I love cats. I love their fluffy fur and their big, shiny eyes. I love their tiny meows and affectionate nature. I also have one of my own, a white blue-eyed cutie cat. So basically, yes, I’m a proud cat lady. When I first found out about the cat cafes all over Japan, I made a promise to myself to visit one someday and revel in all the cat goodness. And on this trip to Osaka, I got to fulfull that promise to myself. 🙂
I went to the cat cafe on 5 September 2015. The Neko no Jikan cat cafe was in Amerika-mura, the go-to place for the youth culture of Osaka. To get there, I rode the subway from Dobutsuen-mae to Shinsaibashi station.
The pretty, tree-lined streets of Shinsaibashi!
To be honest, I got lost looking for the cat cafe. 😛 I looked up the location of the cat cafe on Google Maps but it doesn’t seem to be reliable. That, or I’m just bad at looking at maps. I’d been walking around for two hours and I had to ask at least 6 locals using my kind of passable Japanese. They all didn’t know where the cat cafe was, and I was surprised since I thought it would be quite popular. It was starting to feel like a fruitless effort, until I asked this one lady.
She was heaven-sent! She didn’t know where the cat cafe was, but she looked it up on her phone, and then she asked me in Japanese if I’d like to go there together, and of course I said yes!
More Shinsaibashi! I don’t have any photos of the lovely woman who accompanied me (because I thought it might be too much of a trouble to ask for a photo after she’d already done so much to help me out), or the area near the cat cafe, because I was trying my best to keep up with the Japanese lady. She walked really fast!
I feel so touched by the kindness of the Japanese. They really go out of their way to help you out. If you ask them for directions, they’ll tell you in detail, even if English isn’t their strong suit they try their best. If they don’t know where it is, they look it up in their phones and tell you. Sometimes they would even accompany you to where you want to go, and someone I met at the airport even told me that when he asked a couple students where the church was, they accompanied him and even rode the bus all the way to the church just to help him get there! Seriously!! If you find yourself in Japan, expect to receive their kindness throughout your trip.
After thanking the Japanese lady profusely, I headed up to the cat cafe. It was on the second floor, but you can see this sign so you know you’re there.
They had these cat-shaped lights and they also have a speaker somewhere which was playing the sound of cat meows! It got me even more excited to see the cats.
You have to wash your hands and take off your shoes before entering the cat cafe. It was likely to ensure the cats wouldn’t be getting outdoor dirt. After I had done so, finally, I was greeted with the sight of cats all over the room!
I’ve always wanted to get up close to a black cat!
Cats, cats everywhere! And I loved it!
Before you get to have fun with the cats though, you have to put your bags and whatever else you’re carrying inside a plastic drawer, so they won’t get any cat fur on them. You’re also given a bracelet to wear, which you have to return when you order your drink (I had ordered an iced cafe au lait, just in case you were curious).
Where you order your drink in the cafe
This guy was the biggest one there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat so big! He was at least twice the size of my cat.
Cute, fluffy flat-nosed kitty! It was my first time actually seeing a flat-nosed kitty in person. They’re so cute, they look like their scrunching up their noses!
I didn’t count how many cats there were exactly, but there were probably around 10 or more cats when I visited. Their fur was so soft and wonderful to pet! My cat would be ashamed with his fur if he met these guys 😛 I got fur all over my clothes but I didn’t mind. 😉
When you visit, take note that picking up the cats is not allowed. I think they just wanted to make sure the cats wouldn’t get hurt by the visitors picking them up. I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed about not being able to pick them up, because I so wanted to get them close to me and just hug them all! But since I couldn’t, petting them was fine too. 🙂
This little guy seemed a bit scared and protective when I first approached her. But after petting her for a while…
…she let loose and moved into a more relaxed position. She probably realised that I was an expert at this petting business 😉
A black cat! His fur is so shiny and dark, and he looks so mysterious!
Aww, look at his shiny eyes with an adorable almost pleading look!
This guy was my favorite amongst the cats. He was so chill, and even if the other cats would walk away from me after a few minutes of petting, this guy would just stay there and let me pet him for as long as I wanted. He’s not the cutest amongst the bunch, but his fur was really cool and wavy, and you could feel the waves of his fur as you pet him.
Wavy fur and sweet dreams!
While I was in the cat cafe, there was a father and daughter who came into the cafe. The little girl was really into playing with the cats, she took out one of the cat toys that you could choose from in the cafe (you do, however, have to pay a small additional fee if you want to borrow the cat toys and buy food for the cats), which brought out this reaction from the cats:
The wide-eyed stare of the cat at the bottom is adorable!
The wall of cat toys!
After playing with the cats for a while, the little girl also bought food for the cats and started to feed them. They all surrounded the girl and started meowing and trying to get near her for the food, which was also adorable.
Look how big that one cat is! He’s nearly the size of the little girl!
After the girl finished feeding the cats, they went back to their calm state, and resumed their positions laying back and chilling all over the room.
There was a bit of a cat fight that started while I was there, over who gets the prestigious spot inside the box. (I don’t know why cats like boxes so much. Weird little things, aren’t they?)
Victory!
I love how this cat’s tail looks like, and how he’s looking at me behind him like, ‘What you lookin’ at?’
After an hour of enjoying the cats’ company, the girl who worked at the cat cafe called my name and said that my one hour was up. It felt like the time I spent with the cats was short, but I enjoyed every second of it anyway. I was glad to have made friends with the locals (local cats that is 😉 )
The Neko no Jikan cat cafe is open from 11:00 until 19:00 on Mondays, 11:00 to 21:00 during Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 10:00 to 19:00 on Sundays. The fee for the cat cafe is ¥1,100 on the weekdays, and ¥1,200 on the weekends. This fee gives you one hour of fun-time with the cats, plus a drink of your choice.
Jen is Going Where? 