Hachu Cafe (reptiles Cafe) — Restaurant in Tokyo

My 14yo son and I visited this cafe and it was an amazing experience! My son is a real reptile fan, and in Australia, where we’re from, there are restrictions on bringing exotic reptiles into the country as pets - so he was very excited to be able to handle lizards and snakes that we would never otherwise meet.

This cafe is located about 45 mins train ride from Tokyo central station, in a very nice area. Plenty of cafes and shopping if you wanted to find interesting things for the non-reptile-fans to do.

The deal is that you pay 500 yen for a table, then order minimum 1 drink (we both had ginger ale). You’re free to walk around the small area investigating the different reptiles in their enclosures. There are a lot to choose from! Snakes, lizards, tortoises and turtles. If you want to handle the animals, it’s another 500 yen per animal. Keep an eye out for the tortoise - he’ll come up and bite your sneakers if you’re not careful! My son was able to hold a bearded dragon, a python, a hog-nosed snake, and a gecko.

The host was really welcoming and clearly very knowledgeable about reptiles of all sorts. My son is learning Japanese at school and I don’t speak it at all, but we had no problem communicating thanks to Google Translate. Don’t let that stop you visiting! I did ask our hotel to call and make a booking for us, as I’d read it can get busy. However when we arrived (3pm) there was plenty of room.

I can’t recommend this place enough if you have a young reptile enthusiast. A real experience you won’t get...

This place is small but overall feels pretty cozy. It’s a little humid but that’s standard since it houses many reptiles. The staff are really chill and friendly. You pay an admission fee and a mandatory drink fee, then once you are done drinking, wash your hands and you can pay to interact with an animal. I chose the hog nose snake and my sister chose the leopard gecko. They were really cute and from our interactions at the very least, the animals were not giving signs of stress at all. Some tanks did feel smaller than they should be, especially for the larger lizards, but overall this place is really nice and if I’m in kichijoji again I will definitely have to...

We brought my daughter here for her birthday, and it was everything she hoped. The owner and the employee working there both spoke English, which was helpful. The cafe was very hot to keep it warm enough for the reptiles, so dress accordingly. We did have to wait an hour for a table to become available, as it was a busy Sunday afternoon and there are 5 of us, but it was worth the wait! After our beverages, my kids got to hold a python, a gecko, and a bearded dragon! We loved the tortoise roaming freely around the cafe. Great experience, we...