Sunday, June 26, 2016

Tokyo Pet Cafes: Owl Park Ikebukuro (ふくろうカフェ池袋あうるぱーく)

Anette 7:15:00 PM Animals, Café, Ikebukuro, Japan, Pets, Tokyo, Tokyocafes

Ikebukuro is a vibrant area where you in addition to an endless selection of places to shop and dine can find what might be Tokyo's widest selections of pet cafes. I have previously written about my visit to a bunny cafe in the area, and about Tokyo's one and only penguin bar, which also happens to be located in this part of the metropolis. This time I went to check out one of Ikebukuro's Owl Cafes with some of my friends.

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...Which didn't really go as planned. I had found information online about an owl cafe in the east part of Ikebukuro called Ikefukurou Cafe (A wordplay on Ikebukuro, and Fukurou, the Japanese word for owl). But when we arrived it was totally packed with people, and we were told that they didn't have any more openings that day. So we continued our search, and after having crossed over to the west side of Ikebukuro station we found an owl cafe called Owl Park (あうるぱーく).

A red gate (torii) by the entrance to Owl Park

Stairs up to the owl cafe (on the 2nd floor)

The place was only a couple of minutes away from the West Exit of Ikebukuro Station, and outside the building, there was a small red torii gate so it was easy to spot. Owl Park was situated on the second floor of the building.

Owls by the staircase

Once you arrive on the second floor you have to continue to the right to the very end of the corridor where you'll find the entrance to the cafe. We were greeted by one of the staff, and after having paid the entrance fee of 1200 yen/person she explained to us about their system and how to handle the owls.

Entrance to Owl Park

Owls by the register

This was not really a pet cafe in the sense that they didn't serve any beverages. Instead, you're free to walk around in the room and pet the owls as you'd like (we were asked to only pet them on the head). Unlike most pet cafes they don't set any time limitations, so you're free to stay as long as you want to (if it is crowded they set a 1-hour limitation per person). It was also not crowded like it had been at the owl cafe we stopped by first, so we definitely felt like we had made the right choice.

Two of the owls were allowed to fly around freely in the Owl Park. Here they are on the top of the entrance door.

At Owl Park they offered visitors to take part in various activities with the owls, and we got to both feed them and hold them. They were so adorable.!

Taking way too many selfies.. But oh well.. Not every day you get the chance to hold an owl

The coolest part was having them fly to catch their food:

At Owl Park - owl cafe - in Ikebukuro ふくろうカフェ池袋あうるぱーく行ってきました🌟 ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖#owl #cafe #japan #tokyo #ikebukuro #池袋 #カフェ #ふくろう #ugle

A video posted by Anette (@adventuresofanette) on Jun 26, 2016 at 1:16am PDT

All in all Owl Park was a nice experience. It was good that the owls had more freedom to move around than at the small and often overcrowded pet cafes, and it seemed like the staff was good at handling the owls with care. Although there were no beverages served we all know that the drinks at pet cafes usually are of bad quality, so we didn't really miss that. With no time limitations, it is a good alternative if you want to spend some time with the cute owls.

■ Basic Info

・Name of Cafe: Owl Park (ふくろうカフェ池袋あうるぱーく)
・Address：〒171-0021東京都豊島区西池袋3−30−11泰共フラットビル 2F
・Phone: 03-3984-1097
・Opening Hours: 11:00-19:00 (Except Wednesdays)
・Entrance Fee: 1200 yen
・Official Home Page：https://owlpark.amebaownd.com/

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About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.