Cat Trip!

This weekend I went on a trip to Kyoto and Osaka. February 22nd in Japan is sometimes called "Cat Day" (2-22 -> ni ni ni -> nya nya nya). The Manga Museum in Kyoto was hosting a talk show with the creators of the manga "Night of the Living Cat". One thing led to another, and soon we had a full extended weekend of "cat spots" to visit.

I will not give a blow-by blow of the trip, but I'll list below the places that I thought were worth visiting, in the order we went there. You can also check a post with pictures (I kept it separate to keep this post easy to load).

Day 1:

• Taifu Kajitsu: is a tiny, comfy cafe behind Nijo castle. It had some very nice sweets, and served taiwanese tea. There were two cute lazy cats, one of them made a ruckus by sitting where a customer was about to sit. It was a nice place! Also, obligatory rant about Japanese shops that only have instagram accounts, and no real websites...

• We visited a bunch of shrines that attracted street cats to them. But the one "cat lover's shrine" actually had a "no visitors" sign on it. Weird.

• Kawa Cafe: a cafe by the Kamo River, owned by a Frenchman. It has a very nice atmosphere, and a large lazy cat that played with us most of the time we were there (we were lucky to go on a night that the cafe had few customers). The food was okay-ish, but the coffee and chocolate cake for dessert were really good. This cafe has a website, but they don't take reservations. Oh well.

Day 2:

• Kyoto International Manga Museum: The Manga Museum is more of a library than a museum. They have a large amounts of mangas, from old stuff to very recent stuff. Anyone can take them and read on chairs and sofas, or even to the outside garden, if the weather is good. They also have materials room for researchers. It is a very nice environment, built inside an old school, and I was quite impressed by it.

  The "Night of the Living Cat" expo was okay. It was nice to see drafts of many key scenes, and commentaries about the making-of process were nice. The talk show went on for a bit too long for my taste (two hours!). Maybe if I was a mega-fan I would have liked it more...

• Hotel Daiki: This is a VERY old hotel, frozen since Showa era, and built directly under Osaka Loop Line (Tenma Station). The entire place smells heavily of smoking, and I almost gave up staying there after I first got into the room (they do have air fresheners that hide the smell, somewhat). The rooms are huge for Japanese hotel standards, but the facilities are ancient (washiki toilets in the rooms, with a western toilet in the lobby). On the upside, the hotel has three old cats that want to make very sure they know everyone who is invading their kingdom. At night they patrol the corridors, and will enter any room that leaves the door open. They entered our room at least three times that night. These cats don't really like being touched, but they will meow in your face, walk around and over you, and enter and leave the room at their pleasure. Wonderful, really. Coffee break was cheap and fine!

Day 3:

• Tenmabashisuji Arcade -- Just by the hotel, it is arguably Japan's longest shopping arcade. It was not very full when we walked by it in the evening, but it was packed in the following morning. More importantly...
• The Osaka Museum of Housing and Living: This museum is about how people in Osaka lived, now and in the past. It features a life-size replica of an edo-period street, and many dioramas of other periods. When we entered, we got lucky to met an old guide who gave us very detailed and funny explanations of all the details in the life-size village. It really makes it an enormous difference to visit a museum with a good guide. Unfortunately, we had a reservation on the other side of the city, and did not spend nearly enough time here... a real pity.
• Diorama Restaurant: This place has an interesting story. It used to be a railway model restaurant, but the customers stopped coming when COVID started. At that time, the owner picked up a stray cat, and started uploading pictures of the cat playing with the trains, which was a huge hit on youtube. Once the restrictions were removed, many people started to visit the restaurant to visit the cats, and the place was converted into a cat shelter. Because of the high number of visitors, they have very strict times of when people can get in and leave, unlike cat cafes. There are also many, many cats, most roaming freely and being very used to people. To be honest, I'm a bit ambivalent about the location. The place is fun, and the cats look healthy and sane. It is nice that you can visit and see everywhere. On the other hand, it did look like the number of cats might be a bit too much for the space and the staff...

Remember you can see a few pictures on the companion picture post