Saturday, February 20, 2010

Cha ma mo cat room (meow!)

I found another neko cafe- and it's closer to both home and school, just south of the Omotesando intersection in the Harajuku/Jingumae area. Dylan and I stopped by the other day, opting for the "set menu" (1000 yen buys an hour of playtime with the kitties, plus a drink -- coffee, tea, oj, ginger ale...). The lady who runs the place asked us to wash our hands before entering (there's a sink outside the door) and then told us not to pick any of the cats up before taking our drink order.

When we arrived the 8-10 cats were sleeping, curled up in baskets, on futon couches, in cardboard boxes. It was like they had all been drugged. Maybe that's how these places work, by sedating these notoriously unpredictable, fickle creatures (hey, I owned a couple cats, had 'em for years, and I can tell you that even the sweet-natured ones, the ones that don't seem to have any issues with anyone, are capable of flipping out at any time). But several of them did eventually rise and perform, giving chase as Dylan dangled toys tied to the end of a string, and shined a penlight on the floor (I felt like they were humoring him, really -- all in a day's work).

One tabby perched himself on the top of one of those scratching posts to lick his paws and pose.
He didn't mind Dylan petting him.

The lady in charge really made an effort to make things interesting for us. She put a gizmo called Cat in a Bag onto the floor where it rolled around, twitching the fake tail that was sticking out of the top, as if a real cat was trapped inside. Dylan loved it.

JaLaLa is cozier, but not nearly as convenient. This may be my new place to kill time before pickup. Especially since they keep a lint roller by the cash register, so you can remove the cat hair from your clothes before you head back out into the world.
The place is on the 5th floor of a small building not far from UT (Uniqlo's big T-shirt store) on Meiji-dori. You leave your shoes outside the door, of course, and grab a pair of slippers from the basket on the floor.
Ciao for now, Cha ma mo!

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