As those adult contemporary legends the Carpenters said in 1975: after long enough of being alone everyone must face their share of loneliness. Year abroad can be a bit of a troubling experience at times - the language barrier makes it so difficult to make Japanese friends and there aren't always opportunities to meet with your fellow foreign students either. Although my family and I are by no means the closest and have had our fair share of horrible arguments over the years, I've found it unexpectedly hard being away from them for so long and not being able to just hop on a train and go home for a weekend like I could in Cambridge. We are separated by 6000-odd miles and a rather pricey 12-hour flight. Besides I spent most of the summer with my best friend in the entire world, who came with me on all of my previous visits to Japan and therefore her absence makes me feel a bit like one of my arms has fallen off. Not to mention I can't think of a single other person who'd be willing to dress up as a maid and take purikura photos with me.
The point of all this emotional rambling is: sometimes when the chips are down you just need to spend some time in a room full of cats to take your mind off things. Being a crazy cat-obsessed old woman trapped in the body of a charming and beautiful 21-year-old, I decided to treat myself by paying a visit to Neko Kaigi (猫会議 'cat meeting') cat cafe. It's very near me, between Sanjo and Karasumaoike, just down the street from the Kyoto city hall. In general I really love animals but since our family has had cats since I was little it feels weird not having one around. Also I've heard that stroking animals is very therapeutic and can lower your blood pressure so clearly there was nothing to lose.
The first time I came to Japan I'd visited the other cat cafe, Wan Nyan Chu in Teramachi, but since it was Sunday and I only had 1000 yen left for the week I went for Neko Kaigi which only charges 900 yen for an hour as opposed to 1000 for half an hour. You can buy a drink but (luckily for me!) it's not obligatory. They also have treats for the cats.
When you come in you have to take off your shoes and put your bag away in a locker. You're allowed to take photos of the cats but only without the flash so it doesn't scare them. It is basically a big room with a wood floor, with low sofas and coffee tables around the edges and a big mat with cushions, baskets and trees for the cats to sit on. Neko Kaigi has 15 very cute cats ranging in size from teeny tiny to "shit it's a tiger". They all have adorable names too - my favourite of which were Choco and Himawari (ひまわり 'sunflower').
The problem with cat cafes is half the cats seem to be extremely done with being prodded all day and the other half just want to sleep. If you are really lucky or have made a habit of smoking catnip one of them might get on your lap. Even if they weren't too keen on being stroked it was fun to watch them interacting with each other and the way two of them were sleeping all squashed up together in the basket was too cute for words. They did, however, perk up when the scratch board came out - I assume this was full of some sort of addictive cat substance because they went absolutely mad to have a go on it. In the end I think it was definitely worth going. I felt very relaxed afterwards and was just sad that you aren't allowed to take the cats home with you.
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