Catcafe Ekoneko

Ekoneko is probably one of the better known cat cafes in Tokyo, with a good recommendation. It is close to Ekoda station, conveniently located, tucked away across the street from a large drug store.
You pay hourly to play with the cats. Going even one or two minutes over on your hourly time will end up having you charged for a second hour, but you are provided with an exact checkout time and a small timer to keep track. You must leave your bags and shoes outside of the cat room and you cannot bring in any outside food or drinks. You are allowed to have your phone and can take pictures and videos as you wish.
There is a short list of English instructions when you come in, but if you speak Japanese, the owner can explain in detail and will talk to you about the cats. Basically, you can pick the cats up, but you must put them down if they want to be put down. You can pet them, but don’t pursue them if they run away. You can use any toys to play with them, but don’t get angry if they’re not interested in you.
After you pay your hourly fee, drinks are free. You can choose from water, juice, and coffee, and you can have as many as you like. There are a couple short, childlike tables to sit at while you drink and watch the cats play all around. It is very quiet in here all the time.
These cats have so many strangers coming through every day to see them, so they are often very aloof. However, you can see they have amazing love for their caretaker and go to her for attention. In my opinion, this was almost a little bit depressing to see. I went to Ekoneko because I missed my cat, and instead, I was avoided by them in favor of their daily caretaker! I can’t blame the cats, but I just didn’t enjoy it that much. If I wanted to play with cats, I think I would prefer to go to the park by Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, which is overrun by them, and completely free.

We tried to go to the cat *pub* just around the corner, only to find they were closed on Mondays. We pulled up Unilocal and found this cat café so thought we’d give it a whirl.
It wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s basically a nice cat shelter with a vending machine for hot drinks in the corner. No tables or chairs or anything «café» about it.
Calling it a shelter seems harsh but it was basically a room full of cats (of course) but also cat condos and toys and beds and some cool beams that ran overhead for them to scurry along. It’s the kind of place you would expect to see when you adopt of cat — not settle in and pet and play and get a cappuccino and a croissant.
In any case, it was very clean, it didn’t smell (pretty impressive since we got to 25 before losing count of the cats) and the cats were happy and healthy. As is common, they were street cats taken in by someone with a good heart and entrepreneurial skills. There are no Scottish Folds and long hair siamese — these are scrawny little buggers with missing eyes and bald spots. They were also all pretty damn friendly and not a single one of them seemed distressed, sad or sick.
I was most impressed with how many of the cats were up for being pet and playing. Most cat cafes state that if the cat is not into it (sleeping, etc) you have to leave them alone. You can entice them with toys but you can’t pick them up or otherwise interact with them if they’re doing their thing … which is like all cats all the time right? But these guys ranged in age and friendliness so there was always a fuzzball happy to play or be pet.
It cost about 2,000 yen (£10ish) for one hour and there was a station for washing your hands before and after, plenty of hair remover sticky rollers and you were expected to leave your shoes outside the cat room.