What is a cat cafe?
A cafe is a coffee shop that serves beverages while you sit and visit with a friend, work on your laptop, or just watch the world go by. A cat cafe is essentially the same except there are cats present. Some cat cafes even offer living room-like areas where you can play with your new feline friends while enjoying a nice drink.
Why do people go to cat cafes?
It is often suggested that people visit cat cafes because they are not able to own cats due to apartment regulations. But while this is the case for some, the rise of cat cafes is largely tied to a vast ‘healing industry’, entirely dependent on the sense of loneliness and malaise that has come to the fore in post-economic bubble Japan. People go to cat cafes to be healed – that’s the sentiment frequently repeated by patrons in café guestbook entries. Café owners, employees, customers and advertising language would all say the same. These cafes emerge as an effect of the post-industrial economy, in which customers seek to consume experiences that produce feelings and sensations. Japan’s cat cafes exist at a time in which social relationships have become increasingly commodified, privatized, and marketed to those who are able to afford it. They are spaces in which humans no longer encounter animals as companions, but as consumers seeking healing and relaxation, at a time of pervasive social and economic anxieties in Japan.
