After a few busy days of sightseeing so far in Japan, we decided to start our time in Tokyo with a more relaxed pace.
I love a nice cup of tea and Rich loves cats, so we headed to the Cat Cafe Calico in the Kabuki-cho district of Shinjuku to experience both at the same time!
Cat cafe culture is becoming quite popular in Japan, for both the Japanese and tourists alike. With many apartment buildings in Japan not allowing pets, entrepreneurs started to create cat cafe’s where people could spend time together in the presence of an abundance of cats. These places really are a cat lovers dream!
“So where do I order a cup of tea from?”
The Cat Cafe Calico wasn’t the easiest place to find, with only one sign on the side of a doorway leading up into a six storey building. With a bit of perseverance and Rich’s eagle eye, we eventually found it and headed up to the reception on the sixth floor.
In the reception area we paid one thousand yen (around five pounds fifty) each as a cover charge for being in the cafe for one hour.
We read the the rules (thankfully written in English) which included things like you must wash your hands before entering, you must put all shoes, bags and coats in the lockers provided before entering and that you are allowed to pet the cats but not pick them up.
We abided by the rules, removed our shoes, packed everything we had with us into a locker, washed our hands, put on the slippers they provided and headed through to the cat cafe.
We were faced with a room filled with people, cats (definitely more cats than people), cat toys, cat climbing frames and other cat related things. There were cats on the floor, on chairs, on climbing frames, on shelves on the walls and sitting on people’s laps. There were cats everywhere!
At this point I’m sure Rich and I had completely different thoughts. Rich’s first impression being “wow, look at all the cute cats” and mine being “so where do I order a cup of tea from?”
“I was thoroughly entertained by Rich and the cats!”
We found ourselves a seat at the side of the cafe and a lovely chap came over with a food and drink menu for us to choose from. I know I was there to experience the cat cafe but I was mostly there for a relaxing cup of tea and so ordered myself a lovely cup of English Breakfast tea and one for Rich as well. Rich ordered a tub of cat treats too.
It only took a minute or two before Rich was off his seat and on the floor petting the cats that walked around him. Like a kid a Christmas Rich was in his element and I truly saw how happy my husband is around cats. I have heard many stories of his cat called Tabby from his childhood, so I knew he had an affection for cats. Little did I realise how much affection he had for them until now!
Rich played with the cats around him, fed them cat treats and was thoroughly entertained by the cats the entire time we were there. I was thoroughly entertained by Rich and the cats! I got into the spirit of things eventually and petted a couple of cats myself too.
I have no knowledge of different cat breeds, so my only way of describing them are that some were skinny, some were fluffy, some had beautiful blue eyes and others had scary orange ones.
Some were mischievous and wanted to play, some wanted affection and others wanted to be left in peace. Many of them wanted the cat treats that Rich had purchased and this made him a very popular human in the cat cafe!
There were certainly some cats that I liked the look of more than others but the most novel one I saw was the sausage cat. With legs only a couple of inches in length and a long body I’d never seen such a cat in my life!
After an hour of playing with the cats and fulfilled by my cup of tea I was happy to leave the cat cafe, Rich on the other hand could have spent all day there!
We walked the streets of the Kabuki-cho district of Shinjuku, taking in the sights that are so recognisably Japanese, thin streets lined with tall buildings and smothered in advertising boards. The taxi’s in Japan are black, with automatically opening doors and a style that is distinctly not modern!
Weary from the sightseeing and hectic pace of our travels in Japan, Rich and I headed back to our hostel for a relaxed afternoon sampling a few beverages and treats from the local store.
As night fell we ventured out to a restaurant to experience Japanese cuisine that didn’t come out of a wrapper or only required hot water to be added.
After exploring a few places we eventually found one which had a menu with pictures (very important when there’s not much written in English on the menu). Rich enjoyed a fully cooked chicken dish whilst I plumped for fish sashimi.
With our shoes removed (you remove your shoes everywhere when indoors in Japan), we sat at our sunken table in the floor surrounded by panels covered with Japanese art.
We drank lovely wine, ate delicious food and had a wonderful evening talking about our adventure thus far in Japan.
Lambs on the loose 