Already a city of highly diverse innovation, a new fad in dynamic Tokyo appears to be the cat café, which has captured the hearts of animal lovers. Here, one pays for the privilege of being in the diffident company of some fabulous felines; that is, if they will tolerate you.
As the name implies, the Calico is a cat café. It opened in Tokyo in March of 2007 and was at first a place where only a few cat fanciers and lonely older people ventured inside.
Now, however, that has all changed. The Calico and other cat cafés are truly “in” places, the real “cat’s meow,” so to speak. Here, customers seeking human and feline companionship pay to sip tea and stroke one of the 20-odd resident cats, representing 17 different breeds.
Cat cafés fill an important social void in a nation of aging and childless adults. Many patrons would be pet owners, but cannot either because of work obligations or no-pet housing facilities.
These cafés have become so popular as a place for tea and social exchange that this past month a second branch of Calico opened in a very classy, high-rent district of Tokyo known as Shinjuku.
The original café is so packed that reservations are required (and some even claim that guests must be cleared with the cats)!
There are some rules that all who enter must follow. Customers must wear their laminated cat-access passes around their neck at all times, no children under the 5th grade may enter, cats too young to be held have scarves around their necks, customers may not hold or stroke a cat if it resists, must let napping cats lie, and never bring cat nip or cat food to the café.
It would seem that one hour of communion with a loving fur-ball at the cost of about $9 US dollars, is a bargain that many cannot resist.
(Link)
peonny
Who Knew
count duckula
Well, I won’t tell anybody else.
Lucy
We need this in the US too. It is wonderful and saves many stray cats. I would not care what breed, but different colors are nice.
alex
Awwwww look at the kitty!
megameow
meow!
Vincent
Intriguing idea…but while I love cats, being in a room with 20 of them could lead to some nasty allergies.
Shelby
I agree with Lucy! I love kitties and this would be a wonderful way of saving stray and feral cats! At any given moment our home is filled with the pitter-patter of 10-20 cats and kittens. We have a beautiful feral calico girl, but she won't let us get near her…she just eats the food, but each time she has a litter we let her care for them until they are old enough to eat on their own and then we bring the babies inside to give the human socialization. We recently had a kitten that needed to be raised by hand because the mom didn't want anything to do with it. We raised a beautiful and super playful tortoiseshell named Zoe. Anyway, cat cafes would be a great idea in the U.S. since we have so many feral cat colonies. First the cats would need vet treatment though, which can be very expensive. Then, depending on the cat's age, human socialization would be needed. Lets save the kitties! <3 🙂
Diana
Yay! You go, Shelby! I adore my three kitties too, and would hate to live without them.
beats by dre store
expensive. Then, depending on the cat's age, human socialization would be needed. Lets save the kitties
beats headphones
Great, I like, thank you for sharing