Chats, Cats and a Cup of Tea: A Sociological Analysis of the Neko Café Phenomenon in Japan

The purpose of this chapter is to present Japanese attitudes toward companion animals in leisure settings, as well as human–animal interactions in one particular type of such setting known as the neko cafe. Neko cafes are premises where customers can watch, interact with and sometimes even foster resident cats while having a cup of tea or coffee. The chapter also discusses the sociological impact of cat cafes on clients, human and nonhuman “staff,” as well as Japanese society in general. Neko cafes have gained significant popularity in Japan over the last several years, becoming one of the items on the agenda of the animal law revision in 2013. Regardless of this, only scant academic research on cat cafes exists (Niijima, A “cat” over a cup of tea? Urbanized leisure with animals in Japan. Proceedings of XVII World Congress of Sociology, International Sociological Association, Gothenburg, Sweden, 340, 2010S01882, 2010).