Tag Archives: japan
cat cafés!
Long time, no see, fellow cat fiends! As usual, I’m behind on homework and struggling to catch up. A lot of the time, I’m sitting on my bed with piles of books and, of course, one of my cats. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have them! However, there are many cat-lovers out there who find themselves in a living situation where they can’t have a cat, be it apartment size, living with an allergic partner, or simply not having the time or cash to care for a kitty. Japan has come up with a solution!
Cat cafés are places where you can go and have a nice cup of coffee or tea with the added bonus of a cat in your lap!
You simply pay a fee, disinfect your hands, and you get to play and relax with many well-cared-for kitties. And these professional pets are treated with utmost care—if they serve drinks, some places have separate play rooms where human food isn’t allowed. You can, however, buy tuna treats to feed the kitties. You also aren’t allowed to wake or pester any sleeping cats, but many attest that just watching cats sleep while they read or work is very calming.
User “snow white” over at flushrush.com wrote a great article about her experience at a cat café with excellent photos, I highly recommend checking it out!
nyan nyan nyanko
Everyone is familiar with Sanrio, at least by way of Hello Kitty. Growing up, the Sanrio store was my favorite store in the mall, though I’ve personally never been a huge fan of Hello Kitty (I preferred Chococat).
Well, there’s another cute character brand out there called San-X, whose characters are just as cute but a bit stranger than Sanrio’s. You may not have heard of San-X, but you might be familiar with Tarepanda and Rilakkuma. Another popular San-X character is the black cat with white boots called Kutusita Nyanko. He’s an adorable kitty who deserves a post of his own, but today I want to feature a lesser-known kitty. Well, perhaps I should say kitties.
Nyan Nyan Nyanko are cute little white kitties who are typically dressed up as food, but also occasionally appear as other everyday items like school supplies and household objects. The name comes from “nyan” or “nyaa,” the onomatopoeic word for “meow” in Japanese, plus “ko,” which means “child” or “young.”
You can find all sorts of Nyanko merchandise out there, though unfortunately it’s a lot harder to come across than that of the other more popular San-X characters.
Aren’t they cute?! They’re so odd, I love them! Unfortunately when I was in Japan, I couldn’t find them anywhere, though I looked all over the place. I would love a plush or one of those chimes!
another mechanical kitty coin bank
Found another gem from Japan today. Remember the mechanical kitty coin bank I posted about before? Here’s another one that’s even more animated.
Here it is in action:
what’s in those bowls?
Check out this adorable video found on Pawesome!
Why can’t American shows be more like this? So cute!
chi’s sweet home
I used to be a pretty big anime and manga buff in middle school. I’ve since pretty much grown out of it, but I still enjoy it from time to time. When I happened upon some episodes of Chi’s Sweet Home on YouTube, I about died from the cuteness and knew I’d found a series that I’d have to check out. Anime cats are just about always cute, and Chi is no exception—she’s super cute and the anime/manga is all about her and from her own point of view.
Chi’s Sweet Home began back in 2004 as a manga serialization in a young men’s manga magazine (am I the only one that finds that odd?). An anime adaptation began in 2008 and each episode is (sadly) only three minutes long. I’ve watched a few episodes and they are extremely cute, though a bit sad at times as Chi is accidentally separated from her feline family and misses her mother.
The manga has been compiled into seven volumes and has also been translated into English (yay!). It’s received some mixed reviews, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a look—I know I’ll be reading it! You can find copies of it on Amazon, and there are also scanlations available. I may try to find myself a copy of the Japanese version, as I’m sure it’s cutest in its original form and it will make me feel like I’m putting my minor in Japanese to some sort of use, haha.
So cute!
