Nyan-nyan-ji — Attraction in Kyoto

It is not a temple or a cafe. It is an old house with a big gift shop that costs 800 yen to enter. You actually enter and exit through the gift shop!

There were no cats and a Chinese tourist was asking to see one and couldn't understand that there were none there today. So, the staff brought out a poor cat - obviously quickly putting on its "priest" bib - and it tried to escape and hated being shut in a small room with tourists taking photos of it. I felt very sorry for it.

There are some interesting sliding doors with cat motifs, various cat paintings by a local artist and a room that is supposed to be like a cat Buddhist altar. None of it warranted 800 yen. 400 yen, yes.

There is an annoying J-pop song on a loop because its lyrics are about cats. A video about the artist is also on a loop. A drink machine is available - for 100 yen.

The day was saved by a temporary exhibit of famous paintings that were reproduced to feature cats: that was fun.

There were mainly Chinese and South Korean tourists.

The "give us your money" vibe was very apparent. Someone is doing very...

It features a shop with a huge selection of kitty goods, and also a cat "museum" (not big, but there's still plenty of art to see there). A must see for all cat lovers 💗 They also do have some real cats on the property, I saw two, one was walking mostly outside and was kinda skittish. The other was locked in his own tiny room, and he seemed annoyed/sad at the fact that he was locked away. The guests could only have a peek at him. I asked the staff whether he could go out, and if he's always locked. The staff told me that he's not used to people so they don't let him in when customers/guests are walking around. That made me a bit sad, but other than that I loved that place. I really hope that they don't keep the cat locked away the entire time! He was meowing unhappily. Please take care of him 🙏 スタッフが猫を永遠に閉じ込めておかないことを願っています...

Ok, here is my honest review. Basically, this is what you get: Nyan-nyan-ji is a large cat-merchandise shop in which you can buy all kinds of cat-related goods. There is also a Cat temple and a Make-up Cat History section in the basement. You can buy some stuff, take some cute insta pictures and that's about it.

So why did I give 1 star ?

Nyan-nyan-ji has a few cats. Having lived around cats for most of my life I could tell that they are depressed and mostly checked-out of life. Do you know what it takes for cats to completely shut down their instincts? You dont want to know. This has been the worst case of animal cruelty I have seen in...