Cat Cafes: Orgy Of Cuteness At A Tokyo Cat Cafe (PHOTOS)

We were going to visit a cat café in Tokyo. End of discussion.

While I was traveling through Tokyo on a recent trip with my girlfriend she made it crystal clear that a cat café was soon to be a "visited" pin in our map. I'm not one to argue with such a request, so we ducked in out of the November rain and into a café swarming with fur.

Before entering the inner sanctum we had to take off our shoes and wash our hands, as the staff want to reduce the amount of germs the cats are exposed to.

Customers typically pay a flat rate for whatever amount of desired time it is they want to spend in the café. In our case we payed approximately US$10 each for 15 minutes of total time. There are also snacks and drinks which are priced separate from the entrance fee.

Once inside my girlfriend's cute glands were sufficiently overloaded by the difficult decision of which of the 16 cats to fawn over first. Would it be Miku or Max? Who knows! It ended up being both, plus 14 others.

The staff also try to enhance the experience by strapping "cat hats" on their heads or showing "cat tricks". Yes, cats can apparently learn tricks.

Nevermind lolcats, or cat thieves, visit a Tokyo cat café for a fix of cute.

 

Been to a cat cafe? Have a cute cat picture from your travels? Share!

Share your cat cafe pictures

Find a picture, click the participate button, add a title and upload your picture

1 of 7

I hate you.

1 of 8

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

NPR Cruise To Set Sail On Regent's Seven Seas Voyager (PHOTOS)

Memorial Day: Atlantic City Third Most Popular Destination, Perhaps Due To Revel (PHOTOS)

8 Obscure National Parks Worth The Visit (PHOTOS)

Great Fast-Food Chains From Around The World (PHOTOS)

5 Reasons Turks And Caicos Is The Perfect Place For A Best Beach Vacation (PHOTOS)

The New Major Players In The Short-Term Peer-To-Peer Property Rental Game

comments(193)

Total comments: 193 | Post a Comment

1 of 8

Cat

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Meh. Daw!

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Current Top 5 Slides

loading...

Choose your Top 5 Slides

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[Marcos Pita Sr]

11:25 AM on 02/24/2011

PARA LA MAS LINDA GATICA, EN LA MITAD DEL MUNDO, ADORNADA CON UNA FLOR, DESDE EL HUFFINTONPOST, QUE TENGA UN LINDO JUEVES, SU SERVIDOR. MARCOS PITA SR.

[fumes]

08:55 AM on 02/19/2011

my two cats..

Eb and Flo..

love this sort of thing!

[ThomasPaine1776]

11:54 AM on 02/18/2011

Japan is kinda weird. The disturbing thing about this is that the cats look confused. They should look confused, because it is a confusing, un natural situation. Cats are looking for a home, for a "pride". Desperate for stability, like the rest of us. Every day there is a new "bonding" thing that goes on, that always ends in breakup. Poor kitties never get a home! It is terribly sad. It is a perversion of our natural instincts.If you like cats, and everyone should, then go to a shelter and RESCUE one. Or, trap a starving feral cat, like i did, and let it make freinds with your other cats you have at home. My "Booters" was dirty and skinny, scared and weak. Now she has her buddy, "booter buddy" and sleeps every night on a big purple poofy pillow. Shes clean, fat and happy. Still hisses if you get too close, though, but that's okay, I know she's healthy, happy and alive. She's a member of my family and my life, as it should be.

[ThePassedPawn]

11:30 AM on 02/19/2011

Cats can have a good time, too.

[Christopher Hull]

06:49 PM on 02/20/2011

Sorry but you are over analyzing the situation. The cats are in a stable environment. They have bonded to either the employees or operator of the cafe so they are not "looking for a home." They are home. There is no bonding that goes on in those few minutes. Instead those cats get their innate curiosity satisfied every day by new people to smell, look at and either play with or ignore as they see fit.

[Sara Keenan]

09:38 AM on 02/18/2011

Sorry. Looks like a rip-off. I don't understand paying $10 for 15 minutes hanging around in a setting that looks to me like a family child's playroom. What am I missing?

[Pandoras Folly]

11:41 AM on 02/18/2011

no animals allowed in most residential apartment buildings in tokyo. so you can have a fish, maybe a hamster or guine pig if your lucky. So people go to these cat cafes to play with cats, there are literally dozens of them in tokyo.

[amber15]

02:40 AM on 02/26/2011

your missing the love ppl have for cats.....

[Daws]

09:26 AM on 02/18/2011

That is cute. I love how Tokyo has all these unique cafe/restaurant concepts. At least unique to me anyways.

[Chris-Anderson]

12:01 PM on 02/18/2011

HuffPost Travel will post something about their "Maid Cafes" one of these days.

[AnnaTrouble]

10:20 PM on 02/24/2011

I still think the nicest cat cafe, which actually doubles as a cat shelter (all kitties there are available for adoption) is in Utsunomiya, Tochigi:
Here's a video I shot there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4kzoXfw0zM

[Rubicks]

09:14 AM on 02/18/2011

We have two cats. Sai just sits there with this bored expression while his "little brother" Daedalus zips around the house (he's "Daedalus Icarus" when he tries to fly himself or is ejected unceremoniously from the kitchen). The latter was christened the "Super Dimensional Hyper-kitty" (yes, we're anime fans, could you tell?) because he has this ability to be on the other side of the room and then on the couch next to you instantaneously. There is this sort of blurry after-image and then a big cat head, nose-to-nose, purring.

This is their day, entirely aside from the usual cat behavior of "I must be in the next room for no reason whatsoever immediately" and "I'm licking my crotch because I can - behold my awesomeness."

Most amusing? Despite my attempts to counter it, I ended up a cat person. Shoot me. Please!

[inthedesert]

09:12 AM on 02/18/2011

A cat cafe....how interesting. What's great about this is the cats bet to interact with humans and get some stroking and attention.

[nancestef]

09:06 AM on 02/18/2011

It's nice to see people adopting "hard-to-place" cats. Morris was 19 when I lost him. (I adopted him as a kitten.) I promised I would adopt a cat (not a kitten). After 6 months of trying to get the "courage" to adopt, I was in Connecticut when I saw "Pet-Smart". I fell in love with a 3 year-old calico - "Angel". I didn't think I could have her because they required a Connecticut driver's license. (I'm from Massachusetts.) I could think about on the way home was Angel. I called the next day, and was told out-of-state adoptions were allowed, and she was available. I went back, but the adoptions were closed. I cried all the way home. After two days, I finally got back to Pet-Smart, and Angel was still available. Because I live alone, I wanted two cats. I adopted another -- a 6 year-old tuxedo ("Kylie"). When I got them home, Angel looked around as if to say "Cool place -- where's my room?" Kylie was so afraid, it took 4 days to get her out from under the dresser. It's been over four years. These two ladies are the light of my life. Kylie (who was abused) has become a lovebug who loves to butt heads with me and cuddle. Angel, on the other hand, has become set in her diva ways and thinks she rules the house.

I can't imagine life without these two wonderful companions.

[TggerJen]

01:30 PM on 02/18/2011

That's the thing most people don't understand about 'rescues' - that they rescue us, pretty much on a daily basis. Congrats on being so lucky! From someone else so lucky.

[diannaa]

08:57 AM on 02/18/2011

I went to one of these in Seoul. It was about 10USD for unlimited time, plus a drink (covered by the $10). There were about eight cats, including several Scottish Folds. It was one of my favorite things I did while in S. Korea. I brought a book, and sat with a cat on my lap and read. Great way to spend a rainy day!

[Statusnaturae]

08:50 AM on 02/18/2011

Those cats probably hate their existance, the first picture says it all

[TggerJen]

01:32 PM on 02/18/2011

Maybe, maybe not. Sociable cats like to be, well, sociable. Some love attention from anyone, and just want to be petted and have their chins stroked and their ears scratched. The hat is probably the cause of that expression; the cat may well love the attention and the positive environment there.

[ReadMyLipstick1]

08:25 AM on 02/18/2011

I am in a very good mood today, and I didn't find those pictures particularly cute, or funny, or anything. Sorry.

[WmC]

02:55 PM on 02/27/2011

I found the captions pitiable.

[Rick Shorrock]

08:07 AM on 02/18/2011

Sign over my office door:
"My cat is not spoiled...I'm just well-trained." 'Nuff said!

[TggerJen]

01:34 PM on 02/18/2011

My friend cross stitched a picture about her dogs- it's a series of paw prints and hearts around the edge and says, "Our dogs aren't spoiled, just ask their piano teacher" and I think it's hilarious! Yours is excellent also! In fact, we're the ones who are spoiled with all the fun, laughter, and stress-busting purrs.

[valeskas]

07:52 AM on 02/18/2011

My two cats are so loving and the purr machine goes alot. I guess they are trying to tell me that I feed them well.

[whyus]

01:23 AM on 02/18/2011

You call That cute?! I'M cute. Cuteness personified. :)

[valeskas]

07:50 AM on 02/18/2011

Of course you are beautiful baby.

[kasukabe]

01:13 AM on 02/18/2011

You don't know hell until you've lived in Japan for three years and heard the word "kawaii" exclaimed for the millionth time in an unnatural high pitched squeak.

Added to that the thing that's usually being described as "cute" is some mawkish monstrosity.

Other than that loved the country.