Traditional Japanese Inn Offers ‘Rent-a-Cat’ Option for Customers Who Want Cuddles
By Bryan Ke
There is a Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) in Japan that offers customers the option to rent a kitty to accompany them during their stay.
The inn, called My Cat, which is also written very attractively in hiragana as まいきゃっと, maikyatto, is the purr-fect place for people who really love cats and would love to spend more time with them — unlike most cat cafes where they are only allowed to stay a few hours or so to play with felines.
Twitter user mituyasann recently shared her experience when she stayed at My Cat in Yugawara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan.
“This Saturday I took a trip to Hakone to wash away all the fatigue I piled up working through April. I stayed in the best place ever – an inn in Yugawara that comes with a (rental) cat! I can’t keep one at home but I adore cats. I was in fountains of tears the whole time,” she wrote in her Twitter post, as translated by SoraNews24.
“So you start at the cat café, where you can point out which cat you’d like to stay with. The second I saw this cute little Tsuchinoko, my mind was made up,” she said in a follow-up tweet.
The Tsuchinoko that the Twitter user is referring to in her post the mythical snake-like creature that is often portrayed to have a small, pudgy body.
However, after telling the receptionist who she likes to spend her night with, she was immediately told that Kai-kun, the name of the cat, is not exactly the cuddly type. She wrote:
“Clerk: Oh, Kai-kun is the type to leave you alone and entertain himself – of course, if you were to pet him he wouldn’t mind that either.
“mituyasann: That’s my favorite kind of cat!”
Her experience, however, was the exact opposite of what the clerk told her.
“They said it was likely he would ignore me, but that didn’t happen at all! He climbed on my lap, crept into my futon, and basically acted as hyper as a little kitten. (So…happy…)”
mituyasann’s experience has certainly made a lot of feline fans excited to give My Cat a try. Here are some of the comments that Japanese netizens wrote:
“Is this what they call…a utopia…?”
“Pick the one you like and take it to your hotel room, huh… That’s a loaded concept.”
“Makes me wonder if the cats have the option to politely decline or escape from clients! I hope they have procedures in place to protect the cats from bad customers. All that said, I still want to go.”
“I went to snoop recently and they do offer adoption programs for the cats. They won’t let you pick cats that are feeling depressed or sick, either. It seems like a healthier set-up than the cat cafes here in Tokyo.”
“I was worried about the kitties too, but the photos make it look like they’re doing fine. The customer is the real problem isn’t it? How do you pick a customer who won’t stress the cats out?”
For those who are curious and would like to visit the place, she posted some of the details you’d want to check out.
“I guess I should go ahead and link the place while I’m here, right?! XD XD The rates start from 3,000 yen a night, very attractive! (The cat rental is an added cost.),” the Twitter user wrote.
While renting a cat for a night is the inn’s schtick, My Cat is also a great place for people to relax thanks to its amazing view.
“Obviously this place is the best because you can stay with a cat there! But you can also just open a window and immediately look out on to the ocean, and even smell the sea-salt in the air. It’s a perfect location at this time of year.”
Featured image via Twitter / mituyasann
Share this Article
Share this Article
