

The partitions were added to Hoshinoya’s private banquet(宴会) room, along with a Tokyo Lantern Banquet multi-course meal. Normally, the restaurant is only open to people staying at the hotel, but for the Lantern Banquet they may invite outside guests to join them in this unique dining experience.