Geek It! Otaku Out and About: Hanging out at Nekobukuro Cat’s House

Not many people can afford to have 2-3 pets, let alone one pet. Thankfully, there are things like petting zoos and animal cafes that exist in our lives. And during our recent Japan trip, we decided to embark on our top mission — to visit a cat petting store.

Although it is not an actual cat cafe like the ones you hear about, Nekobukuro Cat’s House is the oldest petting zoo in town. Located in the Ikebukuro Tokyu Hands store, it draws tourists and local residents with its accessibility and diverse cats.

As you enter the store, you will see a train carriage filled with sleeping cats. You then proceed to explore other rooms which consists of overhead walkways; toys mounted on walls; and wooden chairs for visitors.

We absolutely love the creativity behind the store’s design. It is bright and eccentric, and it is evident that these lucky cats have all the toys in the world. 

Just imagine — fifteen cats or so running around at the same time. From American Shorthair to Munchkin types, you will see these cats either curled up in baskets or trotting around like kings and queens. But unsurprisingly, they spend a lot of their time lazying around and napping without a care in the world.

While it was fun meeting different breeds and petting attention-seeking cats, the excitement dies when the cats eventually get bored. All we could do was take a seat and stare at them until we were fully satisfied. And finally, it was time to go home.

At the end of the day, if we were to choose between a cat petting zoo vs a dog petting zoo, we probably prefer dogs more (check out our Shiba cafe article). Even so, it was good to visit these cats and give them some special attention. Hopefully, we can visit an actual cat cafe during our next trip! 

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