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Visiting a Cat Café in Tokyo, Japan

Ever since I found out about the existence of cat cafés back in 2010, I wanted to go to Japan to visit one. I'm a crazy cat lady, and this was actually the main reason I wanted to travel half way around the globe, not the stunning Japanese temples and shrines, nor the customs or people.

Some of you might wonder what the fuss is all about, others will wonder what the hack is a cat café anyways? Well, a cat café is basically a café where you can have a drink or something to eat with a cat in your lap, something almost impossible to find in Europe. And I say almost, because recently and after many years insisting in the right places, a Japanese lady managed to open a cat café in Vienna.

So first task after landing in Tokyo was to find a cat café. We asked the staff at Kimi Ryokan where we were staying and they gladly pointed us to a neko café, right there in Ikebukuro, not far away. The café was at the 5th floor of a building next to Sunshine 60, and as soon as the elevator's doors opened, we were greeted by a friendly girl who handed us the price list for every 15 minutes and a list of instructions in English. Unfortunately none of the girls working there spoke English, but as we discovered anywhere we went in Japan, the friendliness of the locals goes a long way and somehow, due to the effort put in by both parties, we always miraculously managed to make ourselves understood.

So basically we were not supposed to bother the cats in any way possible. After all, the cats were the ones who ruled this place and we were not allowed to pick them up, wake them up, or upset them in any other way.

We had to take off our shoes at the entrance, were not allowed to use flash, and if we wanted to feed the cats, all we needed to do is buy them some cat food. Of course, we were also welcomed to buy ourselves some refillable drinks as well (tea and juice were the only drinks available).

We were asked upfront how long we would like to stay, so we decided that 30 minutes would be fine, given that this was the most expensive petting time ever, and I was not in such a desperate need for a kitty fix because only days ago I had visited the cats at the Botanical Gardens from Valencia. Yet, I wanted to tick this experience off my bucket list since I figured it was one of the must-do things in Tokyo.

Did the cat café meet up my expectations? Uh, not really. I was expecting the cats to be somehow more active and engaged. But instead, the only time I saw someone picking their interested was when two Japanese ladies bought them some food. Other then that, the cats were bored. You know that feeling when you are somewhere you'd rather be not but have to be there anyways? Well, that's how these cats looked like.

I petted a few cats, and ever tried to make them play with the toys, but the cats looked right through me. They were absent, bored and through their attitude they were communicating me that whatever I was trying to achieve with that feather, they've seen this trick already a thousand time and I wasn't going to make them fall for it anymore.

Other than that, the cats were very well groomed and taken care of. As they are the stars of this type of business, I'm pretty sure they receive the utmost attention and the girls working there seemed to be dedicated cat lovers.

The place was also pretty big, roughly 200sqm for about 20 lazy cats. There were comfy sofas and shelves full of manga books guests could pick up and read, in the best of cases, with a cat in their lap.

However, after 30 minutes I left a bit disappointed. Were these cats really happy here? Well, they were certainly living in safer and more controlled conditions than the ones at the Botanical Garden from Valencia for example, which are suffering from cold in winter, in spite of all the space and freedom they have. But... the main question that my visit to the neko café raised is... were these cats drugged? They seemed way too absent to me...

Have you ever visited a cat café? Was your experience any different?

Our time in Japan was courtesy of Japan Rail Pass

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