Senior Editor of commercial partnerships, HuffPost UK
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With 850,000 people in the UK with dementia, chances are you’ll know someone suffering from the disease.
It is incredibly difficult for the individual and their loved ones, as simple tasks we take for granted - such as remembering a loved one’s name or getting dressed in the morning - slip out of reach.
A pop-up restaurant in Japan is hoping to raise awareness of the reality of the disease by only employing waiting staff who suffer with dementia.
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Mamoru Ichikawa
The restaurant team
At The Restaurant Of Order Mistakes, which opened in Tokyo, Japan, earlier this month, customers expect their order to come back incorrectly but any mix-ups are met with good cheer and understanding.
While dementia is clearly no laughing matter, this pop-up offers light-hearted relief to a very serious problem.
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Mamoru Ichikawa
A waitress takes a table's order.
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Mamoru Ichikawa
Waiting staff are instructed what to do before their shift.
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Mamoru Ichikawa
Mizuho Kudo, a food blogger who visited on the opening day, said although he ordered a hamburger but gyoza dumplings arrived instead.
‘I’m fine, dumplings came, and [we] had a good laugh,’ she tweeted.
The restaurant, which ran from 2-4 June, was an international success, and another event is said to be planned for around World Alzheimer’s Day (21 September).
Early Symptoms of Dementia
No Initiative (01 of10)
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At times everyone can become tired of housework, business activities, or social obligations. However a person with dementia may become very passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual, or appear to lose interest in hobbies. (credit:John Rensten via Getty Images)
Changes in Personality (02 of10)
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A person with dementia may seem different from his or her usual self in ways that are difficult to pinpoint. A person may become suspicious, irritable, depressed, apathetic or anxious and agitated especially in situations where memory problems are causing difficulties. (credit:fStop Images - Carl Smith via Getty Images)
Mood Changes(03 of10)
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Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. A person with dementia may become unusually emotional and experience rapid mood swings for no apparent reason. Alternatively a person with dementia may show less emotion than was usual previously. (credit:Mike Chick via Getty Images)
Misplace Things (04 of10)
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Anyone can temporarily misplace his or her wallet or keys. A person with dementia may put things in unusual places such as an iron in the fridge or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl. (credit:Oli Kellett via Getty Images)
Problems With Keeping Track of Things (05 of10)
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A person with dementia may find it difficult to follow a conversation or keep up with paying their bills. (credit:Chris Red via Getty Images)
Increasingly poor Judgement(06 of10)
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People with dementia may dress inappropriately, wearing several layers of clothes on a warm day or very few on a cold day. (credit:Jessica Peterson via Getty Images)
Distortion of Time and Place (07 of10)
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We sometimes forget the day of the week or where we are going but people with dementia can become lost in familiar places such as the road they live in, forget where they are or how they got there, and not know how to get back home. A person with dementia may also confuse night and day. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Problems With Language(08 of10)
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Occasionally everyone has trouble finding the right word but a person with dementia often forgets simple words or substitutes unusual words, making speech or writing hard to understand. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Difficulty Performing Familiar Tasks(09 of10)
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People with dementia often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar we usually do not think about how to do them. A person with dementia may not know in what order to put clothes on or the steps for preparing a meal. (credit:Anthony Harvie via Getty Images)
Memory Loss(10 of10)
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Declining memory, especially short-term memory, is the most common early symptom of dementia. People with ordinary forgetfulness can still remember other facts associated with the thing they have forgotten. For example, they may briefly forget their next-door neighbour's name but they still know the person they are talking to is their next-door neighbour. A person with dementia will not only forget their neighbour's name but also the context. (credit:Compassionate Eye Foundation via Getty Images)