Avian attractions turn heads at Tokyo owl cafe

Tokyo is a city with a reputation for the weird and wonderful: Harajuku girls, capsule hotels and the fabled school girl underwear vending machines to name a few. Allow me to add another to the list for the uninitiated - the fukurō (owl) cafe, the latest trend in the category of animal cafes.

To be clear, these aren't establishments where you actually eat the namesake animal, rather eat alongside them. It sounds unhygienic and it probably is, but it's arguably also a lot of fun, which is why Japanese and gaijin alike flock to the city's plethora of pet cafes, offering co-dining with a respectable ecosystem of animal buddies; neko (cat), inu (dog), yagi (goat) and even hachūrui (reptile) variants of the business model grace the capital city and environs.

In my own experience, my introduction to the pet cafe was a completely organic experience. While exploring the inner-city neighbourhood of Koenji where I was staying with my Japanese-literate girlfriend, we chanced upon Cafe Baron, which advertised itself as a fukurou cafe. "What's fukurō?" I asked my translator (it sounded quite similar to the word for bag, but without the long O sound, which I learned so I could tell convenience store clerks that I didn't need another plastic bag to hold my pack of gum - "fukuro idimasen…") and she replied - "Owl."

And then we noticed through the glass what may have been a taxidermied grey owl sitting on a perch. But then it blinked. So of course, like any good pair of tourists we immediately went in and secured one of only a couple of vacant tables in the small establishment.

The next few hours flew by (excuse the pun), as we enjoyed a reasonably priced meal alongside a large great grey owl named 'John' and a smaller, slightly more skittish, barn owl - the eponymous 'Baron'.

'Baron' and some admirers.

'Baron' stretching while big 'John' gives his trademark quizzical look.

The owner, a kind middle aged Japanese man with quite good English (he'd lived in California for a period, we learned) was evidently thrilled at all the attention he and his birds were getting, happily inviting us to take copious photos, get up close for portraits alongside 'John', and nuzzling his beloved pets dotingly, who'd nibble at his goatee with equal affection.

A couple of wise birds.

The only rule of this avian love-in was that customers couldn't touch the owls, something you could do at other owl cafes, but against the owner's personal philosophy on the grounds that it could cause the birds to start to dislike humans. Over the course of our meal the cafe filled to capacity, which is in total about five tables. The guy even had to turn away one would-be customer, but you don't really get the feeling that he's raking it in, rather that this is a labour of love; that he really does give a hoot about owls (sorry). By eavesdropping on an interview he was giving to a Japanese blogger/journalist, we gleaned he'd been raising fukurō friends since he was a boy.

His fondness for all things owl-like is evidenced by copious owl ornaments, art and other paraphernalia all about the cafe. There are even albums of 'baby photos' of his pets placed on the tables for customers to browse through. Adorable.

"They grow up so fast..." Captive Great Grey Owls have been recorded to live for nearly 30 years.

Oh, and I should mention the food is pretty good too and not at all overpriced. Owl be back the next time I visit The Land of the Rising Pun.

You can follow Cafe Baron's blog here plus find links to more info.