This BBC article on a cat cafe in the Akihabara district of Japan spurred me to blog about our experiences last year. We didn’t go to a cat cafe (just the usual maid cafe), but we did go to Nekobukuro, at the Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro.

I found out about this place from Leo and Adrienne’s Facebook photos of their trip earlier in the year. It’s a section on the top floor of the store where you can pay admission (we bought a ¥1000 couple’s pass – I guess it’s a popular destination for dates) to spend time with various cats. I guess the lack of space, and OCD cleanliness makes owning cats prohibitive for most Japanese; because this is either a intensely weird or stupid idea from a North American viewpoint.

The cats themselves weren’t particularly social or crowd friendly, and typically ignored the crowds of people petting and fawning over them – until the trainers bring out the catnip.

There isn’t much to do in Nekobukuro, you can walk through a couple of rooms where cats are sitting around, watch, and pet cats. How do Japanese people find that amazing is beyond me.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: cats, japan, travelling