Cat Cafe Nyanny, Akihabara, Tokyo

This was possibly the best 1000 Yen I spent in Akihabara. After hours of exploring the loud and flashing “Electric City” neighborhood, I really really needed to:

Relax in a quiet place
Have a cold drink
Surround myself with purring kitties.

One of the many awesome things about Tokyo is that this list is pretty easy to fulfill. Cat cafes are so popular Japan that you are usually never far from some kitty therapy.

Up a narrow stairwell on a side street, Cat Cafe Nyanny has two floors with various rooms for the resident cats to hang out. It seems like a converted apartment rather than a commercial cafe, but that actually made the space feel more mellow. Plus, everyone was wearing slippers. Relaxation level up!

There were a million (approx) types of cat toys all around the cafe for guests to dangle and jingle and throw around to entertain the cats, and for those who don’t feel like putting on a show there are lots of magazines and manga available to read. But who could concentrate on reading when a cute little butterscotch tabby sits down next to you and chirps for attention?

I’m always apprehensive about being a customer at a place where animals are involved. No one wants to support negative exploitation of living creatures. Fortunately I had a very positive impression of this cafe. The cats all seemed very healthy and happy, and they were definitely not shy.

I also appreciated the fact that there were several little “cat escape” doors that lead into non public rooms- basically the cats could leave anytime they wanted to get away from us annoying humans. I suspect my cat at home would appreciate a door like that – he seems constantly exasperated by me! Luckily I managed to not annoy any of the cats at Cafe Nyanny…In fact, as I left I’m pretty sure one told me to “please come back soon” Meow meow!