Introduction

Our group chose "café" as our topic. While cafés exist in Canada as well, there is a vast variety of differences between some of the cafés that can be found here and in Tokyo. In Canada, the word "café" tends to mean a place to get coffee and pastries. In Japan, a café can include much more, such as animals, anime themes, and cosplay.

With cafés of basically any theme imaginable in existence, there's going to be something out there for everyone. We hope to experience as many of these cafés as our time (and wallets) will allow. For now, we'll talk about some popular types of cafés we plan on visiting.

Maid Café

Exterior of a Maid Café

Maids from a Maid Café

Maid cafés are a relatively popular type of themed café. Guests are served by waitresses dressed in maid uniforms, and are treated as if they are the masters of the house. Guests are addressed by the terms "goshuujin-sama" or "ojou-sama", and spoken to in keigo. For an extra fee, they can pay to have their picture taken with one of the maids.

Animal Café

This is Sean's Friend at an Owl Café

More Owls from the Café

Exterior of Cat Café

Animal cafés are very popular with animal lovers. Cat cafés in particular are well known, but others like dog, rabbit, owl, and snake cafés can also be found around Tokyo. For a fee, you can sit and play with the animals for an allotted amount of time. Many cafés also offer meals and drinks for an extra fee, and sometimes you can purchase treats to feed the animals as well.

These are just a few of the cafés that Japan has to offer. We look forward to actually visiting these cafés in person and seeing what they're like for ourselves.