Animal Cafes in Harajaku

We woke in Century Southern Towers in Shinjuku this morning for our final day in Japan. Still some excitement ahead before our evening overnight flight at 7.20pm from Narita direct home to Melbourne. We finished our packing, checked out, stored out bags and boarded the JR Line just two stops to Harajaku to spend some time at some 'animal' cafes. These places are not so much places to eat, but more places to pet animals. It started with Cats.. but now there's so much more.

After a coffee and some weird cookies for breakfast, we arrived at the Musashino Owl Cafe just a short walk from the station. For a cost of around 2500 Yen ($30AU) per person, you could handle, pet and hand feed eight different owls, big and pocket sized. This was a mixed experience. Firstly, it was amazing to get up so close and interact with these stunning birds. They seemed relatively relaxed and calm for the most part. I did have my concerns about them being essentially kept tethered to a small space.. and a few spent a lot of time sitting almost wistfully looking through the window at the parkland across the road. I'm no expert, but they did appear to be healthy, well looked after and not stressed, alas many animals are kept as pets against their will and many in much worse conditions. It was a pleasure to get so close to them, and they clearly appeared to enjoy a head scratch or cheek rub. They also seemed well bonded to at least one other owl for companionship.

Next, just a five minute walk away to Harry Hedgehog Cafe! A little cheaper and less to be worried about regarding the happiness of the animals. These tiny little guys seemed contented, with plenty of privacy, food, water, and two or three friends to cuddle up and sleep next to. They were tricky to pick up, especially when in a ball, having to get your fingers around their spikes and find their bellies. They'd either refuse to sit still or just happily fall asleep in your hands. We had a small bowl of meal-worms to feed them, which raised their excitement levels! I've never seen an animal go from extremely excited and energetic to a deep sleep within 5 seconds.

From here, we spent another hour or so wandering around Harajaku, heading to the Design Festa Gallery to pick up a small art piece. We then explored the popular Takeshita Street, and made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags from storage. We had about a 30 minute JR train ride from Shikoku to Ueno, and then 30-40 minute Keisei Skyliner Train ride to get us to Narita Airport.Baca selengkapnya