By Anthony Biondi (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
I like to think that somewhere in the world there is a big pile of brains that get together once in a while to create something amazing. Some time ago this force came together to combine the caffeinated power of cafés and the cuddliness of cats. Amazing ideas like this only come along once in a while, and since then cat cafés have been a big thing in Japan. Who wouldn’t want to pay a few bucks to have a cup of tea and spend an hour with a loving feline?
However, there is a dark side to this splendid tale (tail?) of fuzzy friends and frothing fraps. That dark side is the 24-hour pet store, where cats and dogs are on display for sale at any time of the day. This may not sound all that bad (if a little odd), but Japan’s governing body doesn’t seem to like this much. According to a Huffington Post article by Ruairidh Villar, they want to shut down the all-day pet pushers. This may seem relatively unrelated, but the law itself ties it all together. According to the Japanese, after the hours of 8 p.m. there will no longer be any displaying of cats and dogs.
No cats and dogs after 8 p.m.? No late hour cat cafés. The Huffington Post seems to think that this spells the end for them. Since most of their customers are late hour business men, this spells jeopardy for their happy pastime. I wonder why the Japanese government isn’t more specific in their new law. If they want to shut down these past-hour pet joints, they should be targeting them more directly. It seems to me a little underhanded to pass a generic law for a specific issue. Besides, whenever it is that I get to visit Japan in person I would love to satisfy my part-time cat cravings.
If these cat cafés were to be shut down in the next few years it would be very disappointing. Idea combinations like this are a once-in-a-lifetime-event, and it almost seems wrong to let them die off. I think it’s time for the busy people of Japan to take a stand. I won’t pretend to know how their politics work, but I would insist that they petition for the late night hours. The survival of this beautiful business is important.
I have to wonder, though; on one hand, huh, having cats at our beck and call seems like a fantastic and beautiful thing, but on the other we all know that cats are jerks. How often do people get mauled, or ignored in a facility like this? How often do customers end up with cat dander in their coffee, or balls of hair on their clothes? What is the punishment for a disobedient animal? Knowing the business world at least a little, it seems evident to me that they would do whatever is they have to in order to gain more clients. A disobedient cat would be an obstacle to a successful cuddly hour – I can’t imagine disobedient cats, therefore, are met with much patience.
That’s not to say that these facilities abuse or disown any animals, but I do see the potential for it. And, as a cat lover, I have to be concerned. Perhaps shutting these facilities down is the best idea, and we must just accept that the end is the end. A good idea, though wonderful in paper, doesn’t always work out. Perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board (dare I say scratching post?) and start throwing more idea combinations together to see what we get. Hamburgers and first-year drawing classes? I’m in.
