Fun Places to Chill with Animals
Animal lover in Tokyo but can't own a pet? Here's something...
As with many people around the world, Japanese people also love animals and love to own pets. However with limited space and most people living in apartments or small houses, sometimes owning a pet is not allowed or is not an option for those animal lovers.
One source of animal happiness people look to are the popular "Animal cafes" around Tokyo. The cafes are usually a wide space in a building or even an apartment where the staff take care of a number of animals for peoples viewing and petting pleasure. I've been to two in particular, one cat cafe and one rabbit cafe, which I will share here.
Cat cafes are quite popular in Tokyo and you can probably find them easily if you look around in popular hotspots. The one I went to was called Nekorobi in Ikebukuro very close to Sunshine City. Here you pay a small entry fee for an hour and basically relax in a living room full of cats either laying around, running around, doing cat things. It is a cafe so they do have drinks and refreshments while you enjoy your cat filled setting. When you're not having coffee you can pet or play with the cats with the toys provided in the cafe. If time flies fast you can extend your time by 30 minutes to an hour.
Not a cat person? How about Rabbits?
Another such cafe is RAAGF, the rabbit cafe in Harajuku. This place is in a pretty small apartment but they take care of a good number of cute bunnies. They are more cafe like with a drink menu and other things, one attractive specialty is ordering a cup of veggies that you can feed directly to the rabbits. Although small, Raagf has a comfortable atmosphere. Because of limited space the rabbits are kept in their cages and let out in rotation. You can also ask for certain rabbits to be let out when you want to play with them. Very fun place for people who like rabbits.
There are also many different other animal cafes, ones I've heard of include owl cafes, falcon cafes, penguin cafes, and etc. I have yet to visit these animal cafes but I shall be back with another post once I do.
Thanks for reading!
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Alex Kobayashi /Subtokyo
United States
