Japan is one of the most unique countries in the word! One of the things that gives you that sense of “only in Japan” are animal cafes. Now there are animal cafes scattered throughout the rest of the world, but Japan’s animal cafes are a little more extreme.
We recently visited Hedgehog Cafe Cheese in Akihabara, Tokyo.
Animals
- Hedgehog ハリネズミ(harinezumi)
- Owl 梟(ふくろう) (fukurou)
- Shiba Inu 柴犬(しばいぬ) (shiba inu)
- Rabbit 兎(うさぎ) (usagi)
How it works
If you’ve ever been to an animal cafe before then the process is about the same as any other. If it’s your first time visiting this kind of establishment, then I’ll explain a bit about how it works at this particular cafe.
- At this cafe, you’ll use a vending machine to pay for tickets, much like the ones used in ramen shops.
- Pay a set price depending on the amount of time you’d like to spend there. (We spent 45 minutes.)
- Decide if you’d like to pay extra for food to feed the animals. (We paid +¥100 (~$1) for small bugs to feed the hedgehogs.)
- The machine will print you a ticket for entry and any additional things purchased. Please hand them to a staff member.
- Read and sign an explanation sheet showing that you understand the rules. (This animal cafe has an English version.)
- Sanitize your hands.
- A staff member will show you to your table.
Once you’re at a table, they’ll bring a few hedgehogs over and you’ll be able to hold and play with them. Gloves are provided if you’d rather not hold them bare handed.
If you’ve paid extra for food a staff member will bring it, along with some tweezers, and you’ll be able to feed them.
The hedgehogs we had were just waking up from a nap and very active. They’ll scurry around the table and in and out of your hands. They’re quite a handful. One of them even crawled into my glove which I had just taken off. Please be careful not to leave the gloves open like that. It was quite difficult to get the hedgehog out of there. Each table has something equivalent to a fish tank that you can set them in if they’re too much to handle.
*if they’ve just been woken up from their nap, watch out! They like to poop!
This cafe is very open and all of the animals are in one big room. You don’t need to pay more to see and/or pet the other animals. It’s included in the hourly base price!
There are two owls perched at their post that you can walk over to anytime. They’re surprisingly very soft and quite cute!
There’s also an adorable Shiba Inu, a breed of hunting dog native to Japan. This cute pup was asleep for most of the time we were there, but woke up just as we were leaving. She was very playful and ran around the room wanting to have a nice little scratch behind the ear from everyone there.
Finally, we have a rabbit. This rabbit was also sleeping the whole time we were there and we passed by just long enough to snap a quick photo on our way out.
Access
This cafe along with many others is located in Akihabara.
Just a 4 minute walk from Suehirocho Station on the Ginza line (orange). Use Exit 3.
Just a 7 minute walk from Akihabara Station on the very easy to use Yamanote line (green). Use the Electric Town North Exit.
Address: 4-4-3 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021 OGISO BLDG
Hours: 11:00-20:00 (11am-8pm) Open everyday
Thinking back now…
This cafe among many others is a great idea for a short break from all the people and craziness going on in the streets of Tokyo. Take a seat and have a bit of respite as you play with hedgehogs and recharge the batteries for the next part of the day. It’s a great place to take kids or a date. It’s definitely an experience worth having on your visit to Japan.
