Lunch Break: Japan’s Cat Cafes

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | June 29, 2010 | +

They are real.

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nflfoghorn

My three overweight ones would love this.
deconstructiva

Paging jcapan: been there, done that, or know someone who has?
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At the cat shelter where I volunteer, many people do precisely the same thing the human customers do in the Japanese cafe: lounge around and play with cats, not necessarily to adopt. Alas, that place is a typical cold, concrete block shelter with more cages than open areas. I know some cats (if not most) hate the cages (it’s obvious in behavior when they’re out of them).
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No sense of retail among the shelter staff either: the cafe shown here is an infinitely better environment for inducing ~~cats to adopt humans~~ humans to adopt cats. Last week a staffer brought leftover sushi pieces to feed the cats. A good day for all.
grape_crush

Well, I guess that’s one way to deal with the Crazy Cat Lady issue; rental kitties.
deconstructiva

“500 meows” –
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Cat 1: Okay, which hot chick do you want today?
Cat 2: I’ll go for the one NOT wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt.
Cat 1: Yeah, I hate that little b!tch of a cartoon creature, makes us look bad.
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Cat 3: Dry food again!?
Cat 4: Yeah, where’s the sushi today?
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Cat 5: Is that one of those really hot swampwomen?
Cat 6: What’s her name? Oh yeah, Newton-Something or like that.
Cat 7: Oh, that’s not her, sigh. Jay’s Australian, I think. Maybe that’s Pickert.
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Cat 8: Can you believe Norah O’Donnell ate spaghetti with a spoon last night?
Cat 9: Wow, so gauche. Such a rube. You’re supposed to gobble it right out of the bowl, and then lick up all the sauce.
deconstructiva

This is a great concept, the cat cafe. Alas, when leaders of Big Business™, especially the politically motivated ones, buy out the cafes and roll them out all over the world, this is the end result at the new HQ (I’m rooting for the cat, not for Blofeld):
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Michael, is there any tie-in between the cat cafe and your Russian spy ring?
certifiablylazy

After reading day in and day out about the hypocritical, capitulating, no backbone Senate/House members, the last thing I want to read here is about more pu$$ies
deconstructiva

more “500 meows” –
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Cat 10: I used to run SPECTRE and came within a whisker of taking over the world. My manservant Blofeld obeyed my every command without question. Now I’m sitting on my ass all day in a cafe while desperate Japanese housewives pet me…. sigh
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Cat 11: Cat food’s ok, sushi is really nice, but I hope this neighborhood legalizes pot.
Cat 12: Yeah, I hear that stuff is even better than catnip.
deconstructiva

more “500 meows” –
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Cat 10: Never trust those f’ing oil rigs. My last really cool SPECTRE plot blew up in flames on an oil platform, literally… …just like BP. Figures.
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(I always liked the guy doing the countdown)
formerlyjames

They don’t eat cats in Japan??
http://jcapan.wordpress.com jcapan

Nice!
http://jcapan.wordpress.com jcapan

No, though if I were single it’d be a great place to hang out given all that [euphemism] laying about.
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Seriously, last week I took my daughter to a petstore to gauge her reaction to kittens/puppies. Unimpressed still at this pt. She was looking at them and then at me for either a) confirmation that they were living creatures or b) to judge the superior species–daddy or kitty.
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I would love to get her/us a cat at some pt. but it can be very costly here. Even at our version of Walmart, they deal in pure-bred animals–even slightly older kittens run a grand minimum. Shelters aren’t as ubiquitous as in the U.S. But a friend adopted via this Brit-owned one also here in Kansai (the greater Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area):
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http://drupal.animalrefugekansai.org/?q=en/
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Runs about 150$, shots and all. Waiting until tyke is a bit older.
deconstructiva

Good luck with cat search later, jc. Shelters offer good deals. Purebreeds show up too now and then. Last week a gorgeous Siamese dropped by our shelter and found a new home in two days.
rosseau

Based on the title of his memoir, Trent Lott would not like this place, or like it very much.
abdullah69

Sounds like a great place to find pussy.
apr2563

abdullah69: I am disappointed in your comment. However, speaking as a woman, I now know where to go to find dick.
abdullah69

Then your lifelong search is over.
gridsleep

That’s just wonderful. It makes me happy that someone has the imagination to overcome an unhappy restriction and provide a welcome environment for people who must do without. More power to them. I hope they open branches in every city in Nippon, and provide homes full of love for homeless cats everywhere. We need places like this in the US, instead of sorrowful “shelters” where unwanted animals end their days.