There are a handful of owl cafes around the Tokyo area. Kiba, Tsukishima, and a couple other locations in Tokyo. I visited the owl cafe or bird cafe in Kiba, Tokyo. This was the Torinoiru Cafe which translates to "Cafe with birds" and they have not only many types of owls but also many other birds as well.
Like any other animal cafe you get seated and are able to order food and drinks. Most of the the birds are caged so they don't fly around like crazy, and there is a special petting area which you can enter after you enjoy relaxing in the cafe. The cafe is pretty loud so there it might be a little tough to relax. It sure was entertaining though.
You pay 500 yen to enter the petting area where you are given 5 minutes to pet the owls that are available for petting. You can also get a bird glove to put on your arm and hold one of them while they sit on your arm.
This cafe is very close to Kiba station, only a few minutes walk. It is however very popular so you will most likely have to wait in line, how long will depend on what hour of the day you go. When we went we waited about 20 minutes and that was around 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
All in all this was a very interesting and entertaining cafe to visit. If you're an animal/bird lover then all the more so. If you're terrified of birds then that's another story. But I recommend this cheap and fun experience in the center of Tokyo.
At the end of March 2014 opened a fantastic street called Asagaya Anime Street, a place where anime creators and fans of anime can come together and create an experience like no other.
Located only about 4 minutes by walking from Asagaya station, Asagaya Anime Street is like a little mall designed just for people who are enthusiastic about anime related things. They have many shops, galleries, cafes and restaurants which all are tied with an anime theme.
There are a total of 16 different spots to visit in this street. There are shops like Game Life, a videogame shop with many retro and anime games which also acts as an event spot. There are cosplay shops like Cosmenia, a cosplay specialty shop and Copin, a brand cosplay shop specializing in dressing up as male characters. Gofa Labo, Baroque Cafe, and Shirobaco are all cafe/museum type restaurants where you can relax, have a meal or a cup of coffee while admiring many anime works on display.
Baroque Cafe was one I personally visited, which was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the anime and manga series 攻殻機動隊 Ghost in the Shell. They had a lot of anime pop displays and even an almost scale sized Logicoma from the new ARISE movies. The best part of this cafe though is the giant home theater set up they have in the back actually playing anime movies.
We grabbed ourselves some nice cups of coffee and were able to watch the 2nd Movie of the Ghost in the Shell ARISE movie series playing on a giant projector screen while sitting on these fantastic premium surround sound home theater seats.
You can watch our experience with this youtube video:
There was one place that I had a very fun experience at, the Micro Museum Cafe. This place was less of a cafe and more of a museum/theater as they gave me a small drink as we watched some great 3D movies. But that was just the beginning. The real unique experience was the project they had which involved the hyped up virtual reality headset the Oculus Rift.
These guys have developed an anime titled "Speed Story" an educational anime being used abroad to teach science. Together with that anime they produced a virtual reality experience where one can experience what it is like to jump or fly with a magic broom like the typical fairy tale witch or magical girl does.
I tried on the Oculus Rift head set and it was quite something. The initial setting was actually set to look like where we were- Asagaya Anime Street. When I jumped, the sensors read my movement and made it look like I jumped miles or kilos up in the air as if I were a rocket. They modeled the entire view of the Tokyo area and I was able to see far in to the distance to the mountains and even Tokyo Bay. Of course this was all virtual reality but the experience was pretty convincing.
All in all this street was full of interesting things related to all kinds of things anime fans love and are interested in. Heck I'd recommend visiting even if you're not a big anime fan because there's just a ton of interesting things to check out here. I swear it was a lot of fun.
Looking for some adorable sweets from the land of Kawaii? If you're in the Tokyo/Kanagawa area, there is an Animal donuts shop that sells delicious adorable animal themed donuts. Located in Motosumiyoshi, Nakahara ward in the Kawasaki area of Kanagawa, the shop is called イクミままのどうぶつドーナツ or Ikumi Mama's Animal Donuts. It's a tiny little shop located in the shopping arcade called Bremen Street, only a few minutes walk from Motosumiyoshi Station. They have a rotation of many animal themed donuts such as cats, pigs, tigers, alpacas, frogs, and etc. If you love animals or cute tasty treats, swing by when you visit the area. Kawaii Animal donut shop in Motosumiyoshi, Tokyo http://subtokyo.blogspot.com/ http://www.kxela.com/ http://twitter.com/subtokyovlog http://www.facebook.com/Subtokyovlog http://gplus.to/subtokyovlog http://subtokyo.spreadshirt.com/ http://www.gofundme.com/5lrhkk Welcome to Subtokyo: Japanese Subculture Vlog! Look forward to more videos soon! Thanks again! Stay tuned and be sure to subscribe to Subtokyo!! New Opening theme Credits to Sun of the Dawn, used with direct permission. ED theme credits to www.SoundJay.com
