owl cafe MofuMofu — Restaurant in Tokyo

Do NOT go to an owl cafe. Just don't do it. I usually try to support small businesses and ingenuity, but this place is incredibly cruel and inhumane. Save your psyche and those of your kids by NOT going to this cafe. We booked this experience because our young son loves all animals. We were given an hour to be with the birds, and we just couldn't last that long to participate in this torture. We should have walked out immediately. The proprietor demanded payment the moment we entered, and then he unceremoniously handed out bottles of water. The owls themselves are kept in a small enclosed room with no windows and artificial lighting. The poor birds are perched and leashed in crowded conditions, 3-4 birds per rack. When the birds are startled or scared, they try to fly and entangle their leashes. It's clear that the owls are exploited and are not thriving. Tourists, excited to be in Tokyo and swept away by the novelty, thoughtlessly patronize this perverse business. We ended up supporting incredible cruelty, and I feel so terrible about it. Our young children wanted to feed the owls (raw chick segments handled with metal tongs), and the hygiene is terrible. Our 6 year old is vomiting today, and we suspect that handling the raw food for the owls got him ill, although we had him wash up well before lunch. Mind you, the "cafe" itself has no sink to wash up, and instead we were only given wet wipes. I am deeply, deeply disturbed and upset by this exploitative business, and after this experience, I will dissuade anyone and everyone from ever going to an owl cafe. I thought I had done adequate research by scanning the multitude of positive reviews on Google, but clearly, standards of the business have declined or reviewers are too enchanted by these beautiful birds to consider the effects on the owls themselves. Don't be complicit in the suffering of owls for a selfie. Just don't. I don't understand how this business has not been shut down when the birds are clearly suffering. SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN NOW. Places like these will sully the...

Small, and Cafe isn’t the right word. The man is very kind and friendly even if he at first comes off as cold, we watched him feed all the animals, it started off kinda awkward, but once the feeding was done he unhooked most of the owls and allowed us to hold a variety. He charged us 1500¥ when the poster says 2000¥, I didn’t really go there for the drinks anyway.

He very clearly cares and knows about the owls, and his English is fair, but limited. I could understand why some animal loves might consider this akin to animal abuse but I don’t think it is. The animals are fed, cared for, and not chained to posts 24/7, the ones that are chained the entire time are new, so he’s still getting them used to people, and he keeps them tethered when feeding, to stop the owls from hurting each other or him.

The only reason I’m giving it a 4 star instead of 5 is because a little more space and sitting room would be nice, and a bit more fresh air.

Ps. If he seems rude and awkward at the door it’s probably because he wants to keep the door closed incase an owl escapes, so try to take that with a...

I'm still not sure what to think about this owl Cafe. On the one hand the owls have very little room to fly and simply sit on their sticks almost all day long. This seems pretty sad. On the other hand they seem to be healthy and in a good overall condition. The guy in the Cafe feeds the owls regularly and cares for them. He sad that theses are home brewed (and not wild) owls, so that they can't be let out to fly outside. It is even prohibited by the law to avoid a negative impact on the environment. Thus, I hope that the owls in this place feel well actually.

All in all I would say, you can visit this place if you always wanted to touch or hold an owl, but it is definitely not a must have. There are a lot of other interesting places to visit in Tokyo, like cat cafes...