Day 103 - Cat Cafe, Game Bar and Karaoke!

Hey everyone!

On the 23rd of December Amy and I took the holiday as a chance to visit some places we had been wanting to check out!

Our first stop, the Calico Cat Cafe in Shinjuku!

Now you may have already heard about Japan's cat cafes, but in case you haven't I will give a brief explanation of what it's all about.

Many Tokyoites may want a fuzzy friend of their own but there are numerous reasons why this is often unfeasible. Many apartments do not allow pets and Japan's work ethic often leads people to feel that they are too busy to keep a pet. And the ingenious solution to the problem: Cat Cafes! 

If you feel like you would like to spend some time bonding with a cute little ball of fluff all you have to do is head down to the nearest cat cafe. Customers can enjoy the company of the kitties without the responsibility of owning one.

Matcha Latte

At Cat Cafes there are often a variety of things you can do. As the name suggests there is usually a cafe inside where you can order various drinks and sometimes food to enjoy, just remember to be on the lookout for cheeky cats hankering for free samples! There are also cat cafes that stock books and manga to read amongst the furry friends. Of course there are also cat toys, and in some cases even little costumes that you can use to play with the feisty felines!

Rows of books to read！

Food and drink menu

You could use these cat toys to play with the kitties

When you enter the cafe you are faced with a little reception desk where they explain the rules and then give you a lanyard with an individual number on it - this is used to identify your bill when you leave. Before entering the rooms with the cats you must take off your shoes and put them in a cubby hole in exchange for some slippers. There is also a sink with soap, hand sanitizer and sticky rollers to get the cat hair off your clothes when you are finished. There are lockers further inside for bags and coats. 

Once you are inside you can play with the cats till your hearts content.

Don't forget to take your shoes off and place them in the lockers!

But there was one problem. The cats didn't seem too interested in playing along. Some of them just seemed to be disinterested and others seemed to not want to be stroked all together. However, fear not, there was a solution!...Chicken! You can purchase little pots of chicken to give to the cats. As soon as we had cracked the tub open, our popularity seemed to sky rocket. It may have just been cupboard love but that was good enough for me! 

Just watch out for the slender ginger cat! He was a grabber!

He came straight for the chicken!

A challenger appears!

Big and beautiful!

A Disney fan?

After visiting the cat cafe we went to try out a themed restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't get seated at the Alice in Wonderland themed cafe so we decided to try out the Capcom bar. Capcom is a gaming company so the theme was based around some of their popular games. 

We had to make a reservation and come back later so being the naughty kids that we are, we decided to get some ice-cream at Baskin and Robbins before returning to the bar. With Christmas very rapidly approaching naturally there were lots of Christmas themed ice-cream flavours.

On our way to the Capcom Bar

Ice-cream.... CAKES???

My sneaky ice-cream

The Capcom bar was pretty amazing. The design was really sleek and there were lots of figures and decorations from the games around the room.

Before entering we were given an introduction by one of the waitresses and were then taken to our seats. There were magazines and games consoles by the table so you could actually play some of the games while you were there. There was a rather strict time limit though so unless you don't want to eat much there wasn't too much time to play.

Cute little apron!

The food was perhaps the best part. Leafing through the menu you can see that all the drinks and dishes were themed on Capcom games. They also had an English menu so no worries if you can't speak Japanese. Not only was the food and drink really well designed but some of the dishes were accompanied by skit performances by the very lovely staff.

As you can see we got the Gaijin menu of shame!

Pheonix Wright themed drinks

Monster Hunter themed drinks

Amy and I, both having played Phoenix Wright couldn't help but order the Pheonix Wright themed onion rings which came with a skit! It is thanks to this starter that I learnt the word  異議あり Igi ari (often used in the game) which means objection! As it was cut out into nori as a decoration!

Nori with "異議あり" written on it

Amy also chose a Phoenix Wright themed drink

I couldn't help but order this drink - The ice was shaped like a brain!

It looked really cool when you emptied the contents of the syringe!

Can you see the flame?

Amy's Locomoco

Monster Hunter drink - I really liked the cute stirrer and the vial!

In the mood for dessert?

It looked all the more gruesome with the knife!

Both the drinks and the meals were pretty cool and based on a variety of Capcom games such as Monster Hunter. The pasta I ordered was based on the game Ookami and the butter on top was lit to an impressive blue flame! The drinks were also amazing, they had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Some came with vials or syringes filled with coloured drink made to look like potions or health items.

Amy and I decided to round off the meal with a brain shaped pudding that you cut with a sword-like knife ~ gruesome!

We finished off the day with a round of Karaoke with another friend. It nearing Christmas, we couldn't help but to sing a few Christmas jingles!!

Overall it was a pretty amazing day!

If you ever end up in Japan I definitely recommend visiting a cat cafe! It is a rather unique experience and is worth it even if you have cats of your own!

The Capcom Bar also scores top points. The only downside to it was the time limit but this is not unusual for themed restaurants in Japan as they are just as much an attraction as they are a place to dine. There is an English menu but the skits are all in Japanese so they may be lost on non-Japanese speakers, however I would still say that the experience is worth it even if you don't speak Japanese! If I get the chance I will definitely be visiting here again!

If you are ever interested in taking a look, both the Calico Cat Cafe and the Capcom Bar are located in Shinjuku not too far from one-an-other and can be found easily through a quick web search!

Well that's all for now! Let me know in the comments section if you have any questions or thoughts!