Mipig Cafe in Osaka
We take birthdays very seriously at our house. Whoever’s birthday it is, that person gets to choose everything we do on that day. Earlier this year, for Eriko’s birthday, she knew what she wanted to do: visit mipig cafe in Osaka.
Little butts!
Located in America-mura, mipig cafe bills itself as a “Micro Pig House,” where you can play with mini pigs while enjoying a refreshing drink. You’ve probably heard of puppy cafes, kitty cafes, and owl cafes - well, this is one with mini pigs.
There are two ways to meet the piggies: there’s a big open room, similar to other animal cafes, where you can sit with other guests as a bunch of pigs run around and sniff and beg for treats. But mipig also has private rooms, where you get 30 minutes with 2 pigs all to yourself. That’s the option we chose.
My new best friends.
To start off, it needs to be made clear that the terms “mini pig” and “micro pig” are a bit misleading. That’s because “mini” for a pig is still pretty large. When these pigs are full-grown, they’re around 100 pounds. We did not see any that size at the cafe. There was one big boy in the group room that was about the size of a corgi, but the rest were all baby piglets. The mipig website says they can help introduce those looking to own a full-size mini pig to an adult micro piggy, and usually when the pigs at the cafe are older, they find forever homes.
We switched our shoes out for slippers and headed over to the private rooms, which were really just little fenced-in areas with a table where you could sit on the floor - the walls did not go up to the ceiling. Before we were even allowed in, a little black piggy came racing toward us and demanded to be petteded.
Their hair is rough and thin, and they loooooove to get scratches.
After we sat down, our pigs were let in, two cute little black piggies. We were each given a blanket to put on our laps so the pigs could sit on us. You’re instructed not to reach for the pig’s mouth in case they bite, and not to pick them up. However, it should be noted that you do not have to pick them up.
Apparently, pigs love to cuddle. They went straight for us and jumped into our laps, burrowing as deep as they could go into our naughty areas. Often we’ve found that dogs and cats at cafes are bored with humans and aren’t interested in the visitors unless they see treats. This was not the case with pigs.
Cute noses.
The other thing we learned was that pigs are pack creatures (might be using that term wrong) and want to be in a group. That means that when they cuddle up in your lap to sleep, they want to be together. One pig would run to Eriko's lap, and the other would immediately follow. If one ran back over to me, his buddy would come running as well. It wasn’t a situation where we each had a pig - one of us had both, and the other was a photographer.
Launch imminent.
They also really want to be at the bottom of the pig pile. It would go something like this:
1) Pig jumps in my lap and burrows toward my crotch
2) Second pig jumps up and smushes up next to him
3) Second pig doesn’t like being in second position, so he takes his nose, puts it under his brother’s belly, and pushes him up, almost flipping him over, to get underneath him
4) Both pigs squeal and fight like crazy until I pull one off and he runs to Eriko, after which his brother follows
This happened over and over for 30 minutes.
Awwwwwww sleepy boys.
I have to say, we loved petting these little piggies. I won’t be quitting ribs anytime soon, but I now love pigs. Mipig cafe was a great experience, and we found that 30 minutes was plenty of time to pet and take pictures with our new piggy friends. Probably the best animal cafe we’ve ever been to, and we’ve been to quite a few. If you’e in Osaka, we highly recommend checking out mipig cafe.
