Tokyo cat cafes offer comfort and coffee

June 30, 6:43 AMLA Coffee ExaminerKim Winklhofer

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Coffee Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Here in the United States, you can have a muffin with your cappuccino. In Japan, you can get a cat.

Actually, you can’t take the cats home, but you can pet them all you want while in one of the increasingly popular cat cafes.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo has a population density of 5,847 people per square kilometer. Because space is at such a premium many apartment complexes and corporate dorms don’t allow pets. Unfortunately, a lot of the very people who could benefit from the company of a pet are the ones living in those cramped, solitary residences.

Enter the cat cafés. For a small fee, $8 - $12 an hour, you gain entrance to, well, a cathouse. Anywhere from a dozen to twenty cats, some even pedigreed, roam free in a very casual setting, designed more for their comfort than that of the paying patrons. This is proven by rules--like no young children, no shoes, no flash photography, no disturbing sleeping cats— and the many empty boxes, cushions, and toys that lay strewn about.

Coffee, tea, smoothies (and in one case, “Mexican jambalaya”) are among refreshments for sale, but it’s obvious that people are there for the cats. In many of the YouTube videos of cat café visits there is little evidence of drinking. In the one below, you can get a glimpse of one coffee cup on a table.

If the very idea of a cat café isn’t enough to make you smile in amused astonishment, the Nekorobi café has a guest book in which customers have drawn pictures of and written messages to the cats. Also, if you take a fancy to a particular cat, you can find out its age, name and breed in the laminated “menu.” The Nyankoro Café, featured in Axidolsteph’s video (below), has a website at which each cat has it’s own page. (It's in Japanese, but it's still worth a little poke around.)

Could a cat café exist here in Los Angeles? Ariel Graham, CEO of Lot 44 Coffee, says, “From a health and sanitation perspective a cat café would not be feasible. In my opinion, it is never a good idea to have animals near food/drink. The health department would never issue a food license. I think however there might be a way to do both next to each other and connect them.”

Owner of M Street Coffee Andrea McClain agrees with this assessment, adding that she would “charge a flat fee for an ‘office visit’ in a ‘private’ room where you can enjoy your feline friends and a latte. Of course there would be a waiver to sign with a lot of fine print!”

So unfortunately, for now this unique experience exists only in Japan.

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in reading about a cat-obsessed girlfriend in Courtney Bee's Sexual Health article. For more information about Tokyo look to Japan Travel Examiner Joshua Williams.

Photo credits: Cat in cat cafe - Tokyo Boy, Cat cafe exterior - gralola, cat cafe interior - Kiyoshi.be