Animal and pet cafés remain very popular in Tokyo, for locals and tourists alike. They are now to be found in almost every neighbourhood. The range of animals to be touched, fed and cuddled is wide and not any longer restricted to the usual cats and dogs. Depending on your preferences for fur, feathers, quills or naked skin, you may visit cafés for bunnies, owls, hedgehogs, snakes or other reptiles.
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Hedgehog cafés seem to be particularly successful. Not without reason: These fury and stingy friends are not only funny and endlessly cute but also extremely photogenic. Most hedgehog cafés allow you to touch them, take them out of their habitats and also to feed them. Nothing can beat the look of a hedgehog in anticipation of a long maggot to be sucked up and entering its stomach. Hedgehogs are social and like to live in groups, even if it seems that their interaction is limited to funny competitions for food and water once it is in their sight. Some...