June 2019 | Tokyo, Japan
(Originally posted on August 24, 2019)
We’ve all heard of the trend: animal cafés. The concept is sort of brilliant: take two perfectly wonderful things (cafés & cute animals), and what better thing to do than combine them? Cat cafés, hedgehog cafés, owl cafés, I’ve heard ’em all! Or so I thought… when this miniature pig café popped up on my explore page, I just knew I couldn’t not pay a visit.
The Mipig Café (I’ve linked their English site) is located in Meguro, Tokyo. We already happened to be in Tokyo for the day anyway, so we decided to take the quick fifteen minute train ride from Ginza to Meguro. We caught a cab from the train station due to lack of time, but a super convenient bus is offered for a smaller fee.
If you do end up going to this café, you will need to make a reservation in advance online. Be careful as you won’t be able to make a reservation at the front desk once you arrive–reservations can only be made online and in thirty minute blocks! We reserved an hour and that seemed to be perfect for us.
One of the most attractive things about this café for my family was its accommodation for younger kids. Though we have looked into cat cafés in Harajuku in the past, we never ended up going because of their middle school grade requirement. This café welcomes kiddos of all ages as long as they are accompanied by an adult–perfect for my two little sisters who are both under the age of twelve!
We were seated on the second floor with only two other parties, making for a pretty quiet and relaxed atmosphere. First were the introductions to the four piggies on our floor with us (absolutely adorable!!), and then drink orders were taken. It is required that everyone orders at least one drink (each cost ¥600). Then the pigs were allowed to roam wherever they pleased!
The piggies seemingly preferred piling on top of one another and falling asleep opposed to actually playing around with customers. At one point, I had three sleeping pigs on my lap at once (pictured at the top, right). I’m not complaining though, they were so precious! Customers aren’t allowed to pick up the pigs, but they will come running to your lap if your legs are flat on the ground (they like the towels that the café provides as well). Even if the pigs don’t gravitate toward you at first, don’t you worry! The staff are very attentive and use treats to lead them to other customers so everyone gets a chance to interact with the pigs.
Checking out brought even more cute surprises! There was an adorable (and sleepy) piglet sitting in a pen by the register (pictured above). At checkout, you will also be given a small discount for however many people in your party follow Mipig on Instagram!
Mipig Café was definitely one of the highlights in this year’s trip to Japan! My youngest sister, ever the animal lover, adored them so much and immediately started dreaming about the the mini pigs she wants to own when she’s older (unlikely to happen, but ya never know). I would definitely recommend this to families and adults alike if they’re ever in the area!
