“It’s great. Very relaxing and interesting”, that was the first comment of a female guest named Brad Loomis, a software engineer from Pullman city, Washington state (USA) while sitting in Mipig Cafe in Tokyo capital (Japan).
Mipig Cafe has brought pet cafes to a “new level” by bringing super small, super adorable pigs to please customers.
Customers play with microscopic pigs at Mipig Cafe in Tokyo on January 24.
Ms. Brad Loomis and her daughter Paige (21 years old) were two of dozens of guests visiting Mipig Cafe on a recent morning. They took selfies with the tiny pigs and smiled brightly. The mini pigs ran around the room, not afraid to find the warm thighs of the guests to rub themselves against.
Little pigs always know how to keep quiet, not making noise, only occasionally snorting. They are friendly and approachable to humans. Unlike the species’ reputation, the pigs here are very clean and odorless.
Customers have to pay 2,200 yen (365,000 VND) for 30 minutes next to the pigs. And reservations must be made in advance.
“Each pig is different, has its own personality. Some are strong but others can be gentle,” said Shiho Kitagawa, manager of Mipig Cafe. He calls the pigs by the respectful name buta-san.
Mipig Cafe does not run advertising. Foreign tourists are curious about the restaurant through Instagram posts.
Mipig Cafe in Harajuku fashion shopping district (Tokyo) is one of 10 pig cafes that Shiho Kitagawa and his colleagues have opened across Japan. The first store opened in Tokyo in 2019. Two more stores will open later this year.
These animals, called “micro pigs”, are smaller than a corgi even when fully grown.
Ideal pet
Pig lovers say they make great pets. They can buy one for about 200,000 yen (33 million VND) from Mipig Cafe. The animals are all toilet trained and accustomed to being around humans. Micro pig food is also available for sale. Mipig Cafe said it has sold about 1,300 pigs as pets.
A drink dispenser was placed in the corner of the cafe, but almost no one bothered to get a drink, because they were too busy with the pigs.
Foreign tourists visiting the cafe said they learned about it on Instagram and other social networks. Coffee shops do not invest in advertising.
Ben Russell (Australian) smiled when a pig finally climbed into his lap. Although this was his first time meeting a real pig, they have always been his favorite animal.
Sophie Mo’unga (from New Zealand), in Japan with her husband and two children, made a big impression on the pigs as many of them fought to lie on her lap.
“They’re so cute. I think they’re all trying to warm each other up,” she said.
Pig cafes are the latest in a string of animal cafes to appear in Japan, including those featuring owls, hedgehogs, birds and even snakes.
Some people have raised ethical questions about whether animals enjoy this experience as much as humans do.
Sachiko Azuma, head of the Tokyo-based organization PEACE (short for Ending Animal Cruelty and Exploitation), said: “It’s definitely stressful to be touched by a group of strangers.” come in and caress”.
“Animals have become tools for businesses to make money,” she said. Sachiko’s group mainly opposes animal experiments and “petting zoos”.
Sachiko said cafes are often small and do not provide enough natural environments for cats or small pigs, and cafes that confine wild animals are condemnable.
She approves of cafes, run by animal shelters, trying to find homes for abandoned pets.
Health benefits?
Bruce Kornreich, a professor of clinical sciences at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York, says interacting with animals can lower blood pressure, reduce headaches and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
It also enhances feelings of happiness and helps people relieve stress, he said.
“As for how they do these things, we can’t specifically judge,” said Kornreich, who is also a member of the Cornell Feline Medical Center, which advocates for cat health care and research.
“There is growing evidence that keeping pets can have mental and physical health benefits for people,” he said in a Zoom interview.
Even with dogs, it’s unclear whether walking the dog is beneficial to the owner’s health or being in the presence of a friendly animal.
In any case, with dogs or pigs, people are soothed and happy.
“Very cute and very sleepy,” Paige Loomis said of the pigs. “They make me want to sleep.”
Source: AP
