Cuddling cats and dogs in Asian cafés

Cat in a cat café in Asia


How is it to visit an animal café in Asia? Are the animals well treated, what kind of animal cafés exist, and how does a visit work? I took a look and tested different cafés in South Korea and Japan.

💡 What is an animal café?
Animal cafés are especially famous and popular in Asia. It is basically what the name already tells: a café where you can enjoy some drinks as well as play and interact with different animals. The first café was with cats and was created in Taiwan in the late 1990s. Nowadays exist all kinds of animal cafés with dogs, racoons, hedgehogs, sheep, rabbits, birds, and reptiles. Animal cafés are booming in Asia and already grew far behind the usual pet variation. [Note: Usually, I do not put any opinion in the info box but this time I feel I have to make an exception: I want to underline that in my opinion wild animals shouldn’t be part of human amusement and being used as ‘pets’ in cafés.]
The idea behind the animal cafés is to give people the chance to spend some time with animals without actually having pets at home. Especially in bigger (Asian) cities, flats are often small and the living expenses are rather high. Plus Animal cafés basically only reveal the good sides of having a pet – spending time with it when you are in the mood, cuddling and playing with them, without actually being in charge.

Animal cafés are rather famous in Asia even though I know that the first cat and dog cafés did also open up in my home country Germany. I liked the idea of spending time with animals which is why I decided to visit some of the cafés in South Korea and Japan.
My visits were a few years ago and I think some things changed since then – me as well. This is also why it was important to me to write a conclusion at the end of the post and to reflect on the visits in the cafés.

8,000 residents per square kilometre

I can understand that animal cafés are especially famous in the capitals since both cities Tokyo and Seoul are on the top ten list of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world. Tokyo is with almost 40 million residents even the sole lead, Seoul is the 6th place with around 22 million. Eight countries on the top ten list are in Asia. The living expenses are quite high, the housing market overflowed, and therefore the flats are getting smaller. In Tokyo are living approx. 4,700 people per square kilometre. In Seoul, it is even more than 8,000. Either way, in most cases there is no space for nor money for extra pets.

Before entering the café…

Some cafés have an entrance fee, sometimes with a drink included or if the entrance is free the cost of the drinks is usually higher. Sometimes they also have some donation boxes where you could leave some small change for the food or the general costs of the animals.
In every café I visited, I got a quick introduction on how to treat the animals and the most important house rules. I always had to use disinfectant first to make sure my hands are clean before touching and cuddling with the animals (and this was before Corona). Some cafés had even certificates on their walls which showed a photo of every animal along with its name, and proof of vaccination.

Cat in a cat café in Asia
Cat Café

I visited two different kinds of cat cafés. The first one looked more like an actual café with normal chairs, and tables but of course also cat toys.
The second one was a really bright room with two floors as a duplex. They were connected with each other by a few ladders. All furniture, as well as the duplex itself and the ladders, were made out of wood. The room was inviting with low tables to sit on the ground. Therefore the basic lay-out could be also used by the cats. But of course, they also had their own equipment and furniture for climbing, playing, or sleeping.

I do not remember the exact amount of cats in the cafés but I would guess both times probably around eight. The atmosphere was rather calm and cosy. Both cafés had another wooden way for the cats above the heads of the guests which was not reachable by them. I think this is important for the animals because it gives them the chance to withdraw themselves.

In both cafés, the cats were allowed to move freely in the room. Some were curious and came to us and even sit on our lap to cuddle a bit. We enjoyed our time petting the animals and took really nice memories from the cafés.

  

Dog Café

Next, we visited a Puppy Café. We were first a bit confused by the name and actually really relieved to learn that the dogs were actually not really puppies but just smaller to medium-sized dogs. Because in the beginning, we were a bit afraid that it could be a café which gets new puppies every year and gets rid of them when they get too old (but as I said it is not). The system was a bit different from the cat café, here we had to pay an entrance fee, therefore, the drinks were cheaper in general.

The café did not really look like a café but more like an open, bright studio with only a few tables and a lot of free space. In the right corner were two flights of stairs, some carpets and small dog houses. The kitchen was somewhere in the corner left and not really open to the area which makes sense because of the animals. The feeling was more about getting comfy we got some slippers during our stay in the animal café.

With a dog in a dog café in Asia

The dogs were really open and curious. Most of them came to us when we entered the café to sniff and check us out. When we were sitting down we actually had to pay some attention to our drinks (they were in closed containers) because it did not take long until the first dog was sitting on top of our table. The atmosphere in the dog café was way more exciting and loud contrary to the cat café. We switched our seats to the stairs where the first dogs were sitting on our laps to cuddle and play with us. Other dogs were even more active and one tried to nibble my camera (as you can see in the video).

❗️ my conclusions
Like I wrote in my introduction, I like the idea of the concept of the animal cafés but obviously, the well-being of the animals should be the top priority. I have to admit that I never had any pets since my sister was super allergic to all kinds of animal hair when we were kids. Therefore I am really not an expert depending on the keeping of animals.
I think the types of animal cafés went way too far. Wild animals should not be part of human amusement either in cafés or somewhere else. With pets like cats and dogs, I feel a bit differently. I think the most important is obviously that the animals are held in a good as well as accurate health way and that the café is animal friendly. This means the animals have always water and have their toys and rooms or extra places to which they can escape when they feel uncomfortable, stressed, or just sleepy. The owners have to pay attention that the animals are well treated by the guests. I think it is also important that the animals can move freely and are not forced to interact with the customers. I love the idea of adopting animals from animal shelters or just from the street and giving them a new home and some love from animal friends. I can actually say that in all cases the owners actually seemed very caring for the animals.

You have read the blog post Cuddling cats and dogs in Asian cafés on My Travel Journal-Blog.

Between mangas and sex-shops in Akihabara

Akihabara probably sums up what people imagine when they talk about modern and crazy Japanese pop culture. If I think back I remember dolls, toys, cosplay, lots of vending machines, sex-shops, video games, maid cafés, electronic goods, anime and of course mangas. This time I will bring you with me and show you this very unique neighbourhood in Tokyo.

💡 Information about Akihabara
Akihabara (秋葉原) is a famous area around the same-named station of Japan’s capital Tokyo. It is known for its major shopping centres full of electronic goods but also video games, mangas, and animes. Therefore, it is the perfect place for Otaku – which is Japanese and describes people who love consuming anime and mangas. After World War II Akihabara gained the nickname Electric Town.

When I first arrived in Akihabara I was both totally overwhelmed and fascinated. This colourful, glowing, crazy, and flashing district in the middle of Tokyo with skyscrapers wrapped in advertisements. Akihabara (and Shibuya with the stuffed streets – but this is another topic) describes exactly how I expected modern Japan to be.

Vending machines full of food, figures, and toys

In Akihabara, shops exist only filled with different types of vending machines. There are rows over rows with machines. Some are for food, and drinks – basically everything you can imagine. From soft drinks over juice boxes, and canned coffee to cake in boxes, sweets, canned food (apparently even hot soup) and Japanese snacks (we even found some insects for grazing right away). Vending machines without food usually include all kind of (soft) toys, key chains, sweets, stickers and figures to collect. They also have these typical claw cranes where you have to grab a (soft) toy with a gripper. Another type of automats is Gashapon (ガシャポン), themed vending machines filled with capsules that have surprise toys inside. These actually remind me of my childhood memories and gumball machines.

Over 18 only

Some shops just had display cases filled with all kind of figures and dolls you can buy. Clearly, not all of the figures were made to play with (depending on the people inside the store I would say even less – some are just for collecting and surprisingly expensive). In the corners in the back of the stores were sections for “over 18 only” hidden in curtains. These areas are guarded to make sure that minors do not enter them. There were lightly dressed or naked female figures in sexual poses with partial utopic body parts. The shop keepers were smart and covered the genital area with the price labels. But I am seriously asking myself what kind of image these sexist figures mirror and how it affects the society.

Akihabara at night
Pachinko – the amusement halls of Japan

There were also amusement halls called Pachinko (パチンコ) filled with gaming consoles most of them anime-themed, arcade games (these games were especially popular in the USA in the 1970/80ties, it is a gaming machine with a joystick and two to three buttons) and gambling devices. The rooms are filled with flashing screens that are lined up in a row. It was so loud because of the sounds, and music from the games that we had to scream at each other. I really can not imagine staying in these kinds of amusements halls for a few hours. Since gambling for cash is illegal in Japan the gamers actually play to win non-cash prizes.

Manga stores and the 18+ section with Ecchi and Hentai

We also went to some of the shopping centres which were filled with a lot of different themed stores. Again plenty of vending machines, but also a lot of shops for all kinds of technical and electrical devices, animes, Cosplay articles – and of course mangas.

We visited two huge floors just filled with thousands of mangas. We browsed through the shelves – and even I recognised some mangas from animes which also aired in Germany. Similar to the shops with display cases they also had an adult 18+ section. My friend and I wanted to take a look inside. We were the only women in the section – no wonder, the magazines were clearly made for men. These kinds of mangas are called Ecchi or Hentai – Ecchi is the softer version that plays with sexual innuendos but has actually backstories and characters. While Hentai is basically porn as a comic version. Some of the magazines allowed a sneak peek inside. I was surprised that some of the mangas actually hid the genital parts with the help of bars – basically censored porn. Most magazines were welded in plastic but I guess the covers already revealed enough about the inside.

Create your own doll

Another two floors were filled with dolls of all sizes, made of different materials as plastic or with porcelain-faces, Barbie-like, in Manga-style, or just plain dolls you could basically build by yourself. – As far as I could see, all of them were female. Mostly with typical doll eyes, long hair, in short skirts – innocent and cute looking. I am not sure who is actually the main customer target here similar to the figures I guess most of them were not made for children to play with. And of course, every doll also had tons of accessories, clothes, hair colours, furniture, and other equipment. There were also doll sets where you could pick all kind of body parts from the eye colour and hair until the size of the breast. At least this time there was also a male version.

Sex-stores and forbidden floors

With a visit to an “adult amusement park”, we ended up in a sex shop – or more accurate a sex department store. These stores were huge – the one we were in had five floors, two for women, three for men. Hence the variety is big. But I would say mostly similar to the sex shops I know from Germany. Though there were actually three floors which were for men only – and two of them were not allowed for women to enter. They even guarded the elevator to prohibit women from sneaking in. Since we were only a group of women in Tokyo we never figured out what they sold in these storeys. Of course, we started guessing a lot because all of us thought it is super weird that we were actually not allowed to enter that particular part of the store.

Maid Cafés
A flyer from my travel journal

Maid Cafés are a big deal in Japan – and as I heard were invented in Akihabara. The staff in the themed cafés wears Cosplay costumes and serve cute or special looking food – for example, shaped like animals. The most common ones are the maid cafés where the waitresses dressed as elegant French maids. The male equivalent is butler cafés but I think they are less frequent.

I saw a lot of girls dressed up like maids on the streets of Akihabara who tried to attract the people around with flyers and their costumes to visit the cafés. The competition is high and most of the entrances hidden on one of the higher floors of the many skyscrapers.

🚌 How to reach Akihabara
If you want to visit the area of Akihabara you can take the metro to stop H16 of the Hibiya Line. Another opportunity is the JR-Line. You can choose between the Yamanote-Line, Keihin-Tohoku-Line or Sobu-Line. The station is called Akihabara. When you reach the station follow the exit signs in the direction “Electric Town Gate”.
❗️ One last comment
I wrote this blog post mainly because I got to know Akihabara as a very lively, exciting and for me also unusual district of the metropolis of Tokyo. Originally, I did not want to include the sexual representation of women – primarily because I only “know” roughly about the role of sexuality and the image of women in Japan, secondly because I was only a few days in Tokyo. But to ignore the whole topic was also difficult because it is very present in Akihabara. I can only speak for myself when I say that I did not feel personally attacked by the figures, dolls, and mangas – even if they are certainly controversial – because at this point I could completely distance myself from the way they were portrayed. Since I am Western European and do not want to judge Japan or its people, and culture – especially since I am simply not qualified for this and also watching two documentaries and reading three professional articles won’t change much – I decided not to go any deeper into the representation of women (especially with a sexual context). The blog post is completely subjective and reflects my own feelings at the moment of my visit.
However, if you are Japanese or feel approached in any other way please use the commentary section to leave a message or write to me privately.

You have read the blog post Between mangas and sex-shops in Akihabara on My Travel Journal-Blog.