Any movement to end pet cafes in Tokyo?

Question

Just a visitor and mostly a curiosity question after visiting one. Heard a lot of pet cafes aren't always the best at taking care of the animals. After visiting just one dog cafe, I can attest to this. It felt more stressful being there more than anything else and the dogs also seemed very stressed and overstimulated.

It got me wondering if there is any movement in Tokyo looking to put an end towards these cafes? In my home country pet stores became heavily restricted (I.e. no dogs or cats in "cages") just a few years ago. Obviously I'm just a tourist and understand there's a different culture, so I'm just wondering what the situation is.

berna · Answer

nah you're not wrong about the stress levels, i've walked past a few of those places in asakusa and seen cats just hiding in corners the whole time. there's no organized movement to ban them outright that i know of, but the japan animal welfare society (jaws) has been quietly pushing for better oversight since like 2019. some wards like setagaya actually started requiring licenses for animal cafes a few years back, which forced a couple of sketchy places to close. but honestly most people here just vote with their wallets now - the newer "animal therapy" cafes in places like kichijoji are way more chill, they limit time slots and actually rotate the animals out.

cordelia · Answer

tbh there's no real organized movement to shut them down completely, but there's been some quiet pushback. the tokyo government did update their animal welfare guidelines in 2021 to require better cage sizes and rest periods for cafe animals, but enforcement is pretty lax from what i've seen. some of the bigger chains like mocha and harry's have actually improved their setups in response to bad press, but the smaller ones in shibuya and harajuku are still hit or miss.

Neu aus Tokyo