These two places are just a few minutes walk apart in distance, but worlds apart in experience. Read on for copious pictures of cats.
Neko Jelala Cat Cafe
I admit I didn't take as many photos here as in the other one, but that was mostly because this place was pretty bleh. There were some lovely cats with their own personalities, but the place was just the one room and while the cats were all in excellent condition they didn't have as much room to roam about as I've seen in the other places I've been.
This guy is (I think) an Abyssinian, so had a kind of ruff around his/her neck.
She was asleep in the car bed when I arrived but I spotted her waking up and then my camera strap did the rest.
Beautiful green eyes! Then there were the sofa residents. The one on the left is a curl eared cat and there was a note saying he was the friendliest and most easy going of cats.
I swear he didn't move a muscle the whole time I was there although I did hear him purring when I stroked him for a few minutes. Japanese cats don't seem to purr as much as English ones. The one on the right was long haired and loved having his/her fur stroked all along her body. When she looked up to see why I'd stopped I found she also had lovely green eyes.
There were a number of other residents...this first one got up and walked across the room and I swear she/he was the same size as your average dog. Huge!
...but it just didn't compare to my preferred Nyafe Melange in Ebisu.
Cat Cafe Nanny
Now you're talking - this place was awesome.
One of my two criticisms is that it was on the 4th floor (3rd floor in english lingo) and there was no lift. Not exactly a killer but, you know. As soon as I walked in this little guy woke up and started waving his paws at me.
When I lent in to stroke him he started licking my fingers then wanted to play. He was one of three clearly quite young cats who were very sweet and playful, but then so were the older residents. I had an explore before settling down to play and this was one of the two upstairs rooms.
There were only two cats on this whole floor and the first was adorable, and very happy to be stroked.
Then the second meandered towards me. It was a tiny lion!
I know she's just had a summer haircut...but...it's a tiny lion! Again my camera strap proved irresistible.
Do you not just want to hug her and stroke her and call her Bert? Awesome.
Back downstairs, the young trio, two of which were definitely from the same litter, were at play.
They didn't stay still often, and I never managed to get all three of them in shot.
One of them decided something was hiding under my maxi skirt.
They were adorable and so playful! They reminded me of Nickerjac's little boy who is also highly energetic! Again, the camera strap was the attraction and one of the older cats, who was very beautiful but not keen on being stroked, joined in.
There were other residents:
Crazy sideburns:
Check out these eyebrows:
The little cats were clearly fully accepted by the older ones and loved cuddling up to them. These two were particularly snug.
As were these two:
The grey cat being used as a pillow was beautiful. She loved having her chest stroked and used her paws to hold my hand there.She was so blissed out she was hanging half off the table. Hard to believe she was really comfortable! I spent most of my time sitting at the table she was laying on and stroking her and the little one.
The things that made this cafe my absolute favourite was the space, the daylight, the sleeping options for the cats and the attitude of the cats to me. Sometimes you get the feeling you are bothering the cats and that's a definite no-no. Here they were actually pleased to see me and wanted to interact, and when they'd had enough there were plenty of places for them to go off to.
I said at the start that I had two complaints and only gave one - my second is that they told me at the start when my 'hour' started but you know I never remember that kind of thing so I accidentally overstayed by 5 minutes but got charged for an extra 30 mins because that's the way the charging goes. My bad, but at Shirokane and Ebisu they give you your start time in your lanyard so no-memories like me can work out when they need to go.
Will I be coming back to Akihabara for cat action? Yes! But only to the second place. Cat Cafe Nanny is about 40 mins door to door whereas Nyafe Melange is about 15 mins walk to that still wins for convenience and, of course, for Bruiser...
...but when I fancy more of an excursion I'll be coming back here again.
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