Hachiko Cafe

[Gualberto Estrada]

The poor lighting made a good shot hard. About ten minutes afterward it began raining. You can find better photos on Google. So I figured I might as well try to be unique and show you it in Stereographic 3D!

In a country where space is an expensive commodity, not everyone has room for a pet, or is allowed to keep one in their apartment. Cat Cafes have opened up across Japan, charging a small fee for patrons to spend time with a cat and relax. The concept is not reserved to cats alone, at the Tokyo Dome Amusement Park, an impromptu animal area was set up with temporary fences. People could pay 500 yen (around $5) to spend time with various animals: dogs, cats, chicks, a goat, and even a rather large tortoise. I love cats just as much as Japan does, so I could not resist entering the cafe, paying around ten dollars for half an hour with the cats, and a cup of apple tea.

Like most Japanese homes, one is required to remove their shoes before entering. The clerk reads you the rules, and explains how to properly hold the cats without hurting them. Once inside there is a sink in which you are required to wash your hands, and then use alcohol. Any bags or luggage you may have is taken and put into a cubby. You place your order for a drink, and then you are permitted to enter the room with the cats.

HapiNeko employs a staff of sixteen cats, most of which are around three years old. Breeds include American shorthairs, a British shorthair, a Russian Blue, Scottish Folds, Bermans, and a Persian. Their names range from typical Japanese: Ryoma and Hinako, to more American: Gigi, Lara, Mimi, Princess, Nina, Marcia and Mocha, to slightly more amusing: Milk, Tofu, and Roll.

As my friend and I left the Cat Cafe and made our way back to the station, it had begun to rain. The massive throngs of people in the world-famous scramble crossing had disappeared. A few braved the pouring rain with their umbrellas, but walking by Hachiko, the massive crowd still remained.

Truly fascinating reading from your trip. Thank you for the insights into Japanese culture! I visited Tokyo almost 30 years ago, but did not have a chance to see as many local and unique spots as you have. Great stuff!

This brand new maid cafe has opened up just outside Akihabara Station! The patrons of Isekai Maid are transported on arrival to a parallel universe where guests are treated like royalty! Don your animal ears and clap along to the magic spells and dance shows while sipping on colorful cocktails!

When I first arrived in Ho Chi Minh City I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of motorbikes and traffic. I had to find something about the city I loved, and I did. The dog and cat cafes of Saigon. They soon became my go-to places to escape from the streets. Here is a list of the dog cafes of Saigon

Hours: Call ahead or check on their Facebook page to ensure the pet cafe you are trying to visit is open. Their hours vary and some days they might be closed. It seems their respective Facebook pages are up to date.

There are 2 Hachiko dog cafes in Saigon. I went to the one at 1531A Đường 3/2. Out of all the dog cafes, I visited they definitely have the most variety of dogs, big and small. The cafe was full of people when I went. Dogs are very friendly. Though they did seem thirsty, licking the condensation on the cups.

Mobile game Identity V is collaborating with popular Sanrio characters for a pop-up theme cafe in Shibuya. There are various dishes, including a black burger, as well as fancy drinks and lattes with character art on top.

Hello Kitty is taking over with a special menu at JS Burgers Cafe and JS Pancake Cafe, which have branches throughout Japan, in celebration of their 50th anniversary. There are cute Hello Kitty burgers, pancakes, fruit juices and milk teas, at several stores around Japan.

There are many cat cafes in Japan (check out this guide of 9 best cat cafes in Tokyo.) But one of the incentives to visit Cat Cafe Mocha is that it is a 3-minute walk from Shibuya Crossing. So you can visit Shibuya Crossing and Hachiko statue before coming here.

So after the Shibuya Crossing and the Hachiko statue, we visited the cat cafe. It was an amazing experience because Shibuya Crossing was extremely intense and energetic, constantly in a frenzy state. And we walked the busy, crowded streets behind Shibuya, filled with clothing shops, and entered a haven at the cat cafe. The cafe is just 8 storeys up the street, but it was a different world, a peaceful world. I felt like I could finally breathe properly.

Before entering the 2-storey cat cafe, you have to sanitize your hands (they provide alcohol rub). You also have to remove your shoes to wear slippers that they also provide; make sure you wear clean socks.

The space is also very, very clean. I expected cat hair everywhere and the stench of cat piss hanging in the air. But no. I think they employ germophobes for their staff; the space is even cleaner than a NASA shuttle.

I also truly appreciate how quiet the Japanese are; they really respect personal space. Many of them came alone, some came as lovers, some came as a group of girlfriends. Some of them were reading, some were just lazing on sofas, and some were looking at the cats. Except for the soothing music, it was quiet and very peaceful.

Sundays are all about having a lie-in for many and I was most looking forward to one last Sunday until I was awoken by my friend Keisuke (a guy who I travelled with in Australia) mailing me to say he was in Tokyo. He had travelled from his home in Osaka through the night and had given me no warning of his arrival!

I met him early morning and he wanted to sample a Maid Cafe (something I wrote about in one of my first ever blog entries) so there we were waiting like losers for this cafe to open at 11am. He was on a tight schedule as he had a concert to attend at 12.30 which was why he was in town for 24 hours. Anyway we had four maids attending to us which sounds far more exciting than it actually was! In reality we paid a ridiculous price for two drinks and a high price for two photos with a very pretty maid before leaving within about 30 minutes!

One unique Japanese invention is the cafe where you can have coffee and hang out with all kinds of critters. If all you know about are the cat cafes, you are way behind the times. There are now rabbit cafes, a reptile cafe in Yokohama, and several cafes in the Tokyo area devoted to birds of prey.

When I went this past fall, it seemed like a shocking omission that this was my third trip to Japan and I'd never been to one of these animal cafes. But where to start? Cat cafes are so old hat that they're not even exclusively Japanese anymore. They're popping up all over Europe, the first one in London is under construction, and now someone's trying to open one in San Francisco. Boooring.

Then I discovered the obvious answer, because it is clearly the weirdest: In Shibuya, only a short walk from the famous statue of loyal dog Hachiko, in the very heart of the city, you can go to a cafe that has two goats.

The goat cafe Sakuraoka is actually not a recent development: the goats arrived at the existing cafe in May 2010. They are two females, a brown one named Chocolat and a white one named Sakura (the obvious idea of naming her Vanilla apparently lost out to the Japanese compulsion to refer to cherry blossoms at every possible opportunity).

When my friend and I arrived mid-morning on a weekday, it turned out that while the cafe is open all day and evening, they only serve food at certain times. The disadvantage of this was that I was starving, but the advantage was clear, because there's only one table that's actually right next to the goats. Since there were few other customers, the table was available, and we grabbed it.

The white goat ran right up to us and stuck her head through the bars and tried to chew on my pants. It turns out this is typical, as Sakura is a known troublemaker. When a staff member came out to clean and give the goats some fresh hay to eat, she tied Sakura to one side of the pen, she told us, because otherwise she'll eat Chocolat's food. I later bought a book about the cafe's goats, in which Sakura's bio calls her "a strong-willed, slightly spoiled princess."

I have to admit I was a little dubious about idea of a goat cafe, and I am definitely not squeamish about animals. I've always thought it was crazy that health laws forbid me from bringing my dogs into restaurants in the US, since my dogs are in my kitchen all the time and it's never made me sick. But coffee next to a barnyard?

Never fear, there is nothing unappetizing about it. The goats are spotless, the pen is cleaned of the dry little droppings regularly, and there's only the slightest hint of the perfume of a farm. And if even that's too much for you, you can pick a table inside and look at the goats through a glass window.

If on the other hand you want to get even more up close and personal with the goats, you can make a reservation to take them for a leash walk around Shibuya. The photos of this activity make it look more like they will take you for a walk, which I guess is not surprising given the combination of "strong-willed" Sakura and Chocolat, whose bio is "Relaxed, likes to go at her own pace."

I can't report on the food, having not had the chance to try any, which was especially sad when I saw all the photos of enticing looking cakes on their Facebook page. I drank a mocha, but was too distracted by the goats to notice much about it.

But I didn't miss the most important food item, the souvenir chocolates. They're chocolate covered rum raisins, presented on a bed of hay, and the cover of the box leaves no doubt about what they are meant to be.

Een ontmoetingsmoment voor gastgezinnen, kandidaat-gastgezinnen, peters&meters en kandidaat-peters, uitlaters en opvanggezinnen met baasjes. Een ideaal moment om kennis te maken met het boeiende werk van onze assistentiehonden. Bevestig jouw komst per mail naar eve...@hachiko.org

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