In Japan, cat lovers who are not able to keep a cat at home, can go to Neko JaLaLa to have their dream come true. Neko JaLaLa is a Cat Café where you can enjoy sipping a cup of coffee while having a furry companion by your side purring away. You cannot bring the cats home, but you are free to pet them and enjoy their company. All the cats are lounging around at the Cat Café, having the luxury like life style because they are all so very pampered by the customers.
The reason that the Café uses cats to attract customers is because of how stressful Japanese people have become nowadays. They believe that cats can make a person feel good and relaxed. The younger generation of Japan has grown out of the tradition of living with the family and moved out to the city where space is highly scarce. Not everyone is able to provide room and time for a cat, so they come to the Café for an alternative to be with the feline creatures while re-energizing themselves for the busy working days to come. [Full story]
Neko JaLaLa's website shows pictures of their kitties for all their branches. Each kitty has an email address where people can write to them. They even have a blog site to show people how happy and fun the cats are at the Cat Café. I definitely want to pay a visit if I ever get a chance to visit Japan.
This makes me wonder, we have hundreds of thousands of shelter kitties in the U.S. alone. Why can't we do something like the Japanese? Start a few Cat Cafés and let those who would bring love and care to the kitties come to have their dream fulfilled. It is so much better than living in the kennels and not being able to play and interact with their furry friends and people. Isn't it a win-win situation for businesses and cats?
If you know of any Cat Café that actually exists outside Japan, please let me know.