Puppy Cafe Rio
We took a trip to Tokyo over the holidays and saw lots of fun stuff! Here’s Eriko to tell you all about a fantastic animal cafe in Shinjuku. Take it away, Eriko!
Hello! This is Eriko!
Do we love doggies? Yes, of course!
They are full of energy, they love to eat, they love to play, they sleep when they are sleepy, they are innocent, and they conquer us humans with their cuteness.
We are thinking of moving to Tokyo and want to adopt a doggy one day, and we love animal cafes!
So we went to Puppy Cafe Rio in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood! Let’s go!
Inu Cafe Rio
“Inu” means “dog” in Japanese, so Inu Cafe and Doggy Cafe are the same thing.
The price is ¥220 per 10 minutes that you stay. This is a nice change from most animal cafes where you have to pay for a whole hour. Here, you can decide how long you want to stay and don’t have to pay extra! You also have to pay ¥385 for a drink.
(Because of the current exchange rate, ¥100 is actually much less than $1. But it’s easiest to just think of it as around $1 US when you want to imagine if something is cheap or not.)
Eriko feeds the doggies
We paid ¥550 for some treats to give the doggies. There are several kinds of doggie treats so you can choose which ones you want. All treats are under ¥1,000. I recommend you buy doggie treats because you can be popular with the doggies!
They are smart, so they know who has treats and when the treats are gone, they go back to their other business, like playing with friends and sleeping in safe spots and demanding that you pet them.
Vanilla: the sleepy boy
This is Vanilla. He decided to sleep with Gregg. Maybe he thought “This is my spot! This guy is big and gentle! And he should rub my belly!”.
After exploring around Gregg, he spent most of his time sleeping at Gregg's feet. He's a fluffy angel!
The staff wrote introductions for each of the doggies that I have tried to translate (maybe they don’t make sense hee hee). This is Vanilla’s introduction:
"You'll be mine. Your knees are mine. I'll win the top."
We saw this is true.
Merci: king of all that lies before him
This is Merci. He decided to stand on Gregg. Maybe he thought, “This is the highest place where I can see everything. I’m the champion so I deserve to be on top!”
And he was playful so he liked to play with his toy with Gregg! We threw the toy and he brought it back to us. He enjoyed it!
This is his introduction:
“Keep standing. Aiming for the dream double crown of only one & number one.”
(Maybe this translation is difficult!)
He liked to stand on Gregg!
Yae the playful
This is Yae. He decided to play with Gregg and wanted his socks. Maybe he thought, “Give me your sock! It’s mine! Give me!”
He played with us, then he chilled out by himself. Then he played with us again, and then he required Gregg’s sock. He was cute and funny!
This is his introduction:
“Do not worry! is my watchword. Peace comes first. In charge of good sleep.”
I understand he is in charge of good sleep!
Uru: basket case
This is Uru. He was sleeping in the basket.
This is his introduction:
“Just sleeping. I am not weak forever.”
And behind him, Yae tried to get Gregg’s sock!
Hee hee!
Many cute introductions!
Don’t forget Macaron
The gray one is Macaron. He likes to eat.
One of the other doggies pooped on the floor, and Macaron ate it! Bad boy!
Sneaky boys
Just before we left, two men came inside and got some dog treats.
Dogs are smart. They knew the two men had treats.
The men left the treats on the table and went to go get a drink. While they were gone, these sneaky boys went around the table, and Macaron gobbled the treats!
It was so fast! His decisions were very quick and his business was done very quickly.
When the two men returned to the table, they laughed to see this scene! Hee hee! Bad boys! They are cute and friendly!
We ended up staying about 40 minutes, which was a good amount of time. We had lots of fun and took many photos!
Location
Just a short walk from Shinjuku station!
Puppy Cafe Rio is in Shinjuku.
Address: 〒160-0021 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Kabukicho, 1 Chome−15−5 B1F
It’s not far from Shinjuku Station. We walked from the Hilton Tokyo and it was an easy walk.
Their website has an English version, which is helpful for foreigners.
The verdict - should you go to Puppy Cafe Rio?
If you have any plans to travel to Tokyo, be sure to visit a pet cafe. I am sure you will have a great time!
There are also many other pet cafes in Tokyo as well as in Osaka, but this particular cafe has several advantages:
1) The dogs were more playful here than most cafes. Some places they are bored with humans and just want to sleep unless you give them treats. Here they liked to play and cuddle.
2) The pay-as-you-go system is fantastic because we didn't need an entire hour.
3) There was a lot of space, so it wasn’t crowded.
4) The fridge full of drinks meant you could grab what you wanted instead of being limited to coffee or tea.
Overall, this was one of the most fun doggy cafes we’ve been to, and if we’re in the neighborhood, we’ll definitely go back! We highly recommend Inu Cafe Rio!
Until next time!
