We first heard about this cat cafe from Simon and Martina, a YouTubing couple who live in Japan and chronicle their adventures for the enjoyment of the rest of us. It looked like a magical place with adorable cats, so we decided to check it out! Michelle LOVES cats. She was BEYOND excited to go to her first cat cafe.

Above a Lindt chocolate shop, up three flights of stairs, is the door to Temari No Ouchi. We went in, rang the bell at the front desk and got ourselves checked in. Then, we took off our shoes and left them on the designated shelves, washed our hands, and went in to the cafe proper. One of the cafe attendants directed us to our table. The large room has a very whimsical, woodsy feeling. Our table was against the wall with a long booth seat providing seating for one side of about four or five tables along that wall. The seat on the other side was a faux tree stump. Both the tree stump seating and the long booth had holes built-in for the kitties to sleep or hide inside. There were three or four tables against the opposite wall, and on the other side of the room were about ten tables where you would sit on the ground.

There were about ten other visitors to the cafe, and we would say there were at least ten to fifteen cats spread out through the big room. A few were on high windowsills, napping. Some were underneath tables or hidden in enclosed cat beds. Near one end of the room were a series of floating shelves on the wall, where quite a few kitties lounged near the cafe attendants. There was a special private room near the floating shelves; a few guests were in there (does it cost extra to be in there? We don’t know!) and at one time we believe there were four or five cats sleeping in there with them! Michelle was very jealous of that room. Some were on their table, and others were napping right next to them. It seemed like a prime spot to be.

One of the neatest things about this cat cafe is the variety of cat breeds they have. There are at least one of each: Scottish Fold, Norwegian Forest Cat, Munchkin, American Shorthair, Bombay, Russian Blue, American Curl, Bengal, Exotic Shorthair, Persian Chinchilla, Exotic Longhair, Chartreux, Ragdoll, Ragamuffin, Maine Coon, Egyptian Mau, and Tonkinese. These cats are gorgeous! It was really fun just to see them all.

We have to say, the cats interacted with each other far more than they interacted with any of the human visitors. While we were there, they had zero interest in being petted or played with, which was a little disappointing. Michelle did pet a few, but they seemed to just barely tolerate the attention instead of enjoying it. Since we came later in the evening, we wonder if these cats are just “peopled out,” if they’re tired of getting all this attention from strangers every day. Or, if they were just all not in the mood to interact at that specific time of day. We think it might be the first reason, though, because, unlike at some other cat cafes, these cats are not up for adoption. They stay at this cat cafe, and they’ve been exposed to strangers like this for quite a while. Maybe they’re just over it! Or, maybe Michelle just had unrealistic expectations of how much these cats would want strangers to interact with them. Who knows?

At any rate, it was still so fun to see the antics of all the sweet kitties. There were a few chasing each other around the entire room. A black Exotic Longhair cat named Shimeji wandered on top of another guest’s table for a while, interested in their food, which was protected by a mesh umbrella type covering. The cafe attendants brought out a few Munchkin cats only to have them scurry back to the back room on their little tiny legs. A cat decided to jump on top of another cat who had been resting peacefully on top of one of the floating shelves, then kneaded that cat’s stomach relentlessly for a few minutes.

It was so relaxing just to sit and enjoy the company of the cats in a beautiful, whimsical space. You can also order food and drinks at the cat cafe (though we did not try anything). When we go back to Tokyo, we might give it another try!

Google Maps Link: Temari No Ouchi